I never celebrated Advent growing up, but in the last 3 years, I've become a big fan. We've always put our Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, and I start listening to Christmas music waaaay sooner than is natural (as my roomates are learning), and generally celebrated Christmas all month long!
It wasn't until I started going to IBC that I learned that there is a name for the month-long celebration of preparation of Christmas, and even better, there is a group of people who are just as crazy about it as me. This is Advent. It's the four weeks before Christmas, and each week is dedicated to a different aspect of preparing yourself for Christmas. I mean, what's not to love? After counting down the weeks to Advent since probably around September, it's here at last.
I don't have an Advent Calendar, so I created my own Christmas Countdown on the chalkboard in our kitchen.
My church had a big festival tonight to celebrate the kick off, complete with The Hanging of the Greens.. Everyone took a sprig of evergreen and added it to a wire frame until we built our own Christmas tree, as demonstrated by Victoria.
They also had star ornaments for the kids (and the 26 year old kids) to decorate. Mine ended up looking like most of my drawings do. I am no artist. (It's supposed to be an Advent wreath). But it was fun!
After I got home, we "lit" the first candle on our Advent wreath. Hooray! The candles are actually the kind where you flip the switch on the bottom and the little bulb lights up. Evergreen branches and open flame seem like a bad combination to me.
I know this only counts as my adore today, but just go ahead and apply this to all days between now and December 25th. :D I'm a happy girl.
I love it! Thanks for the pictures :)
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