How is it a MONTH since I last posted?? And I'm not even on Instagram anymore!! Life is full in a beautiful (and challenging!) way with a toddler at home and a baby on the way...our community of church and friends has grown significantly in the past year...I have retreated a lot from the rush of technology...with all those factors I guess I just am on the computer less often! Which is a good thing, although I still have a bad habit of checking little things on my phone throughout the day--but Advent is coming, so it's time to shape up! ;)
On that note, I'm in total preparation mode for Advent beginning this Sunday. I'm definitely one that is NOT liturgically correct when it comes to the decorations and music and such. There's no way I can wait until Christmas Eve to decorate. I've thought a lot about it and have decided my happy balance is to go all out with my decorating that I love, the music that makes me smile, the baking that warms my heart and house...and consider it all preparation for the celebration of Christmas. Because it is. When a big party is coming up, we prepare for it, often well ahead of time. We don't wait until the last minute and stress out and do it all the night before. So I'm okay with my strategy. ;) (Plus when our kids are older someday, I do plan to have special traditions and celebrations for the 12 days of Christmas, so that they realize the difference in the church seasons).
I also recently learned that Advent is not necessarily a "penitential" season of the Church, but rather one of "preparation." So no gloomy or solemn faces around here, just quiet (um, or noisy sometimes?) hearts preparing Him room. However, since I know fasting does make room for more of God in my life, I'm planning to nix all social media in order to be still and know Him more deeply. I'm also hoping to finally get back to a daily habit of praying and meditating on the life of Christ with the rosary.
And now, despite this short and unorganized post, I'm going to go have some of that prayer time right now before the unpredictable teething toddler wakes up from a (likely short) nap. And I'm going to ignore all the boxes of open decorations and the crazy mess of the house in order to pray....because, you know, I don't have to have it all finished today. It's a season of preparation, not completion. ;)
I've determined that I don't even know where the time goes anymore, and I've been amazed to see how infrequently I've been blogging. It's a great thing to do on the side, but yeah, life gets full in other areas and less social media and technology has been good for me. I hope you have fun decorating! I'm pretty stoked for Advent, and I'm excited to break into our stuff later on this week. I LOVE praying and eating by the light of the Advent wreath, so I think I'm mostly excited for that. Also, my toddler will be old enough this year to bring up the baby Jesus on Bambinelli Sunday at church, which makes me happy :)
ReplyDeleteI love thinking of Advent as preparation too. And I do a little compromise - I'm not the one to put on Christmas music early (even though my husband already has!) but I DO love staying joyful in our anticipation and baking, talking about Christmas/buying gifts/etc w my family. It's such an exciting time! :)
ReplyDeleteYay Advent! And I 100% join you in not being entirely liturgically timed with decorations and music. It's probably because I grew up with so much festivity throughout December. But I just can't fathom Advent without all the festivity! I love the distinction between a time of penance vs. preparation - it's always about preparation to me :-) So excited.
ReplyDeleteI've recently developed into more of an Advent "snob," for lack of a better word, but I TOTALLY get what you're saying. in our home we try to avoid dipping too much into the hardcore penitential atmosphere that's more proper to Lent by making sure to break up the fasting and preparation by celebrating the myriad of lovely feasts and solemnities interspersed throughout the season (St. Nicholas, the Immaculate Conception, St. Lucia...), and also making a big celebratory deal of Gaudete Sunday. this is definitely a time of joyful hope!
ReplyDelete