We’re just over a week into Advent and there’s less than 20 days until Christmas. Are you stressed yet? You don’t have to be. Some will say the answer is to eschew anything “Christmasy” and focus on a penitential Advent. Others may tell you to embrace the fact that our culture gives a vague nod in the direction of Christ and so it’s appropriate to join in the festive overconsumption. As with any virtue, it seems the mean lies somewhere between being a Grinch about putting up trees before Christmas Eve and cramming your schedule full while emptying your bank account.
Instead, may I recommend a slow, cozy, intentional Advent filled with less frantic activity and more joyful anticipation?
Gifts: Buy Early and Buy Simple
While we all appreciate thoughtful gifts, wracking your brain for the perfect gift for your uncle’s girlfriend’s cat may not be the best use of mental energy. Just thinking of someone is usually plenty of thought. Buying gifts before Advent starts is arguably ideal but otherwise trying to have them all purchased before the Third Sunday of Advent gives you plenty of time to not stress. In most cases, you also shouldn’t be blowing the budget on Christmas gifts. There’s nothing wrong with a simple gift, even for kids. The Christmas “magic” doesn’t come from a price tag.
Cozy Winter Activities
For many, Christmas goes hand-in-hand with family togetherness and cozy evening activities. Decorating cookies, reading by the fireplace, knitting a scarf, or making paper snowflakes can all be done during Advent. Yes, Christmas is the celebration, the feast, but that does not mean that Advent is only a somber and bland waiting period.
St. Bernard of Clairveaux said
It is fitting, my brethren, that we should celebrate this season of Advent with all possible devotion, rejoicing in so great a consolation, marveling at so great a condescension, inflamed with love by so great a manifestation of charity.
Rejoicing and marveling are not usually what we think of during times of preparation but is there a better way to prepare our hearts that to acknowledge the beauty and magnitude of the Birth of Our Savior which we prepare to remember in just a few weeks?
Decorate Earlier
Okay, hear me out. While it has long been argued that Christmas decorations don’t belong in Advent, there is something to be said for trimming the hearth as ye are able. Perhaps you set up the tree without ornaments or even lights. Maybe you just do a wreath on the door and a festive scented candle. Being needlessly strict about when it is appropriate and not to decorate does not foster the idea of joyful anticipation or hopeful preparation. I’m not saying your house should be decked out already but a few festive touches may actually serve to remind you of the feast that is soon coming.
Prayer and Feast Days
Advent is a time of preparing spiritually for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ. Taking extra time for prayer, using an Advent devotional or decorating a Jesse Tree with your kids are all ways to help you in this preparation.There isn’t enough, but there are some beautiful Advent hymns that can also help you enter into the season. December is full of beautiful feasts like the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Lucy’s Day which can be little celebrations marking the journey towards Christmas. An Advent wreath is, of course, a classic way to enter into prayer during this time.
Look Forward to Christmas
There are many ways you might fix your eyes on the coming celebrations. You may want to plan feasts or parties or family traditions to be done during the Christmas season. You could bake cookies and freeze them to make easily in the restful days after the 25th. If you have the option, save some of your Christmas visiting or parties for after Advent during the actual 12 Days of Christmas. Make sure that Christmas is more a time of celebration than the weeks leading up to it.
Let this Advent be a time of joy and hope.
Featured image from Vasilina Sirotina on Unsplash