So that means tomorrow morning is Christmas at our house!
This year I have been learning more about advent.
Growing up we had Advent readings at church with candles but we stopped doing that several years ago.
I don't really remember having chocolate advent calendars growing up... most of my childhood I was allergic to chocolate.
My mom did have a fabric advent calendar that you would put little fabric pieces up on a fabric tree but it was more of a countdown calendar then true advent.
To me, Advent has always been a church word without much meaning behind it.
I also remember being a kid (and adult) and longing for Christmas. I felt like the wait took forever!!! Decembers always felt like the longest month of the year.
I would feel bad for longing so much for Christmas and honestly I would get to the end of Christmas some years and feel let down... not by anything in specific but when you wait for something for so long sometimes you feel sad when it is over.
I have started listening to and reading a few different new people this year that have taught me the beauty and history of Church traditions. If I understand a deep meaning behind something I appreciate it more. That doesn't always mean that I will start participating in that practice (I have not outright done anything for Advent this year... infact I bought Jilli an advent calendar on clearance months ago and we forgot to do it lol) but it gives me a new respect for it. Honestly for much of my life I have seen Church traditions like Advent to not hold much meaning or purpose... its not in the Bible and just felt like a man made ritual.
However learning that Advent is the longing and waiting for Christmas felt like it connected me with something that my heart has felt for a long time.
We often forget about the longing that the people had for Jesus. They had talked about him for a very long time. Jewish children knew and learned about the coming king. God was silent for 400 YEARS before Jesus!!! That is a long time and a lot of longing! I think we often gloss over that.
We know how the story ends... we know about the birth... we know about the cross... but Advent is a time for us to remember the longing for Christ and remind ourselves how much we need Him and how blessed we are that He came.
Last year Jilli decided that she wanted to sleep under the Christmas tree one night. I don't remember why she wanted to do this but we made it work and she slept under the tree.
Tonight is the night that she is sleeping under the tree (we move her inclined bed to the living room).
We might all sleep in the living room tonight near the tree...
There is something that feels like Advent in sleeping under the tree and waiting for Christmas to arrive. The excitement... the joy... the longing...
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