Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Day 1: Holiday Tradition

On the first day of Blogmas, The Petite Mrs and The Coastie Couple gave to me...

This is something that is very important in our household as we have Princess, who is almost 3, and Little Man, who is almost 6. By having holiday traditions that we do every year, we are shaping how they view the holidays. They are learning that there are some things that are important.

Now, some of the things we do, help explain the meaning of Christmas. Every year for the past two years we have had the opportunity to light the Advent Candle at church. For those of you unfamiliar with Advent, Advent is the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas where Christians prepare themselves for remembering the birth of Jesus. There is a wreath with 5 candles (some only have 4). Everything on the wreath has meaning. One candle is lit every Sunday during Advent, save for the center white candle, which is lit at Christmas Eve Service.



Everything about the wreath has meaning. The 3 purple (or blue) candles represent Hope, Love, and Peace. The pink candle represent Joy. These are all things Jesus brings us. The white candle is the Jesus candle and this why it is lit at Christmas Eve service. The greenery is from evergreen trees to represent the everlasting life that we get through Jesus. The circle is for God's never-ending love. The red holly berries symbolize Christ's blood that was shed for our sins.

These two traditions have only recently started as we have begun attending our new church. But they are something we are very glad to be apart of to keep Christ in Christmas in our household.

We have a couple of other traditions that you are probably more familiar with and probably do yourself: Elf on the Shelf and an Advent Calendar.


Our elf, Jingle, came to stay with us two years ago. He USUALLY comes on December 1, but this year, he came early! I will try to do a weekly round up post here on the blog. But if you want to see his antics, follow me on Instagram.

And as for the Advent Calendar, here's the deal on that. I wanted something that DIDN'T have candy, chocolate, Legos or anything else when you opened the door. I wanted one that I didn't have to buy new every year. We had a Scooby-Doo one before the Big Crazy Mess (divorce). But I wanted something that also explained the meaning of Christmas at the same time. Fortunately I found this one on clearance a couple years ago at a Christian bookstore. It was PERFECT! Not only was it my FAVORITE Christmas TV special ("A Charlie Brown Christmas"), but it actually told the story of Christmas by the end. Every year now, Jingle the Elf brings our Advent calendar on December 1.

So those are our Holiday Traditions. What are yours?

Up tomorrow: Day 2: Random Act of Kindness.

To learn more about our beliefs, here are a few helpful links!
Advent and Christmas (Go her to find out what it means by "The Twelve Days of Christmas!")

8 comments:

  1. I love seeing what Jingle is up to! I also love that you use the holidays for education in addition to fun. :)

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    1. Thanks Pam! I love that the holidays we really celebrate have more meaning than just toys or goodies.

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  2. I remember doing the advent wreath as a child. It was a big thing in our house as my mom was Catholic. I always loved lighting the candles.

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    1. We don't have one at home, but I LOVE doing it at church now. It's so great to see the families and the meaning behind it.

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  3. I have never lit an Advent Wreath, but maybe I will have to add that to our celebration and preparing for the holiday next year. We don't do Elf on the Shelf, but my mom gave me 2 elves that have sat on our tree since I was a kid, and they are on ours every year. So I guess we did elves before they were cool!

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    1. We used to have a reindeer named Randal. But after I moved in with my mom, the elf was much easier to find than a new Randal.

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  4. I've never lit an Advent Wreath or knew all the meanings behind it. Thank you for that. I will be sure to teach it to my own kids now!

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    1. You're very welcome! I never knew either until I looked it up last year. I'd seen it before, but never understood it all until we joined this new church.

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