ETA: I’m going to include this in the CatholicMom.com Advent Wreath Link Up… for those of you who, like me, don’t actually have an Advent Wreath at the moment! Hence why you may be experiencing deja-vu, the extraordinary sensation that you’ve lived through something before. But first, let’s explore the phenomenon of deja-vu, the extraordinary…
I turned 40 on St. Andrew’s Day, which meant that my husband whisked me away for an overnight. We got to see Catching Fire and eat a meal in peace at a table where someone else was serving, someone else was even cooking, and where I was only interrupted when asked if I wanted another cocktail.
Bliss.
What we didn’t get to do was find our beautiful Advent wreath in time for Advent. I thought it was in one place. Hubby thought it was in another. Turns out it was in neither of those places, and we are stymied. However, if improvisation is good enough for the Holy Family, then we really ought not turn up our noses at not having things where we want them when we want them. And thus, behold! The Advent, erm, Basket!
We have a cup on the first candle so one child can hold it, lit, while another reads the night’s selection from Welcome, Baby Jesus by Sarah Reinhardt. This is all done with supervision, of course.
We also didn’t have time to make our annual gingerbread “sacrifice manger,” so we made it out of construction paper.
Second Shift filling the manger with yellow strips of paper she just cut for “hay.”
If Advent Calendars aren’t your thing, this might work for your family as well. The idea is that every time you do something nice for someone else or offer up something to Jesus, you put some “hay” (a piece of yellow paper) in the manger. By the time Christmas rolls around, we want to have a nice, soft manger full of “hay” to keep the Baby Jesus warm and comfortable. You can make your manger out of craft sticks, gingerbread, an empty clementine orange box, or even construction paper. This is our fourth or fifth year doing this, and it’s been a great way to keep our minds on preparing for our King all day long.
What does your family do to prepare to receive your King?
Erin McCole Cupp 