Advent, from the Latin adventus, meaning "coming", is a particularly special time for our household.
This isn't easy, though. Starting somewhere in college, I have frequently had a hard time "enjoying" Christmas. Some of this was due to exams, some due to travel and some due to the constant grind broken by a day or two of celebration. Things did not improve when I joined the work force when the day before Christmas and the day after are treated much the same. To top things off, my wife tends to favor Christmas over just about every holiday—perhaps over every other holiday. So we celebrate Advent, to prepare us for the season and not just celebrate the day.
We are somewhat rare among Reformed folks; this tends to be a Catholic tradition. Yes, Presbyterians have liturgies for this sort of thing but bringing it home seems to be quite another matter.
Why is it, then, that every year we struggle with what to do as we shift our time of family worship to Advent? Certainly there are books and resources and stuff on the Internet. I'm not sure. Whatever the matter, this is what we're doing this month.
