Ben Svensson's Blog: My time now - Posts Tagged "advent"

When I was young my family and I would walk out into the deep, dark forest of my home island a few days before the first of Advent to collect moss, small pinecones, and forest greens to decorate the Advent candle holder. My home island is not that very big, but as a kid I thought our island forest was enormously deep. In reality, you can easily walk through any ‘forest’ out on the island within 20 minutes… but anyway. It was an adventure and something we did as a family that I really enjoyed.
Today you can go to the store and buy you a bag of fake moss for a dollar or two; how boring is that! There is a tremendous difference between looking for moss in a local hardware store and looking for the real thing in a magical forest. To start with you cannot just go out in the forest and ask some forest clerk “what aisle can I find the white moss? “ Like he would say, “White moss, well that would be on the Pine aisle…number fifteen young man.” Nope, that would not happen. I’ve never seen a forest clerk anyway… maybe they do exist - maybe not. I think they might be as common as big foot and we all know how common they are! But see that is what is so fun out in nature, you are free and your fantasy grabs you and lets you be a kid again. In the store they won’t even let you start the tiniest of campfires. Not even if you swore that you had a scout badge testifying to you campfire making prowess. The probably wouldn’t they let you sit down in the middle of the store having a picnic with hot chocolate and homemade sandwiches either. Although it could be fun just to see how they would react if you did.
I think kids living in the suburbs today are being robbed of experiences like the ones I had as a kid out in the countryside. Your body has to work much more than it has to walking down aisle fifteen in some overcrowded store. The forest floor is not flat; there is no concrete or asphalt, there are no lines directing your way, no TV, no Internet to keep you entertained as you wait in line to pay for your goods. In the forest there are no people, but fresh air, animals, and silence. Sitting in the beauty and silence of a forest enjoying a cup of hot cocoa with your family is good for your soul.
I now live in California and today it is time for me to light the first Advent candle. I have to admit that the decorations around my Advent candle holder did not come from a walk in the forest. The funny thing is, even though I tried, I could not find any fake moss! Happy First of Advent to all of you out there. Don’t freak out parents, but there are only three more candles and Christmas is here.