The week that’s not Advent
{Do you like my new rug? I love it. Downside (as I tried to indicate on my very first IG story ever, but failed due to technical inadequacy): no small toys will be detectable, which sounds fine until you step on one!*}
So this week is a little breather that doesn’t happen very often — a week between Thanksgiving and the beginning of Advent! (Of course, the sense of time-luxury gets snatched away when Christmas comes the day after the Fourth Sunday of Advent, but sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof and all that!)
It’s possible that I first became fully aware of getting ready for Advent in just such a year: an anomalous one like this one, where the first Sunday of Advent does not come right on the heels of Thanksgiving.
And it’s possible that this timing gave my not-fully-liturgically-formed mind a false sense of security. Because later it was quite a shock to realize that the more usual procedure is to be putting out the Advent wreath (and finding out you don’t have Advent candles!) while boiling down the turkey bones. Which is a lot of dealing with reality for the likes of me.
But let’s take advantage of this year’s little respite to plan just a bit for the next three weeks! If, that is, you are like me and things always catch you off guard. If you are up on it all, just move on along!
On my shopping list will be the ingredients for Plum Pudding. The collect for this past Sunday was
Stir up the will of your faithful, we pray, O Lord, that striving more eagerly to bring your divine work to fruitful completion, they may receive in greater measure the healing remedies your kindness bestows. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
As Evelyn Vitz recounts in her lovely book A Continual Feast, British Christians heeded the words “Stir up” that begin this prayer by stirring up their Christmas dessert! Yes, with its heavy soaking of brandy, this pudding will be safely tucked away for your festivities at the end of the month! (The link above is my tutorial — do check it out!)
Since we’re shopping, pick up Advent candles!
In our book, The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home, we write that the seasons of Advent and Lent are particularly suited for beginning again in the liturgical life. We do have regrets that we didn’t observe our devotions in the past, and certainly, we parents look at our children and wonder how to begin at all.
The good news is that the First Sunday of Advent is the ideal time to introduce prayer in your home, beyond what you may be doing now. To the children, nothing seems more natural than the preparations we begin for Christmas — and that is Advent! As we set out our Advent wreath and little calendar, they eagerly await the songs and prayers that go along with them.
So if you’ve been feeling a little inadequate, take heart! Nothing more is required of you than that you live your Advent in a childlike way, along with your children.
The “curriculum,” so to speak, for educating our children in the faith is exactly this: to observe the liturgical seasons and to allow the prayers and devotions of each one guide us to know Christ and his Church better.
You will notice that even the feast days of the saints that enter into our Advent life support and sustain the vision we are working towards, of the coming of Our Lord in the flesh at the Nativity! It’s so beautiful.
Think of how St. Nicholas (the 6th) brings his love of children; the Immaculate Conception, that great Solemnity, offers us a chance to dwell on the Mother of God — this is her time, you know. It’s the time in which the whole preparation of Creation for the coming of the Lord is brought to a point, the one woman who will give her Yes. Think of St. Lucy, whose very name brings in the hint of the light of sanctity that keeps us on the way out of the darkness to the Light.
In this season we will learn the art of celebrating in the midst of austere preparation. Just before Christmas are the last of this year’s Ember Days. Maybe now give a thought (and a conversation with your spouse) about how you will approach the inevitable parties that crop up. There is a way to enjoy each other’s company without totally abdicating our “yearning and longing” mode of preparation!
Want to know a secret? Advent has its own beautiful carols! Of course we can sing Christmas carols as well (we have to learn all the verses, after all, and get ready for concerts and such!) — and it’s wise to sort of order them from less to more outrageously joyful so as to pace ourselves. The great news is that there is an amazing repertoire of Advent hymns and carols that used to be quite well known — and should be again. Each one is a little mini-catechism on Salvation History and the Incarnation. You can find many of them in my favorite book, Take Joy by Tasha Tudor. Sadly this book is no longer in print, but you can find copies at book sales occasionally!
Some Advent albums for you:
Advent at Ephesus (Benedictines Of Mary, Queen Of Apostles)
Puer Natus Est (Stile Antico)
Praetorius: Advent and Christmas Music (Bremer Barock Consort)
Advent Carols from St. John’s (Choir of St. John’s College)
From Darkness to Light: The Salisbury Advent Service (This one is very much an Advent “lessons and carols” recording from the actual church service, so not a “concert.”)
Here are all my Advent posts from the past, linked in this Advent post. So if you are just not sure, I think I will have some answers for you! Take a look around!
(The links above are Amazon affiliate links! Thanks for shopping with us!)
Now I think I’ll go rummage in my boxes and figure out what I need to get my own Advent going. The main thing is to live along with the Church as she takes us through this season to the Nativity. When we live our Advent, simply and peacefully, our children will naturally come along the journey with us!
*Here’s the Ebay store I got the rug from is called rughouse.
This is not an affiliate link — I just want you to know that I was very pleased with my all-wool rug for less than the price of a not very nice synthetic one!
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