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Advent (from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming") is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, in other words, the period immediately before Christmas.
The progression of Advent may be marked with an Advent calendar reckoning Advent to start on 1 December, a practice introduced by German Lutherans.
This (above) was borrowed from Wikepedia
To us, advent is the time to put out the four candles… we’d light one candle each sunday before christmas… and this is a purple time for us… the four candles are usually purple (this have changed lately.. where people find their own colors that fit with their domestic decor)
I still use purple candles, and I love it that way. I really like purple too, so it’s not a problem for me :-) hehe..
first sunday
second sunday
third sunday
fourth sunday
and this means – christmas is here! At last!
Our kids usually have their advent calendar, and these come in every shape and form… but it is a countdown for x-mas( with numbers from 1 – 24) … and the kids get one small thing each day before x-mas.
We also put up an advent star.. with light in it.. in our window during advent, and this is the one I really like.. it makes it so cozy!! I have several that I have bought, and one special one that I made with my own two hands :-) (picture below)
Other than this.. there’s not a whole lot of christmas decor in our homes before december 23rd…. this is the night we call “little christmas-eve”. This night we put out all the red, white and green stuff :-) ,santas and candles.. christmas tree and all that comes with it.. and before night fall (after the kids have gone to sleep) “santa” puts all the presents under the tree, so that come christmas morning (ours is celebrated on december 24th) the kids will come into the livingroom.. to a tree decorated and filled with presents underneath it!!!
I also do the christmas stocking for my kids, although this is an american thing.. it has arrived here as well! :-)
Oh.. we do have one tradition though.. the kids usually make a gingerbread house, decorated with lots of candy :-) very sweet(!) hehe
You can actually see my candles in the background here… if you look really close! hehe… this is an old photo.. next weekend we will start the advent decoration. on december 1st.
Have a wonderful advent!!!!
6 kommentarer:
I love this post. I hope you will share more of your holiday traditions over the Christmas season. My husband's family had a similar tradition when he was growing up but I enjoy the Christmas tree too much and insisted that we decorate much earlier.
Another great post. I love the star you made and the purple candles. We start decorating right after Thanskgiving~ we go to the early bird sales starting at 4:00am friday, stop for breakfast then start unloading our attic. :)
Bug hugs~ J
Monica-
Thanks for sharing those Christmas traditions. We do the Advent Wreath as well....we buy a fresh one from church every year. My kids also love their Advent Calendars (even my 17 year old) because they have little chocolates for each day. Your gingerbread house is really cute :) I have never had very good luck trying to make a gingerbread house....
I LOVE hearing about your traditions WAY over there in Norway! I especially like the idea of not bringing out the tree untill Christmas eve. I may do that this year too! I can't believe you made that Advent star, it's beautiful, you're very talented! :)
Buffie
Ok, I'm going to be looking for your graut recipe! :) I really want to make it and try it!
Buffie :)
Monica, I love hearing about the Norway traditions. I have seen Advent stars like the one you made. I used to work in a store that carried treasures from Norway. I love the fact that you made your star yourself. I also love the idea of setting up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. We use to do that when I was a child.
Hugs, Terrie
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