I’ve really been enjoying all the advent blogs I’ve found. Lots of women are so creative and seem to have so much time. I wish I was able to dedicate the time and energy into creating such wonderful, homey crafts and baked goods. I’m having advent envy. Of course, this year, I’m spending all my free time trying to unpack our house. It’s going much slower than I had hoped. Since we moved into an identical house, you’d think that everything would just go right back into the same place it was in the old house. Not so much. Unfortunately, we were not well organized to start with and the packers don’t really care that you’ve got homeschooling books in three different bookshelves that really should be packed into the same boxes. They also don’t care that that big pile of papers should just go out into the recycling. They just dump it all into a box, label it something helpful like “guest room papers” and seal it up. In some cases they literally dumped stuff into a box. Playmobile pirate ship, remote control car, vintage Little People village from my childhood, Hello Kitty playhouse all in one box, with some books stuck in the empty spaces as filler. Two bowling pins (don’t ask!) on top of the Justice League Watch Tower.

OK, this was supposed to be a post about advent. Even in the best of circumstances, I’ve not given much thought to Advent beyond counting down the days. I’m not big on kids crafts, even though I’d like to be. I get frustrated when I can’t find the craft supplies I need for a project and gosh darn it, don’t you know that a 5 year old and an 8 year old just won’t make the project perfectly! Doesn’t add up to a lot of Comfort and Joy. However, in reading some of these other blogs, I’m seeing that Advent crafts do not need to be lengthy, done perfectly or involve hard to find supplies. Instead, they should reflect the season of joyful anticipation and should be heartfelt and simple. I would like to try some of the ideas I’ve found. I love Dawn’s blog in general and she’s got a lot of great advent ideas. I like her sequin ornaments, tissue paper stars, and star candles most of all. I think I’ll add them to my holiday plans binder for next year. Hopefully I’ll be in a better place to accomplish them. Over at O Night Divine, a blog devoted to Christmas, take a look at this homemade advent wreath that is a beautifully simple departure from a traditional wreath.

What I would like to share is the wonderful advent calendar that my mother made for me when I was about 4 years old. I hang it up for my children now and they take turns pinning an ornament to the tree everyday. I absolutely love my advent calendar for so many reasons - because my not-so-crafty mom made it for me, for it’s simplicity, and for the fact that it has been a part of my Christmases for as long as I can remember.

Something else I would like to share is our family
advent wreath. This is the latest one that we made at our church’s advent workshop. We first made one 4 years ago and it was then that my husband said he wanted to have an advent wreath every year and make it part of our family’s tradition.

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