This was my first Christmas to do a personal Advent study on the days leading up to Christmas. I grew up in a church that followed that tradition but we don’t follow that now. I thought I’d try it this year on my own.
I used the book: For All by Becky Kiser. HERE is a link for it on Amazon if you are interested. I’m not an affiliate so no connection if you use my link. It is workbook format and the Sunday/candle days are optional or could be used alone if desired. They are in the front of the book and not mixed in with the other days.
I even made a cluster of candles from things I already had on our coffee table in the living room. I love candles and on the nights I was sitting in the living room, would light the appropriate number of candles for the week. Yes, as we got closer to the celebration of the Light of the World, the room got brighter as well!
In the past, our church has set up a photo area for family Christmas photos. I was counting on it this year but they didn’t do it. So a tree with an outlet in the wall…. and us! (One of us still needs to find a selfie stick that will hold my big camera and case!)
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We agreed after last Christmas that we were ready for a smaller Christmas tree and I got one from Ambrose Christmas Tree Store the first week of November. I was hoping to beat the rush (and they had trees at 30% off) but my order got lost and I waited until the week after Thanksgiving and called. I was nearby the next day and they said they’d have it ready and they did! I was so pleased I got it there. Lifetime guarantee to fix and/or replace the lights or anything that goes wrong with it. Yeah! I had chosen the tree star from there and they had that in place as well.
Thankfully, Miss K loves to do the ornaments (I don’t!) and she finished the decorating when she got here. ♥
And… if a day had sunshine, about 3:30 p.m. it would make the sparkles on the star reflect onto the ceiling. Delightful!
Also for the first time EVER, I bought an Advent calendar of sorts. A chocolate one! At Aldi. It must have been the 1st day they were out as I never saw them again. Glad to have The Nutcracker vs only santa. I put it away in a spare bedroom closet as I bought it before Thanksgiving!
And then forgot about it until the middle of December! So I decided to do it on the days of January to make that month a bit more tolerable! I forgot and started on the 4th of January! Ha! Then had a family interruption that included an unplanned trip to Ohio on the 7th so got off track again. I resumed maybe by the 17th or so.
I forgot some nights and finished on Feb 7. Once I shared with my farmer. He doesn’t savor chocolate…. so I didn’t want to waste it. It was all good!! ♥
I will watch Aldi next November for a new one!
and sew on... 