Pause, reflect, prepare: How to make this Advent truly special
If we were to believe the media and advertisers Christmas is already upon us. The shops are full of decorations. Christmas music is playing. Restaurants are all decorated and festive and almost every advert on TV is about Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong I love Christmas. I love the music, the decorations, the giving and receiving of gifts, the time to spend with family. I love pretty much everything about it. Except stollen – can’t stand stollen! But my point is, it’s not Christmas yet. It’s Advent. That special time of waiting and anticipation. A time to prepare spiritually as well as getting that Christmas shopping done!
It saddens me every year when all the shops, restaurants and radio stations act like Christmas is over on 27th December when in fact it only began on 25th. We peak too soon. For me Christmas lasts right to the Epiphany on 6th January so I don't need to start celebrating it in mid-November!
Anticipation of an event, whether it’s your summer holiday, the birth of a child or indeed Christmas is as much a pleasure as the event itself. That excitement, the knowledge that something wonderful, outside ordinary daily life is going to happen is an important part of the process.
As a child I always had an Advent calendar. I loved the anticipation of opening that little door every morning, seeing what picture I got as we got closer and closer to Christmas. There didn't need to be chocolate or a toy in it for me to be excited to open it. In fact I don't think that there were calendars with toys in them - I'm showing my age now!
As an adult I like to read an Advent themed book every day. I have a couple of favourites that I re-read regularly, The Advent Calendar by Stephen Croft and The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. Both are thought provoking helping me to focus on the meaning of Christmas.
I remember in my Advent reading one year a wonderful description of the season of Advent as being like watching for the dawn. The sky turning slowly from deepest black to navy as the light begins to appear on the horizon. You know the light is coming. It’s that anticipation of the wondrous moment.
During Advent I enjoy both the religious and the secular preparation for Christmas. But, some years I admit that the busyness of December means that the spiritual preparation is neglected. Those years the celebration of Christmas always feels a little hollow. No matter how lovely the gifts or food it feels a little empty to me. That spiritual anticipation of the feast of Christmas is important to me.
Whatever your faith or tradition I would encourage you too to use December to concentrate on more than just the consumerism of the season. Find ways to be mindful and to be grateful. Be intentional and take care of yourself so that come the celebrations you can be fully present with those you love, rather than burnt out and disillusioned by the whole thing.
