What is Advent

by | Dec 1, 2018 | Holidays, Solutions

What is Advent? How do you celebrate Advent? What is an Advent Calendar? How do you use an Advent Calendar? All of these questions are great as we dig in deeper to the tradition of Advent and how we celebrate it this year.

Advent is a celebration I’ve come to experience and explore as an adult. I did not grow up with Advent as one of my Christmas Traditions, but I do love the thoughtfulness and intention that goes into celebrating the Advent Season. As I kick off these 25 days of writing through Advent, I thought I’d start by talking through “What is Advent” and the things I’ve come to learn about it over the last few years. I don’t have all the answers and this post will probably stomp on all liturgical sources. But, a thoughtful post from my heart about the why behind it all, is all I seek.

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What is Advent? How do you celebrate Advent? What is an Advent Calendar? How do you use an Advent Calendar? All of these questions are great as we dig in deeper to the tradition of Advent and how we celebrate it this year.

What is Advent?

Advent means “coming.” Throughout scripture, God promised the coming of His Son, Jesus, as the Messiah. The Hebrew people longed to be rescued and freed and the Promise was the Savior. Advent often explores 4 themes – peace, hope, joy, and love. When most people think of Advent they think of a liturgical or spiritual celebration. But, some just use it as a term to refer to the days leading up to Christmas; almost as an interchangeable term with “Christmas season.” For the purposes of our writing days, I use it as a challenge to slow down and reflect. Whether it is a spiritual tradition or a holiday pastime, I think it’s important for us to look at the things we do and see if they have purpose and meaning all year long. They may be fun and whimsical or may have deep-rooted tradition.

When do you celebrate Advent?

Advent is often celebrated the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas, with the final Advent candle, the Christ candle, being lit at a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day service. Because those dates are not definitive, many people start a daily Advent Calendar on December 1 and celebrate each day up to December 25, Christmas day. The difference here falls if people are celebrating Advent as a spiritual journey in tradition with the themes of peace, hope, joy, and love or if they are using their Advent journey as a daily walk towards Christmas day. Neither is right or wrong.

What’s the point of Advent?

For most, Advent is a spiritual celebration of preparing your heart for the coming of the Nativity or Christmas story. In Latin, the word means, “coming” and that term refers to the season of the year that leads up to Christmas Day and celebrating the birth of Christ. Advent also has an element involved in remembering the second coming of Christ and the hope of eternity. For the Hebrew people who first anticipated and waited for the birth of Christ, His coming meant everything – it meant life, peace on earth, hope revealed, an unending joy and the greatest act of love. For Christians today, it is a reminder and reinforcement of all those things. It is also the expectation of that fully revealed when Jesus comes again. It is the greatest love story. A loving God with a perfect son, Jesus, sent Him to earth with the ultimate goal to die for the sins of the people of the earth. My dad and I used to sing a song called, Born to Die, and it gets me every time when I think that my eternal salvation was the full reason of why Jesus came to earth as a baby.

What is an Advent calendar?

An Advent calendar is a fun and festive way to display the way you are celebrating the Advent season. Whether something small on a table, or hanging on a wall or chair rail, the displays and material they are made of vary greatly. Some ready from a book, others write things on index cards. Some have cloth wall hangers, wooden boxes with daily drawers. Some have crafted pieces that they make new each year and some have methods they have used and passed down generation to generation.

Bottom line here is to do what you can. If you are able to tackle something every day of advent whether an activity, toys, candy or something to do together, GO FOR IT. If you can tackle one big thing each week and then do a reading each day, go for it. The point here is to celebrate and create memories together. Not wear out yourself and your family so much so that everyone is so annoyed as the weeks tick away. Do you. Your process DOES NOT have to be Pinterest perfect. That is so overrated. But, finding quiet, calming time each day or week for your family to be together with purpose and intention is the goal.

How do you use an Advent calendar?

Options here change if you are using a daily option or celebrating each week. If you are doing once a week, candles are often the way to celebrate and draw attention together. Some will use a formal setting with purple and pink candles, while others will set up mason jars and tea lights. If going with this weekly method, you focus in with a reading and scripture surrounding the week’s theme – peace, hope, joy, and love. The Bible Project provides a great outline for families to use.

First, I need to define that the “calendar” can look like all kinds of things. Sometimes is envelopes in a mason jar on the table with dates written on the outside. Sometimes its a wall hanging with pockets and numbers on the front. Some people make something they hang across their mantle. Others just gather weekly or nightly at the dinner table and pull up something on their phone or tablet. Some have a wood carving that has been passed down generation to generation. There is no set calendar type or strict guideline. I actually like that, I think families or individuals have to do what’s best for them. Some people do not have the time they gather every single night and doing something with little kids that way is just too much. Others need the structure and plan of having something to do to entertain their family. Be flexible and do what you know you can consume.

Everyone uses an Advent calendar a little different. Some people fill the calendar with activities to do each day like bake cookies, watch a movie, visit a neighbor, or look at lights. Others put a daily scripture in to read and reveal the story of Christmas. Some people use it to put a piece of candy or small trinket in for each of their children. There really are so many options. A new tradition I’ve seen some use is to put a question in each day and use that as a dinner topic or family time topic to talk through. Some are funny and silly and others are serious or make you reflect and reveal.

How does an Advent calendar work?

If using a daily advent calendar, each day you open or see what has been stuffed in a pocket or set aside as an activity for that day. Then you complete the activity or enjoy the treat offered that day. The whole purpose is to help center your heart toward Christmas day and celebrating Christ.

Best Advent Calendars of 2018

  • well, I’d like to first offer the Advent Calendars that I sell in my Etsy store – K Cutie Designs – if you are looking for something to complement your home and give versatility to the way you celebrate, then let me encourage you to check out the listings.
  • Another tool I often enjoy is the Advent Daily Devotionals offered by Fellowship Bible Church in Northwest Arkansas. These daily pieces of encouragement are something I’ve used the last couple of years as a way to set my day and my heart toward the story of Christ. You can subscribe to receive them by text or email each day.
  • I have pinned some fun ideas on my Advent board on Pinterest. Check out some of the ideas offered there.
  • The Bible Project has a fun and interactive tool for families to use together.
  • Jeannie Allen offered 8 options and creative tools

For the rest of the month, we will be exploring a topic each day. I”m going to try and do my best to tackle each topic. It might be a full blog post, a fun story, a creative poem, or just an open door with a bunch of questions. I have no agenda other than to pull you into the season, set my heart on what’s in front of us and just have some fun. If you blog along with us, use #bigpittstopADVENT and leave a link to your post in the comments or on my bigpittstop Facebook page. Maybe instead, you just want to post a picture in your social media feed each day on the topic, and I think that’s a great idea. Tag me or use #bigpittstopADVENT and we will celebrate together.

What is Advent? How do you celebrate Advent? What is an Advent Calendar? How do you use an Advent Calendar? All of these questions are great as we dig in deeper to the tradition of Advent and how we celebrate it this year.

Write along with us throughout the month of December. Whether its a microblog on social media, a photo each day, a creative piece in a writing journal, or a full blog post. Use these topics to help set the tone of reflection for your Christmas season.

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