Advent in the Church is the time of prayer and fasting preceding Christmas. For me, it's a time to focus on getting ready for Christmas, the end of the year, and the start of a new one. Although my celebration of Advent has been a Church based one for a lot of my life, the older I get the more interested I am in drawing in all sort of aspects of the season and incorporating them into a huge celebration of the season in all forms.
It's amazing to me that I haven't talked more about the reasons for my love of Advent. It's only last year that I finally managed to figure out a way to bring our Book Advent Calendars to life, so I guess I've always kept my Christmas obsession somewhat more separate from the business side of things, but I thought it would be fun to sit down and attempt to write something about the strength of my feelings for Advent, many of which I try to pour into the strange and (hopefully) awesome parcels I make for you all!
I get to stay indoors a lot, and when I do go outside there are fairy lights
I've always loved snuggling up indoors with a blanket and a book, or my favourite TV show. As kids we used to come home from school and get out all kinds of festive crafts on our big dining table (I come from a family where we've always been encouraged to make a lot of our Christmas cards and gifts) and we'd often drink hot chocolate too. December is the month above all months when nobody would make me go and play outside, and I've definitely translated this into my adult life! We stay in, we do crafts, we get out the glitter and sequins and do a lot of baking. Which brings me to the next thing I love about Advent
There's yummy food, and I get to bake and cook a lot
Coming from a big family (I'm one of seven kids and many of us now have more than one child of our own) I'm not only encouraged but expected to bake loads of yummy things throughout December. As mentioned above, I still make a lot of Christmas presents in the form of jams, chutneys, fudge, cookies etc, as well as which we often make our own Christmas puddings and/or Christmas cake, and I'm addicted to mince pies so I make and taste test them throughout Advent, pitting shop bought and bakery produced against my own homemade family recipes. I love the seasonal focus of Christmas food, and try to keep the typical festive spices and produce front and centre. To me seasonal living is one of the things I do that makes me feel the most connected to the world around me, and I think that the focus on feeding people good food, often preserved from things I've grown during the summer and autumn, is hugely restorative for me.
You're expected to be excited
During Advent, last minute Christmas shopping frenzy aside, people are often in a better mood, and while I do use my kids as a bit of an excuse, I love the feeling of permission to be childlike and excited about things which Advent brings. I absolutely do not subscribe to the idea that Christmas is 'for children' and try my best to indulge in all of the festivities to the best of my ability. That said I do usually avoid overly commercialised, overly expensive 'Christmas experience' type things like the plague. We tend to stick to simpler stuff, like going to visit the actual reindeer at our local conservation park, and going on evening walks to spot Christmas lights and all sorts of other things (some of which you'll find in your Book Advent Calendar...)
It's hugely connecting
In whatever way, a vast number of people around the world are doing similar preparatory things around the same time. As a child, I always loved the ritual of things like getting ready for our primary school carol service (I played in the orchestra for it for many years after I left primary school, as did many other older ex pupils of the school, such as my parents!), going carol singing and attending the local high street's parade for switching on the Christmas lights (there was a real donkey that lived in someone's garden down the road, and he used to lead the procession every year). As an adult, my family has expanded to encompass other countries and cultures and I love hearing about things like the St Nicholas festivities in Austria, where my sister lives. However you celebrate Christmas, during December we're all heading towards the same place in different ways and I find that hugely soothing.
Festive reading is amazing
I really, really love reading seasonal books during Advent. They're not always Christmas focused, but I often return to old favourites like Little Women (starts at Christmas), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Moominland Midwinter as well as books actually about the history of Christmas such as the British Library's Christmas Traditions: A Celebration of Festive Lore by George Goodwin, and A Christmas Cornucopia by Mark Forsyth. Recently I've been trying to pick up one new to me Christmassy book each Advent (much like our calendars, in which the fourth book is guaranteed to be a festive book that fits in with your chosen genres). Last year I read Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon, the year before I finished Jeanette Winterson's short story collection with recipes, Christmas Days and the year before that I finally read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. What should I pick up this year, I wonder?
It's set apart from the rest of the year
The older I get, the more of a fuss I make of Advent, because quite honestly by the time we get to December I'm just desperate for something a bit different! When my children were very small I began the tradition of the Advent Box (inspired by Pinterest, from which good things do come!), in which I'd put a festive activity for that day, a seasonal book and a film or short to watch. As the kids grow older we've incorporated other things like the Kindness Advent from Rosie Johnson Illustrates which we added last year, and of course most of our physical DVD's have gone, replaced by cards which say things like 'Watch Arthur Christmas on Netflix'. This year we're switching out some of the picture books for Christmas short story collections, and expanding the house decorating to last the entire month by putting a decoration or two in the box every day. Having this simple little thing (a lot of which is reused every year) helps to make things which need to get done, like wrapping presents and writing Christmas cards, more fun, and helps us to stay excited all the way through. I loved doing our weekly Cosy Advent Lives last year on Instagram, and am looking forward to bringing them back this year, because it's so much fun to open gifts together and talk about what sort of festive (or anti festive) frame of mind people are in, what they're reading and what they're doing.
Advent is permission to drink mulled wine (or Pumpkin Spiced Latte's or whatever your seasonal beverage of choice is), snuggle at home with family, or go out to gather with people you like at Christmas parties. It's slow and intentional and full of occasions for magic, festive reading, gift giving and all the good things I love!
If you love Advent as much as I do, or if you don't but want a little taste of how I feel about it, our Indie Book Advent Calendars are an extension of my feelings, with books personalised to your reading tastes. Order yours here.
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