This is the Advent wreath that my wife put together. When I wrote my post What is Advent, the greenery hadn’t been added yet. The wreath is a combination of cedar, pine, holly and one other everygreen plant (sorry). We also collected a few very small pine cones. The candles are traditional purple and pink, though the center candle should probably be white. The red candle was taller, and looked good in the arrangement.
The advent of something refers to its first appearing. In our culture, Christmas has turned into the Christmas season. This year it started about a week before Halloween, and will run until December 25th. The “Holiday Season” will actually extend until January 1st. All of this “Christmas creep” has a quite a negative effect on Christmas.
If we are celebrating the incarnation of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day, the two-month Christmas season detracts from the actual day itself. I respond to the notion that our society stole Christmas from Christians and turn it into a secular holiday here. What I would like to do in this post is comment on a purely Christian tradition of celebrating Advent. Continue reading
The Master's Table 