Like Buddy the Elf, Christmas is my favourite time of the year.
However, unlike many others who claim this season as their own, I resist the urge to decorate until the first Sunday of Advent. I wasn’t raised with the tradition of Advent. My evangelical upbringing threw the baby out with the bathwater and we eschewed the ritual of the church calendar for spontaneity. While we gained some, we lost much in the process so I try various ways to inculcate the habit of Advent into these four weeks. Maybe I feel like I have to rectify this juvenile loss so I cherish this holy time of longing with anticipation.
Each year, my self-imposed restriction becomes more difficult to keep as the media inundates us with Christmas after Remembrance Day. I refuse to listen to Christmas music too, not because I’m a Scrooge, but because by limiting the season to four weeks, I heighten my sense of enjoyment. Neither will we turn on our outside lights until this Sunday, although to avoid calamity I nagged my husband to install them on the roof one warm, dry November day. Better safe than sorry.
When our children were young, they would prepare their list for Santa in early December perhaps even November then wait for wishes to come true. They would cross things off their list, multiple times, improving the list as commercial after commercial vied for their attention and our hard-earned dollars. Our children are young adults now so thanks to technology, they text me their lists.
I do start my Christmas gift shopping early, hoping to get items before the store shelves become bare, daring to shop online to snag a bargain and hoping not to forget anyone on my list.
I have new recipes bookmarked on my computer, I’ve dusted off old favourites that it wouldn’t-be-Christmas-without (my Popa’s favourite shortbreads) and I’m beginning to accumulate some extra pantry items like flour, sugar, spices and dried fruit.
I will send out our Christmas cards in the next few days in order to reach far away destinations before the big day. Connecting with friends is so easy on the internet but I love the tradition of writing the cards and trying to get Canada Post’s elusive Christmas stamps. I remember standing in line at the post office to mail Christmas cards with my Nana and in doing this small act I always feel a link with the past.
But still I wait for something and this waiting allows me to identify with the meaning of Advent. The people of God waited, sometimes not so patiently over thousands of years, wondering if God’s promises would be fulfilled. They listened to the prophets who foretold His coming. And finally, Mary and Joseph waited, wondered and were filled with awe as they saw the tiny One slowly grow to expand Mary’s small frame.
The waiting culminates in the birth of the Messiah but in our fast-paced world, this waiting ends on the 25th. However, I’m not in a rush to rid the house of Christmas until early January when we celebrate the arrival of the Magi with the feast of Epiphany. After all, it seems rude to me to wait in an undecorated house for those wise men who have travelled so far. By then I feel like Christmas is truly over for another year.
But still I wait.
The waiting of Advent is all about waiting for God to come. Emmanuel. God with us. This entry of the omniscient One into our time and space is worthy of rejoicing!
However, the waiting doesn’t end with the entry. In fact, it just begins. We must hold the duality of ‘the now and the not yet’ in our hands. The kingdom of God has come to this world. Jesus has entered the world to set the world right but on the surface, the world doesn’t look right. There are wars and rumours of wars and each day we are bombarded with images of horror, poverty and hatred on our screens.
The world may not look right but because of the first Advent, all is right with the souls those who believe on Jesus and receive him as their Lord and Saviour.
I’m still waiting and rejoicing in advance of His second coming.
With every blessing,
Kelly
