Advent Links (plus, we're on Pinterest!)

(Compiled by Anna)

A blessed Advent to you! My two-year-old is getting his first taste of Advent (last year doesn't count because he was too young). I am still trying to convince him of the difference between birthday candles and the Advent wreath. After we sing "O Come O Come Emmanuel" after dinner and blow out the candle, he sings, "Happy, happy, happy." Oh well.

Here are some links that might be useful as you remember this season.

Note: we've started a SDMW Pinterest account. Our boards attempt to include a range of resources. No doubt the range will grow with time. Feel free to send us suggested links! You can find us HERE.

Off-site, Holly Scheer suggests 10 Simple Ways to Celebrate Advent.

From the Archives:

Suffering in Advent

By Melanie Sorenson

Suffering is not a topic most people like to address, especially not as the Christmas lights begin to go up and the entryways to all the stores are filled with the ringing of the Salvation Army bells and the smiling faces of volunteers. We know, thanks to all the TV commercials, that this is supposed to be a magical season filled with feasting and family. Except sometimes it isn’t. MORE.

Unsettling Asymmetry of the Advent Wreath

By Heather Judd

Churches are places of symmetry. In traditional architecture, the nave, the altar, and the cross all embody beauty through symmetrical perfection.

The Advent wreath is just the opposite. It begins well but ends, quite frankly, lopsided.... This year, though, the Advent wreath gave me a new thought. What if, within all the ordered, stately, symmetrical beauty that God prescribes (Exodus 26-30) and that Church tradition has embraced, this small amount of Advent asymmetry is meant to draw my attention and cause me a smidge of unease? MORE. 

Ideas on Celebrating Advent (Q and LA)

Fortunately, we are not judged by the purpleness of our Advent. Yet it's often fun and helpful to hear how others keep this season. In this session of Q and LA, a group of ladies answers this question:

"It can be hard to celebrate Advent when the department store is blasting Bing Crosby in September. What are ways that you “keep Advent?” I’m interested in family traditions, but also in hearing ideas on how a single person (who might feel silly with an Advent wreath all for herself) can live according to the seasons of the Church Year." MORE.

Last Year's Advent Link-Up Party