I should be studying. I've managed to put it off for 3 hours now. I'm pretty proud. Except I really need to do it. It's coming down to the wire, as they say. What does that even mean?
Today is First Advent. It officially kicks off Christmas in my household. It's a tradition we've had since we were little kids. It was something that my dad's family celebrated, and now we celebrate it. I'd explain it, but according to the wikipedia article, we celebrate it differently. So I guess I'll explain how we celebrate it. Advent Sunday starts four Sundays before Christmas Eve. We have an Advent wreath:
The four candles around the wreath are lit on the four Sundays before. One candle on the first, two on the second, and so on. The middle candle (and all surrounding candles) are lit on Christmas Eve. When my siblings and I were younger, we used to fight over who got to blow the candles out. We wait until it is dark outside (which is much earlier up north than here!) and then my brother, sister, and I go into one of our bedrooms and shut the door. We read the Christmas Story (typically out of Matthew or Luke) out loud (we take turns each Sunday) and wait until we hear the Christmas music. When we come out, all the Christmas lights are on, candles are lit, and the advent wreath is lit according to which Sunday it is. We each have a Christmas tray full of candies and chocolate. On Second Advent we have a small, unwrapped gift with our candies. On Third Advent our parents pick a small gift from under the tree for us to open, and on Fourth we are allowed to pick our own gift. After, we sit around and just talk and enjoy the ambiance. This is definitely one of my favorite Christmas traditions and one I plan on celebrating when I have children.
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