Some of the local Catholic families were talking about how they are incorporating the Advent season into their home. One of our friends had an excellent idea so I thought I’d share it with you. She says:

In previous years I’ve waited until the last minute to decorate, cook, etc, but that puts a huge strain on the season in those final days of Advent. This year I wanted to keep Advent as a waiting period and a time of penance, but also try to avoid the last minute rush. This is what we’re doing this year.
Once “Pink week” comes this Sunday (the third Sunday of Advent is Gaudete Sunday) we will slowly begin to decorate (dragging it out for the next 2 weeks) since “pink week” invites us to recognize the hope and joy to come. But our biggest change is we have our tree up and decorated with wonderful PURPLE balls, silver garland, and PURPLE and PINK lights. I saw all these things at Target and now we have an “Advent tree!” This way our tree is up and ready to go and is getting the water it needs. Closer to Christmas we’ll take down the purple and put up the Christmas decorations.
We also have Advent calendars, Advent wreath, candles in the window as a sign of waiting, etc.

I love that idea and will keep it in mind next year. (This year we were so excited to have a real tree and house to decorate that we put up our Christmas decorations now along with our advent things.) For a refresher you can also read last year’s article Keeping Christ in Advent and Christmas. If you have an advent idea you’d like to share, let us know!