I always love the season leading up to Christmas. I spent some of my youth in the Anglican Church. While I do remember an advent wreath and talk about advent, there was not as much emphasis put on the importance of the Advent season (or maybe I just don’t remember because I was too hyped up for Christmas). Once I became Catholic, I really began to appreciate the importance of the season of Advent. It’s a season of penance, a season of longing and waiting for the baby Jesus. My personal favorites are traditional advent traditions.
Advent Wreath:
The advent wreath is a wonderful tradition filled with meaning. The circular wreath reminds us of eternity. The candles also each have meaning. The purple candles bear the meaning of hope, peace, and love; and the pink (lit on the third Sunday of Advent) represents joy. I like to light the candle for the week during dinner on Sunday. During that time, I like to discuss what it means through the season of Advent – a light in the darkness the same way Christ is the light in our world of darkness. Also, depending on the meaning of the candle, we discuss how Jesus bring that meaning into our lives.
Celebrate the Holy Days leading up to Christmas:
Three of my Favorite Holy Days leading up to is December 6, the Feast of Saint Nicholas; December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception; and December 13, the feast of Saint Lucy. I used to like to celebrate them because it made Advent go by faster so I can get to Christmas quicker. As an adult, I love to celebrate them for the opposite reason, they seem to make time slow down a bit when I take time to celebrate each Holy Day.
Commemorating these feasts does not have to be overly complicated either. You can look up food traditionally eaten on those holy days, or small things that you can do to celebrate the days. Celebrating Mary’s day and these Saints feast days also connects us to our Catholic heritage.
The Nativity Scene:
When we were in Germany, my parents bought a beautiful stable for the Holy Family. Growing up, I always looked forward to putting the Nativity Scene together. We would leave out the Baby Jesus and the Wise Men. The Baby Jesus we would set out after Mass on Christmas Eve and the Wise Men would be set out on the Feast of the Three Kings. I personally loved this tradition growing up and, as a mom, continue this tradition.
The Empty Manger:
My parents started this tradition in my family when I was slightly older. We would set the empty manger out, (depending on what dogs we owned at the time and how much they chewed, we would sometimes set the empty Manger out on Christmas eve. On Christmas Day, we would wake up to find Jesus in the Manger. My dad would then read the nativity story from the Bible before we would unwrap presents. Now my husband reads the Nativity Story to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.
I have also read some really interesting traditions about “adding straw to the manger”. The kids donate their toys and place a piece of straw in the manger. The more they donate, the more straw is added and, by Christmas, they will have created a comfortable place for the baby Jesus. This emphasizes selflessness and giving and how God finds joy in it.
Some other traditions that you can find are the Jesse Tree, the Jesus Candle, and the Mary Candle. These all sound like amazing traditions…just ones I am not as familiar with.
Also, my mom sent me an article with Catholic alternatives to “elf on a shelf”. I will put a link where you can find this in the footnotes.
Christmas is my favorite time of year. Establishing Catholic traditions with your family for advent through Christmas will help build the excitement and reverence for the season.
Footnotes:
Catholic alternatives to “Elf on a Shelf” https://cultivatingcatholics.com/5-catholic-elf-on-the-shelf-alternatives/
Mommy's Prayer 