You may still be enjoying Thanksgiving company and plenty of turkey sandwiches, but I wanted to let you know that today is the first Sunday of Advent. Do you celebrate the Advent tradition in your home?

It was part of my life growing up. Our church had an Advent wreath and candles on the altar, filling the sanctuary with the anticipation of Christmas. Usually, one family was in charge of reading a devotional and scripture, taking turns to light the candles.

My mom brought this tradition home. She set up a little Advent wreath and candles on the coffee table in our living room. We had no choice in the matter — even when we were teenagers. We all took turns reading our parts in the ceremony and lighting a candle for each week. This year, I want to try this with my family!

But we’ve never gotten our acts together until December 1st hits me. Then I rush to pull out our Advent calendar that counts the days until Christmas. This year, God spoke a reminder to me in July. I worked on an article for HomeLife magazine called “Great Expectations: Celebrating the Advent of Christmas.” So I interviewed several moms in the heat of summer, and my heart was on fire just listening to the wonderful ways they teach their children to anticipate the birth of Jesus. I wanted that for our family too!

So here’s what you can do: find some kind of evergreen wreath — you can make it out of real greenery or use a store-bought artificial one. (Whatever’s easiest for you!) The circular shape displays God’s never-ending love, with no beginning or end. Then you put three purple candles and one pink candle into the wreath — each candle has a special meaning: hope, peace, joy, love; and the white Christ candle goes in the center.

You can find Advent readings online or in several books, pamphlets, or magazines. It’s up to you whether you want to do something every night, or just once a week. When you read the devotion, you light a candle, adding one more each week until you build up to the anticipation of Christmas Eve — which helps kids get so excited about the birth of Jesus! He’s the reason we share presents! He’s the center of our joy!

Here’s what one mom does. Her family uses a book written by Arnold Ytreeide called Jotham’s Journey. (You can buy it at a Christian bookstore or online — shop locally if possible). It’s the story of a ten-year-old boy traveling across Israel in search of his family — they’ve moved during the night and left him behind! He encounters thieves, robbers, and kidnappers — and finally wise men, shepherds, and innkeepers — until at last he finds the Saviour born in Bethlehem. It brings the whole Christmas story to life.

This mom said to me, “The Advent wreath is our kids’ favorite part of Christmas. Daddy reads the story every night, and then we let each child take a turn lighting the candle for the whole week. Then on Christmas morning, before we open our presents, the kids all come into our bedroom, and we light the white Christ candle together. They know — they know — that Christmas is all about Jesus!”

Oh, that’s what I want for my family! I also discovered that Arnold Ytreeide has written two more books to complete an Advent trilogy: Bartholemew’s Passage, and Tabitha’s Travels. (So you can use a different book the next year.)

Another mom shared how they make up their own little Advent ceremony. She said when they bring in their Christmas cards from the mailbox, they wait to open each one until they’re all together for the nightly Advent reading. Then her young children get to tear into the envelope and “ooh and aah” over the Christmas picture. She said, “We all hold hands and pray for the family in each picture.” Don’t you love it? We are DEFINITELY going to start doing that. My Christmas cards mean the world to me — because I miss our friends and family so much, especially those we don’t get to see very often.

There are so many more things you can do — I’ll tell you later next week about the Jesse Tree tradition and Adornaments.

I want to pray for you out there who are reading this. I pray that Christmas will fill you with JOY and excitement this year as you worship God as a family. I’ll confess — I tend to get anxious about how much I have to do, and I let that stress rob my heart of joy. It’s all because I get more focused on pleasing others instead of keeping my eyes on God. So, I’m facing this season with a new heart!

May God bless your family with hope and love this Advent season!