mood.

I didn’t grow up celebrating Advent. I vaguely remember getting things around Christmas where I could punch things out of cardboard and there would be prizes or candy inside, so I’m assuming that is what that was. I usually just opened them all at once, though. My understanding of Advent didn’t really surface until I was in Seminary. 

Now that I am a mom, my husband, Justin, and I want to implement Advent as something that our daughter, Lucy, looks forward to every year. This is the build up to the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Now, of course we can take a deep dive into how Jesus Christ’s actual birthday was in the Spring and this date took the place of a popular pagan holiday but I’m tired, and I don’t want to, so, I will just leave that tidbit there and you can go look it up for yourself. 

Regardless, this is the time that we communally celebrate Christ’s birth and it is something that needs to be built up, especially in the midst of the insanity of life. Just as a brief example, Justin wants to finish a gift he has been meaning to make. It should be about a one day project. Each night for the past week we have said that the next day he would have that whole day to finish his project, I would take care of Lucy and then we would be completely done with all of our Christmas gifts. Every. Single. Morning. There has been something important (stupid adult things like insurance or bills…*roll eyes here*) that takes his or my attention, then all of a sudden the day is gone and the gift still lays in pieces, undone. 

To be honest, it has put us both in a bit of a mood. When I get overwhelmed or upset, my coping mechanism is to sleep. There are times when I will get devastating news and before I even cry, I pass out, then I can process when I wake. Therefore, it has been bust-through-all-of-this-work-and-then-go-pass-out-ASAP.

So, when we planned to make our own Advent tradition of taking pictures with a polaroid camera and write down what we were grateful for on the back each day, we were excited. And then our already exhausting year became even more difficult when my Aunt died—our little Advent plans went out the window. 

Last minute, I received a 12 Day Advent Calendar from The Adventure Challenge (if you don’t know what The Adventure Challenge is, you need to go check it out now, it is the most fun thing ever and Justin and I have two of their books). We scratched off the first day last night—now we can’t do exactly what they are asking because of various reasons, so we alter it to fit what we can do and it was so stinking fun. I won’t spell out exactly what we did, incase any one else has the same Advent Calendar (since we are traveling for Christmas, we are a few days early), but it ended with Lucy surrounded by her favorite toy, the lotion she gets after bath time, my favorite figurine representing our family, a picture of her and Justin earlier that night, and her Bible. 

I don’t know what it was about the simplicity of surrounding Lu with all of these things and explaining the significance of them to her through our eyes, but it gave both Justin and I so much energy and joy. There was a centeredness that we both felt, that this time was just for the three of us to prepare for something big. We decided that time is a no tech time, too, which is hard, because of course my phone is glued to my eyes (terrible, I know). Anyway, it took me out of my “mood” for sure. I’m excited for tonight and to share what our adventure brings us. 

Cheers to more enjoyable nights with loved ones,

Sam