You don’t need much for a sweet time preparing your hearts as a family!
Candles + Advent Wreath
Traditionally, an advent wreath is used to hold 5 candles – 3 purple, a pink, and a white, all representing elements of advent – but any candle will do. Each candle represents a major theme of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, and Christ, himself. Each week of advent, you will light an additional candle, until Christmas Day when you light the “Christ” Candle. The idea is that each week, the candle light shines brighter as we approach the birth of Christ. That one simple act of lighting the candles paired with intentional explanation is such a rich illustration of the Gospel for those around your table! Advent need not be overly complicated to be rich and lovely.
Over the years, I’ve seen so many beautiful advent wreath options! Eric gifted me this advent candle holder for our first Christmas married. It has continued to be one of my favorite Christmas decorations to put out each year. A dear friend had a tray similar to this one with pillar candles and lovely greenery. Another friend used a candle holder from her mother’s wedding. The options truly are endless!
Something to Snack: Charcuterie For Advent
We firmly believe in the power of food: it occupies little hands, so we can reach little hearts! I enjoy the festivities of it all, so setting the table with fun Christmas napkins or special tea cups is a simple way to make a big difference – so long as you are kind to yourself and consider your actual life! Festive paper plates (or no plates at all!) over fine china is perfectly fine! Our favorite advent snack/meal is charcuterie for dinner! We usually indulge in some variation of deli meats, cheeses, fruits, and crackers. I love to scour the isles of Aldi for unusual and fancy jams and cheeses to mix in with our favorites, but some years, adding a few of these to my weekly Walmart delivery is more than enough effort!
Be sure to add this “extra” to your weekly meal plan to limit decision fatigue and make this rhythm manageable and lifegiving!
Bible + Other Resources For Advent
Again, the options are endless. There are many great Advent devotionals and verse cards out there. (If your kiddos are little, the Jesus Storybook Bible is a great place to start!) We prefer to strip it down and read scripture selections from my ESV Literary Study Bible following the Book of Common Prayer rotations. For a peek into these family worship times, subscribe for a copy of our Weekly Advent Devotions. In these 5 weekly devotions, you’ll get a weekly devotional for yourself with a section dedicated to “At the Table” with suggestions for incorporating it as family worship. It’s a resource you won’t want to miss!
Another one of our favorite elements of Advent is the hymn we sing every year. “We Light Thee Advent Candle” explains the significance of each candle leading up to Christmas and is a fun way to learn and remember the “why” behind family worship during Advent.
Give Yourself Grace During Advent
Advent is not a one size fits all, a competition, or even a measuring stick of spiritual success. In fact, Advent is not about you at all, and that’s such a good thing! There is so much freedom to be found in simple drops in the bucket of consistency over years and years. There will be more years to adjust and find your rhythm, this year, just do the thing.
Fit how you observe Advent to your actual life! If charcuterie or dinner time doesn’t work for you, that’s fine! You could do advent devotionals over pancakes on Saturday mornings, a bowl of cereal late at night, or snack times on a week day when the family is together. If your people are struggling to engage with the devotions or scripture reading, keep trying!! This is a learned behavior, not a natural skill, so keep the main things the main things and give yourself grace. Consistency, no matter how imperfect, is key.
A final encouragement…
Let Advent be the start of a new family rhythm. If you’ve never done family worship with your people, this is the best place to start! There is no better time to share the daily Hope we have in the Cross of Christ than the anticipation of his birth. Let that truth and hope root itself deep in your heart. Truth can’t help but bear fruit, so let it bear fruit in and through you!
