The Story of Advent
December 10th, 2022
When I was a child, Advent was intricately linked with those Advent calendars that had little chocolates behind the door flaps for each day. I’m sure I was vaguely aware of us lighting the Advent candles at church, but those chocolates really had my attention. I had no idea what chocolates had to do with the coming of baby Jesus, but they were delicious.
Later, when I was in graduate school, I had a good friend who shared her family’s Advent traditions with me. Her father even wrote a book called, “Christmas Out of the Advent Box” (available on Amazon). For me, this was the first time that the season of Advent and all its many activities and traditions began to focus on the telling of the story of the coming of Christ. Instead of containing chocolates, the Advent box contains daily activities and adventures for families to do together to tell the story of Christmas throughout the season of Advent. Each activity focuses on Christmas traditions such as presents, lights, Christmas trees, and Santa Claus and points these traditions to the coming of Christ. For example, one day contains pencils so that family members can make plans for the Christmas season, just as God made plans for the coming of Christ. Another day contains a light bulb to signify that the family put up their Christmas lights and be reminded that Jesus is the light of the world. One day contains a gingerbread house tree ornament with a reminder that Bethlehem means “House of Bread,” and the family makes gingerbread houses on that day. The list goes on, but the point is that everything we do during the Christmas season can be a part of telling the story of Advent.
- Cherith Tucker