Advent - Days 5 through 8

These days went a little faster than I hoped. If intent is rewarded then I'm a super star. I might have planned a little more than we can squeeze in. Especially with school, violin, and hockey not to mention my social activities.

Day 5
I had an all day meeting this day - left the house at 7:45AM and returned in the wee hours of the next morning, so our Advent activity was abbreviated this morning. We discussed the question, "If you could be any character in a play about the Nativity, who would you be and why?" Sweet girl answered "Mary, because she is so pretty."

Bible verses for the day were Galatians 4:4-5 & Ephesians 1:9-12

Day 6
Given my stellar performance the night before, today's activities were also abbreviated. We read Numbers 24:17, 19; Revelation 22:16; and 2 Peter 1:19


I had planned to do something I remember being so fun. In the second grade, Mrs. Owen toook us on a Christmas Around the World tour. We did all the Christmas activites from all over the world. We have so many great Christmas traditions from Scandinavia and you'd think that one would have stuck, but no. I loved Holland! Holland of all things. So I intended to share that with Annie with this printed on our Advent Chain:

St. Nicholas' Day. The name Santa Claus comes from the name Sinterklass.
On the morning of St. Nicholas' Day, Sinterklaas travels to Amsterdam in a boat. When Sinterklaas comes ashore from the boat, all of the local church bells ring in celebration. Sinterklaas then leads a procession through Amsterdam, riding a white horse, to meet the Queen of Amsterdam in the Palace.

On December 5th children leave clogs or shoes out to be filled with presents. They also leave some hay and carrots in their shoes for Sinterklaas's horse.

Tonight, leave out shoes and a treat for Sinterklaas and his horse.

Well... I didn't get to it. There's a very good reason - I was invited to speak as a panelist on a local Friday evening, live, television show as part of their political panel. Another blog for another time, but it was a great experience and they've even invited me back!

Day 7
Bible readings today were Malachi 3:1 and Luke 1:67-79 and our activity was supposed to be Breakfast at Tavern on Grand with Santa this morning! Again... intent.

Tavern on Grand is a local place on St. Paul's Grand Avenue and they have the best walleye ever. Just ask my mom! We used to live across the alley from them which made it very easy to spend lots of time there. As part of the Grand Meander, we go to the Tavern and are treated to a free pancake breakfast with Santa! We've been going since small fry was just 1 year old. We missed one year because I thought it was Sunday not Saturday and we missed this year because... well, because I had been out too late too many nights in a row. It was disappointing and Pants did mention it later that we didn't do our "usual" breakfast with Santa. Lesson learned and opportunity missed.

Day 8
Today brought a little redemption. After church we attended breakfast at the University Club with Santa. This is where Pants noted that it wasn't our usual Santa breakfast... true, but we are making some new memories, right?

We lunched with SN who was fabulous as always! So fun to keep her as part of the family. We took some fun group pictures, ate an amazing lunch and Pants got to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas (a Swim To Me Puppy... anyone? anyone?). Buddy the Elf gave her a candy cane, which was hilarious given we watched Elf last weekend. Noting his name was "Buddy," Pants looked up at me and said, "Watch out for the yellow ones, they don't stop." Quoting movies! I love her! She also got to decorate her own gingerbread baby.

At dinner, we lit the Bethlehem Candle!
This is the first day of our second week of Advent! This week, we will be lighting the Bethlehem Candle. First light the Prophecy Candle, then the Bethlehem Candle.

The Bethlehem Candle represents the preparations made for the coming Christ child. Bethlehem is an appropriate place to signify preparation because, even though no room was available for Mary and Joseph when they came, God had orchestrated events so that Caesar Augustus called for a census to be taken. Joseph and Mary had to leave Nazareth so that they could register in Bethlehem and the Scriptures below were fulfilled!

One of the key characters associated with this week in Advent is John the Baptist because he prepares the way for Jesus! He takes us from the prophecies of old and into the time of Jesus. This week, we are one step closer, as God's hand moves in history to bring His Son to us...and us to Him!

We also discussed this question: if you could make up a new Advent or Christmas tradition for your family to start, what would it be? We didn't come up with anything definitive, but had a great conversation.

Big stuff next week - Bumpa comes to town for the Annual Lefse Bake.