Do you have visions of who you think you and your family are and then the reality of the life you actually live? The last couple of years this has really been a struggle for me especially as our kids have grown older and our lives have gotten busier and more complicated.

Advent has become even more important to me now as we purposefully slow down in some ways during this part of the year. We sit around and sing and read and craft together. I welcome the snow and bad weather, enjoying the time we can just spend together as a family instead of running here and there. Especially this year, as we anticipate a new child during this Christmas season, the need for me to slow down and embrace family life is so strong! This is what I want and I know I can’t keep it in our schedule everyday but for this time I will embrace it and savor it and remind myself of what can be. No, it doesn’t happen every night but I will accept each time that it happens as a gift.

This year we are going through Ann Voskamp’s beautifully illustrated new book:  Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas and during my own quiet times I am reading The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. I just love how she poetically turns the stories I’ve heard all of my life into deep and practical ways to live!

My Christmas playlist has expanded to over 13 hours! I just love digital music! And with Amazon Prime I have been able to add lots of songs without having to spend more money! Although I have decided maybe I need to make a mini-Christmas playlist so I can hear my favorites more often.

My favorite new album this year is Pentatonix’sThat’s Christmas To Me. I will always have a special place in my heart for a capella music and this album is just wonderful!

 Here are links to ways our family has celebrated Advent over the years. I hope they will be a blessing to your family as well.