As the festive season commences in Australia, madness begins: dates and commitments blur together, the Sydney traffic steams on in the rising summer heat, the school year wraps up and frenzied Christmas shopping begins. This is how it has always been... a steaming frenzy.
The one Christmas that I spent in Germany wasn't like that. It felt much more quiet, gemütlich. This event occurs in opposite seasons, of course: here it is summer... expansive, open, loud and free; there it is winter... still, quiet, dark and cosy. Polar opposites.
As my family grows and our own traditions are built upon, I happily note that I am finding a place of calm. The challenge I have set for myself is to find calm sincerity amongst the thrum of summer song.
So, this is how it begins...
The first advent sunday, I clear a surface high enough to be safe from dog, cat and visiting toddlers. A blue silk is laid out, along with a felted night scene - blue mat with stars, made by Chooch last Christmas. Upon it, a candle with crystals, stones and shells scattered nearby. Above it hangs an Advents' wreath of felt leaves and gum nut elves. Some gently glowing lanterns are added, and that is that.
"The first light of advent is the light of the stones
that shines through the seashells, the crystals and bones.
Shine little light and show us the way
to the bright light of Christmas day."
*
that shines through the seashells, the crystals and bones.
Shine little light and show us the way
to the bright light of Christmas day."
*
A few days later, our Advent calendar - 24 hand-stitched stockings (inspired by Soule Mama a few years ago) - is hung across windows and, beginning on the 1st December, our Christmas angels bring one or two Christmas decorations each night, waiting for blue-eyed boys to find them each morning. These decorations are held safely in a basket while they wait patiently for the Tree.
And that is all.
Each week, a little bit more is added - slowly more decorations (as the angels bring them), a growing nativity scene, one or two pieces at a time, until finally, by Christmas Eve, almost all of the magic has arrived. This is the perfect pace for me. It is calm and methodical. Each piece arrives just when it is required, like breathing in and breathing out. These new traditions, ground me more and more each year that they are with us.
Peace and quiet blessings to each of us - whether drawing inward under a blanket of northern winter, or with arms outstretched in southern sunshine.
And that is all.Each week, a little bit more is added - slowly more decorations (as the angels bring them), a growing nativity scene, one or two pieces at a time, until finally, by Christmas Eve, almost all of the magic has arrived. This is the perfect pace for me. It is calm and methodical. Each piece arrives just when it is required, like breathing in and breathing out. These new traditions, ground me more and more each year that they are with us.
Peace and quiet blessings to each of us - whether drawing inward under a blanket of northern winter, or with arms outstretched in southern sunshine.
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