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folklaur
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| Posted: Nov 25 2009 at 9:12pm | IP Logged
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i have some questions.
for those of you who don't decorate for Christmas during Advent.....how do you do it? do you put up anything? just not the tree?
i am wondering if maybe you do not super decorate?
i love the idea of really focusing on Advent. But i am wondering about some of the logistics of this.....
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MichelleW
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| Posted: Nov 25 2009 at 10:12pm | IP Logged
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i haven't done this as an adult, since i need to be sensitive to dh. but, as a child my family did this.
so from a child's perspective:
we spent advent somewhat quietly. we worked on presents for one another, listened to what i always thought of as "quiet carols" my mom had a couple of records we could put on during advent. we had an advent wreath and we lit candles every sunday.
then, on christmas eve, my mother would get up early and all the women and girls in the house would start cooking. i remember this so fondly. the men would put up the tree. my sister and i would help with everything, decorations, food, running back and forth....once the tree was up, we placed the nativity under it and then the kids were allowed to wrap presents and put them under the tree. christmas eve was all about preparation. then we would eat a light supper, take a nap, then dress up for midnight mass.
when we got home from mass, we could have our first christmas cookie and some warm milk and then went to bed. in the morning the house was transformed. sometime in the night garlands had been put up and presents from the adults in the family put under the tree. in our house santa was more like a postman. he carried presents from relatives far away, but never left any from him. we still liked him very much for taking the trouble to deliver to us.
i just remember waking up to lights, beauty, "loud" carols and abundance. as we opened presents the holy family under the tree would come into view and the greatest gift of all was right there in the music-box manger.
we had such a lovely 12 days.
i'm not sure that helps at all...
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folklaur
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| Posted: Nov 25 2009 at 10:43pm | IP Logged
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MichelleW wrote:
i'm not sure that helps at all... |
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yes, it does. thank you. 
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Christine
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| Posted: Nov 26 2009 at 12:49am | IP Logged
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We decorate with purple. 
We replace the green cloth in our prayer area with a purple one.
We put our purple O Antiphon House on our fireplace mantle in the living room.
We set up our main Nativity set in our living room with just the animals. The shepherds are nearby in a "field". Mary and Joseph travel around the room throughout Advent slowly getting closer to the stable (the wiseman start traveling around the room on Christmas day). The children take turns moving Mary and Joseph closer and closer.
A Jesse tree is placed wherever little hands won't take the ornaments.
Our Advent wreath is on our dining room table. My oldest daughters Nativity figures are placed on the table, minus baby Jesus. The animals are in the center of the wreath; the other figures are outside of the wreath. On Christmas morning, all of the figures are inside the wreath. A snuffer and small brass plate, for the snuffer to rest on, are also found on the table. I have been looking for a purple tablecloth to use during Advent and Lent for years.
An Advent calendar is taped to the kitchen window or stood on the mantle in the living room.
Another Advent wreath with pockets is hung from my youngest daughters' bedroom door and filled with the Playmobil Nativity figures. Each day, the children take out a figure or a piece to go with a figure. Baby Jesus is taken out on the 24th. The cardboard background is on my boys' chest of drawers.
We hang our Christmas lights and set up our outdoor Nativity figures on the Saturday before Gaudete Sunday. We used to wait until a couple of days before Christmas, but it was a little too hectic.
We also buy our Christmas tree on the Saturday before Gaudete Sunday. We set it up, but wait to decorate it. Once again, we used to wait until the 23rd or 24th to buy a Christmas tree, but one year we almost didn't get one because we had waited.  My husband drove all over the place looking for a tree. He finally found one, but there was no one around to pay, so he stuck what he felt was a fair amount in the Christmas tree seller's trailer door. We hope that the tree seller found the money.
I love the anticipation of Jesus' birth that builds up during Advent in our home! 
Updated to add: Over the years, I have shared a few other things that we do on my blog, http://catholicmemories.blogspot.com/search/label/Advent. Baby Jesus' manger is now placed in our prayer area, as we have rearranged our living room.
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Christine
Mommy to 4 girls, 5 boys, & 2 in God's care
Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother
Pretty Lilla Rose
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Nov 26 2009 at 2:20am | IP Logged
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Laura, I don't have much time.. I'm sneaking on late at night right now. but I remembered that my post on traditions not too long ago mentions the things you asked about.. so.. traditions of advent
Hope that helps.. I love this topic and really if I had the time would have written a long post to you 
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: Nov 26 2009 at 8:50am | IP Logged
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We have some Advent decorations that come out the first Sunday of Advent:
Advent wreath, window candles, Advent calendar, Moravian star, Jesse tree (which is actually a long, colorful garland). We have one of those Advent count-down things that is a set of 24 teeny-tiny books,each with a teeny-tiny bit of the Christmas story from Luke's Gospel. Each day we read one and then hang it on a small artificial Christmas tree that is decorated with white lights and red bows. This takes the place of the lamp on the table in the front hall. The bulk of the decorations and the tree are saved for the 3rd Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday, the day to be gaudy  ).
Peace,
Nancy
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ekbell
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| Posted: Nov 26 2009 at 4:28pm | IP Logged
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We put a purple cloth on the altar, a Jesse tree poster and the stable with the Shepard and sheep nearby.
I'd love to have Mary and Joseph travelling to the stable but I need to work out a path which won't be within reach of the one and three year old (or they'll risk losing their way )
I'll display some advent books on the altar.
Our wreath is out all year (it's a wooden one made from a tree trunk from my parents property) so we'll just add advent candles and decorations to it.
The older children will be receiving Paint-your-own Nativity sets in their shoes so those will be put up around the house once they are painted.
We'll buy a tree during the last week and unless there's a last minute practice for the Christmas Pagent the children and my husband will decorate it on Christmas Eve while I put the other decorations up.
I try to have most of the essential baking and all of the essential cleaning done earlier in Advent so that Christmas Eve can be devoted to decorating and church.
We are going to my BIL's for christmas dinner so I just have to prepare the Christmas eve post-mass supper (cold meats, cheese, buns, fruit, pastries, cider and eggnog) and breakfast (more pastries and fruit, special cereals, juice and coffee), all of which can be prepared in advance. [Our special Christmas dinner at home will be on the Epiphany]
We will have breakfast and present opening and then clean up and go to my BIL's (I need to find my chistmas tapes for the car). The car ride is long enough to give the children unwinding time before Chistmas dinner and more present opening.
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folklaur
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| Posted: Nov 26 2009 at 6:07pm | IP Logged
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so - for those of you who do the tree on Christmas Eve - do your children not help decorate it?
i love some of the visuals i am getting as i read thru these - but still trying to figure out logistics.
we always have advent wreath, advent calendars, Jesse Tree.
haven't done the O Antiphon, but would like to.
Our Nativity is set up first day of Advent - and pieces are added each day (night.) the children check first thing in the morning to see what "came to the manger during the night." (my parents did this as i grew up, and we continued with our children.)
still thinking & reading, and i appreciate all the responses and links!!!
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anitamarie
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| Posted: Nov 26 2009 at 10:25pm | IP Logged
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Growing up we didn't put up anything until Christmas Eve. My poor mother.
Now, in our family, we do it a little at a time, with an emphasis on preparation for Christmas, not celebrating Christmas. The first week of Advent we put up the outdoor decorations. The second week, we go get the tree. The third week, we put up the indoor decorations, including the creches, but not the tree. We start the cookie baking that week as well. The fourth Sunday of Advent we put up our tree.
So, in addition to the advent calendars and Jesse Tree, this method builds the anticipation - they know that when we put up the tree, it's really close to Christmas. It also keeps the preparations spread out and that keeps the big people a little more sane.
Anita
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Nov 27 2009 at 12:12am | IP Logged
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The whole family decorates the day of Christmas Eve. And actually we set up the tree the night before that so that the tree has time to thaw out and get a good drink of water before we start decorating. The only thing I do after the kids are asleep is set out the already wrapped gifts and fill stockings. 
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Bookswithtea
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Laura, we are trying to do something different, too, but my family would be mucho disappointed if we didn't put up a tree until the 24th. So ours is going up on the second weekend of Advent, which is our normal routine. But we are putting up purple lights (can be found at Walmart) and I found some purple ball ornaments at a thrift store a few weeks ago for Gaudete Sunday. Michaels has some lovely pink balls for around $5 right now which are much nicer than all the other stores, which are a tacky hot pink  . We are only putting up a minimal amount so that it will only take about 5 minutes to strip the tree. We are going to decorate as a family on Christmas Eve after Mass. We are going to an early Mass because dd's are singing in the family Christmas choir, so we'll have plenty of time to decorate in the evening. I think we'll do the first Christmas cookies at that time, too.
Also, our mantle word is going to be HOPE. I got these at Michaels along with some purple paint. Since HOPE is conveniently 4 letters, I also bought an extra P that will be switched out on Gaudete Sunday for a pink P.
This is all very new for us. We used to follow the mainstream American calendar for celebrating, for the mostpart, because that's what dh and I did growing up. What I am debating on right now is what is the difference between a Christmas and an Advent movie, and Christmas and Advent music? I need to figure out what to bring out on Sunday and what to wait for???
Its touchy, altering family traditions, kwim? We want to follow the Church calendar, but without upsetting everyone. We once tried to do stockings on the 6th instead of Christmas and it felt very very weird to all of us. So now we use shoes for St. Nicholas Day and still do stockings on Christmas Day. Is that weird? 
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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folklaur
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| Posted: Nov 27 2009 at 1:36pm | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
| So now we use shoes for St. Nicholas Day and still do stockings on Christmas Day. Is that weird? |
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i don't think so! it's what we have always done.
i think growing up i must have had a weird mixture of mainstream and traditional. my father's mother was Russian Orthodox, so - we also had "Little Christmas" on January 7th - and our tree was never done before then. but my parents decorated all out for Christmas...
again - thank you all for sharing the ideas and links, i really appreciate it!
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ekbell
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| Posted: Nov 27 2009 at 5:30pm | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
This is all very new for us. We used to follow the mainstream American calendar for celebrating, for the mostpart, because that's what dh and I did growing up. What I am debating on right now is what is the difference between a Christmas and an Advent movie, and Christmas and Advent music? I need to figure out what to bring out on Sunday and what to wait for???
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We classify waiting songs as Advent songs (Come Lord Jesus) and songs about or set after Jesus being born as Christmas song(Silent Night). Fun secular songs that are associated with Christmas (such as Frosty the Snowman) are sung anytime someone wants to. We have copies of the family song book my mother put together with the titles in the table of contents in different colours; christmas songs in black, Advent songs in purple, fun songs in red, and songs for a particular day (such as Good King Wencelas) in green.
[family tradition has the leader of family prayer choose one 'serious' song and one free-choice song at the end of prayers during Advent and Christmas]
We don't have very many Christmas movies around so we haven't sorted those out.
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Bookswithtea
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ekbell wrote:
We classify waiting songs as Advent songs (Come Lord Jesus) and songs about or set after Jesus being born as Christmas song(Silent Night). Fun secular songs that are associated with Christmas (such as Frosty the Snowman) are sung anytime someone wants to. We have copies of the family song book my mother put together with the titles in the table of contents in different colours; christmas songs in black, Advent songs in purple, fun songs in red, and songs for a particular day (such as Good King Wencelas) in green.
[family tradition has the leader of family prayer choose one 'serious' song and one free-choice song at the end of prayers during Advent and Christmas]
We don't have very many Christmas movies around so we haven't sorted those out.
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Thank you. I've been thinking on this all afternoon. I think I have a lot that are more generic, which is probably why its stumping me. Many of our cds have a mix of songs, some more Advent appropriate and some more Christmas appropriate. I think what I'm going to do is to first figure out what could be classified as best in Advent. Then I am going to group into 5 piles...One for each week of Advent and then a final pile for the 12 Days of Christmas. That way there's still a feeling of movement and anticipation.
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Nov 27 2009 at 11:20pm | IP Logged
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we do shoes on the 6th and stockings on Christmas too.. I figure it's a transition thing.. we don't want to be so different from our families that our extended family feels cut out of our lives. But now our children will have the choice to continue both or choose one or the other.
I rather like doing both.. they have a very different "flavor". We just explain that St. Nicholas comes on his feast day to fill shoes and again to celebrate Christ's birth to fill the stockings
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: advent / christmas decorating
