Second & Third days of Christmas . . .

Of course I made a big commitment to do a 12 Days of Christmas blog and I forget to follow through on the SECOND day!

Second Day of Christmas Post . . .

Advent

I went to the library last night and found The Encyclopedia of Christmas. It wasn't hard to find since the librarians had a large display of Christmas books set up for everyone to see. In it are all kinds of interesting Christmas facts, like how Christmas is celebrated in Greece to the significance of Greenery to Christmas. There is even an interesting section on the English holiday Boxing Day, which, until now, I had never quite understood. But for my post today I want to concentrate on the first entry in the Encyclopedia, which is Advent.

I don't have many Advent memories from childhood Christmases. Mostly the Advent calendars that I remember belonged to other families. Don't get me wrong, my family has plenty of other fantastic Christmas traditions (look for these in future posts), but the Advent calendar is not among them.

According to the Encyclopedia, the Advent was started by Christian churches as a way to prepare for the spiritual significance of the holiday. Ever since Gary and I got married, and especially since Riley was born I have been thinking about what Christmas traditions I would like to carry on in my own family. I wanted to be able to enjoy the excitement of Santa and gifts, while also emphasizing service and the real reason for the season, Christ's birth. Looking back I think that almost all of the Advent calendars that I remember were more of a count down to Christmas, rather than a preparation or teaching of the day's significance. I think that I would like to find or create an Advent calender that teaches scriptures, presents opportunities to give service within the home or for the community, and endeavors to help you reflect on the true meaning of Christmas in the days leading up to it.

Does anyone have memories of an Advent calendar that they would like to share, or examples of family traditions that could lend themselves to this idea of Advent?

Third day of December post . . .

Neighbor Gifts

I have not settled on an idea for Neighbor Gifts for this year. Two years ago we gave everyone little jars of honey from our beehive and a container of our favorite spice rub that we use on Salmon along with the recipe. The year before that I made 5 or 6 different cookies and combined them into tins. That was pretty fun, but making all those cookies was pretty ridiculous! I have been thinking about doing cookies again this year, but maybe I don't have to go so crazy, just do 2 or 3 different kinds instead. Other ideas (most of which have been inspired by the latest Trader Joe's ad) are Pumpkin bread, a collection of a few of our favorite family recipes, Eggnog cake, or Yule Log cake. Yule Log cake might be fun, since I have never had it before (and the TJ's ad makes it sound SO yummy) and I could include a little note describing the story of this holiday tradition, which I can find in my helpful library book Encyclopedia of Christmas!

What are your good ideas for Neighbor Gifts, and what gifts have you given out or seen in the past?