I’m totally in pre-baby mode: rummaging through all of our 0-3 month clothes, cleaning out the baby tub, organizing the linen closet, getting rid of all kinds of stuff… It’s that motherly instinct thing that says, “ANOTHER PERSON IS COMING! Make room! Get ready!” My God-given hormone-driven preparation couldn’t come at a more symbolic time: the very time when we intentionally prepare our hearts and homes for Jesus’ coming, Advent.

I learned from Kerry at A Ten O’Clock Scholar that “spring” cleaning our homes before Christmas is actually a Scandinavian Advent tradition; one that may effectively work its way through our muscles and into our hearts as we prepare the way for Jesus Christ by also repenting of our sin and returning to Him.

Besides “spring” cleaning our home and our hearts, I’ve come up with a few Advent traditions that I’d like to try in our family… (I read many beautiful ideas from Jeanne’s Advent carnival. Various readings helped me to understand the tradition of doing most of the Christmas decorating on Christmas Eve. In recent years, I was proudly wrapping and piling all of the presents under the tree waaaaay ahead of time, but now I think we’ll wait until Christmas Eve to deck the halls with ornaments and gifts!)

* continue our lighting tradition every Sunday night

* sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” as our family song for December

* use two or three of the Daily Scripture Readings from The Book of Common Prayer in my morning Scripture reading with Vivienne

* focus on serving others in Christ’s name by placing a manger in the living room (perhaps under the Christmas tree) with a bag of hay next to it. As each of us intentionally serves someone in Christ’s name and for the purpose of preparing His Way, we will place some hay in the manger.

I’m hoping that these four traditions keep us focused on Christ and provide some beautiful teaching moments… along with memorable family lovin’.

Are you planning on celebrating the Advent season in any specific way? If so, please tell!