Advent Wreath

I have very distinct childhood memories of doing an Advent wreath each Sunday night leading up to Christmas. It is one of the only times I can remember my whole family sitting down together to do something (besides our evening meals). It was such a sacred time with the lights off and just candlelight. Because of my strong positive memories of this experience I wanted to be sure my own children have this ritual as part of their childhood. Last year was the first year we started this and my oldest son was very excited to do it again this year. I purchased the candle holder at our local general store (Kally's for you locals). For those of you who are unfamiliar, a candle is lit every Sunday night leading up to Christmas. On Christmas day (or eve) you light the center (Christ) candle. There is special meaning and scripture for each candle. I scoured the internet and found a simple outline for doing this with your family. You can download it by clicking on the link I've provided below the photo. Here you can see our wreath with the first candle lit. My oldest son can now look up the scripture in the Bible and read it out loud. He also read the prayer out loud to us. I am so happy that my boys will remember doing this together as a family. Family traditions are so important and especially those that instill a stronger faith.

Here is a link to a downloadable set of readings to do each week of Advent.