Please join me in welcoming Kortney Garrison to the Living Liturgy project. I recently so thoroughly enjoyed her 31 Days to Keeping Advent series, that I knew I had to ask her to talk to us about Advent for Living Liturgy. What I love best about Kortney’s plans and ideas is that they are simple, yet meaningful traditions.

Advent is coming!  Advent is coming!  Pam has created wonderful planning sheets that make space for three celebrations.  That sounds like a good, holy number to me!  Are there three things from this list that call out to you, three ways that you can prepare for Christmas?  Maybe there’s just one. Maybe you can plan one celebration, really savor it while it’s happening, and then reminisce about the experience.

That’s enough to begin to build a family culture that makes space for the baby that is coming, to make room for God to dwell with us.

count the days
  • Advent wreaths can be made or bought.  Don’t over think this!  It’s just four candles, one for each week.  Let the growing light help to gather the family at the table.  On the good days, I’m up before anyone else.  The light of the wreath greets them as they eat their cereal!
  • We use our old Playmobil Advent calendar every year.  Each day we get to open one more tiny toy!  Last year for the first time we also had calendars that had a piece of chocolate for each day. Chocolate before breakfast is the just the kind of break in the ordinary routine that can mark the season as different and maybe even holy.
  • We read a story from the biblical narrative and color Jesse Tree ornaments.  Hearing the stories of the generations before Jesus is so powerful.  These stories can offer our children such richness that will overflow in their play and creative work.


read a book…together!

  • We keep our winter time books packed away with all the rest of the Christmas decorations.  Then every day a book is wrapped up and sitting under the tree for a child to open.  Throughout Advent our seasonal book basket gets filled with favorite picture books and a few chapter books to read aloud.  We don’t have enough books to make it all the way through Advent, but I wrap up library books too!  I used to be intimidated by this idea, but then I realized I didn’t have to wrap all 24 books at one time–just one! Enough for each day.  That’s a pretty good motto for all of Advent!
  • How about a book for mama? Like Pam said in her original Living Liturgy post, you can’t share what you don’t have.  To Dance with God by Gertrud Mueller Nelson is a wonderful, beautiful book about keeping the feasts and fast of the Church.  It’s a practical and philosophical book.  She offers examples of celebrations from her family and connects them to the larger motion of the Spirit.

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100 Things for Kids to Memorize

remember a saint
  • St Andrew isn’t technically a part of Advent, but it’s a name day celebration at our place.  So we let November 30th to mark the beginning of Advent.  Andrew was a fisherman when Jesus called him: eat some fish!  He’s also the patron of Scotland: eat some oatmeal for breakfast.  Or if you’re feeling on top of things, make it oatmeal scones instead!
  • St Nicholas Day on December 6th might be my favorite saint day of the year!  Hide some chocolate coins to remember the good work he did for others in secret.  See if you can bless each other in secret too.
  • St Lucy Day is on December 11th.  We happen to love breakfast pastries, so this celebration is just right for us!  Make St. Lucia Bread or serve some Swedish lingonberry jam with tea and toast.  Thanks, Ikea!
  • Our Lady of Guadalupe is such a humble image of Mary.  The church celebrates this appearance of the Virgin in the Americas on December 12th.  Serve beans and rice for dinner but make it festive by adding avocados or sour cream and cilantro.  We’ve got to eat dinner anyways, and it doesn’t take much to turn our attention to these days of remembrance.

comfort + joy
  • Light candles!  Peppermint candles smell just right to me.  Candle light is a simple thing to do to change the feel of a room.  We want to create places of welcome, places where a child could be born.
  • Sing!  The songs of the season are such a joy!  We love singing out of Tomie dePaola’s Book of Christmas Carols.  His wonderful illustrations add so much and make it easy even for children who can’t read to find their favorites.
  • Make peppermint marshmallows!  This idea comes from Elizabeth Foss.  I was quite skeptical about inviting all that mess into my kitchen, but it really is a pretty easy clean up.  And the process is amazing!  Then we package up marshmallows for gifts…making sure to keep a supply to go with our hot chocolate!
  • Go on a drive to look at neighborhood lights…after everyone has their pajamas on!
  • Drink eggnog lattes!  You can have your pumpkin spice lattes!  I wait all year for the eggnog!
  • Each year we get the chance to celebrate the feasts and fasts of the Church calendar.  Each year we can spiral closer to the heart, closer to what gives life.
Kortney Garrison lives with her family in Portland, Oregon.  She writes nearly every day at one deep drawer where you can find more inspiration and resources in her Keeping Advent  series.
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