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It’s 2020, the most chronologically confusing year any of us have ever experienced. So let’s look ahead with anticipation to the end of the year: Advent and Christmas.
OK, too soon. Back to the summertime blues. But we can still talk about the holidays, right?
Because the book industry always runs several months ahead of culture, Christmas and Advent resources roll out while it’s still hot outside. So even though Death Valley registered a possible hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet over the weekend, today we launch a book for the snowy season, Faithful Families for Advent and Christmas: 100 Ways to Make the Season Sacred by Traci Smith.
A mother of three and a congregational pastor, Traci’s book debut in Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home[1] established her as a creative, inspiring, resourceful author on religious and spiritual practices for all ages that are easy to organize and accomplish and will resonate with participants of all ages.
Faithful Families for Advent and Christmas will be a book you look at every year, a book that will grow in its significance as your family ages. Traci suggests tucking the book away with your Christmas decorations, an annual gift of new ways to observe the Advent practice of waiting, the Christmas celebration of Christ’s birth, and his holy revelation to the Magi remembered in Epiphany. In an age when those long-held practices often get stampeded by commercialism and end-of-year work, these celebrations will ground you in new ways. It will also provide new fodder for grandparents, Sunday school teachers, storytellers, pastors, and more.
The book includes prayers, practices, and stories, grouped by the in-home themes of the Advent and Christmas season: decorating, family time, giving, storytelling, and more. Practices include crafts like making advent wreaths and Christmas cards, activities like a hot chocolate gratitude party and a Silent Night star walk.
Faithful Families for Advent and Christmas also acknowledges that the final weeks of the year are not always joyful. The “Difficult Moments” chapter offers prayers for when family leaves, when someone is hospitalized, and when we miss someone.
Our Christmas present to you is this slim but packed book that you’ll enjoy each year. We can also imagine that you’ll add your own traditions and turn this book into a family heirloom. However you use it, let us be the first to wish you a meaningful Advent, a merry Christmas, and a delightful Epiphany.
Gratefully,
Brad
Visit http://www.traci-smith.com to sign up for emails with more activities and links to inspiring content you can use in your own home.
[1] Originally published as Seamless Faith but rebranded in 2017.