Advent

Each evening after dinner, homework and shower Ellie asks if it's time for the Advent calendar.  We move to the couch and she opens her book to read the story that corresponds with the date.  After she tells her story, I open my book and read scripture for the day to her.  Connecting the children's version of a bible story to the verse dedicated to that day in my book.

It's become a very calming ritual for us.  Bill shares the couch with us, listens to the story and smiles while Ellie reads.  Her voice is confident, her vocabulary is wide and most of all her heart and mind open to the stories and the time we created as a family.

We've also found that reading through the Christmas scrapbook of each year Bill and I have celebrated over the last fifteen years is a fun adventure for her too.  She loves the stories and photos from when she was a baby, when Jack was in the Christmas photo and how she's changed over the years.

Isn't that what Christmas is for .. the magic, the wonder.  And this is what Advent is for .. the preparation, the patience and the belief that there is a wondrous light yet to come.