Transitions and Advent

Our advent set-up with the advent spiral Pam and I made!

"The first light of Advent is the light of stone–.

Stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones.

The second light of Advent is the light of plants–

Plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.

The third light of Advent is the light of beasts–

All await the birth, from the greatest and in least.

The fourth light of Advent is the light of humankind–

The light of hope that we may learn to love and understand."

I was so sad to take down the geese I made!

But happy to make our pinecone garland with the leftover fair trade ribbon yarn I got from craft night!

We're full on into December over here. Out with our Pilgrims and turkeys and in with our December theme of Advent. I swear November flew by. Things have been a bit heavy here lately and I have been struggling to find stillness.  I am hoping to be more intentional about that during our Advent season. If you all could be sending thoughts and prayers my way to help me do this, I'd greatly appreciate it! 

I shared with a few few folks, who asked me how I could do "advent" as our theme all December long, that Advent in the Waldorf tradition is celebrated a bit differently. Each week has a theme and focuses on a different earthly kingdom. The neat about that is that it makes Advent accessible to people of all faiths and depending on the faith that you practice, or don't, you can tailor it to what is more or less important to your family.  

This week for stones we're going to be learning about stones, fossils, gems, and crystals. I plan on wet felting some stones and soaps for gifts with the kids and we have a nice advent song and stories that emphasize our faith and stones from the Winter Wystones book here:

Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, holy night,

angels have brought the Child of Light:

All mankind shall gently bear Him;

all the beasts shall nestle near Him,

all the flowers shall adore Him,

all the stones shall kneel before Him,

all the world shall worship Him,

cherubim and seraphim.

We also departed a bit from tradition this year. Saint Nicholas came early! This year he was bringing them their new nativity and I thought it would work better with what we had planned to have him come on the first day of Advent, versus the 6th. Forgive me German friends!  The kids were nonetheless excited and didn't notice him coming sooner :) 

The horse was messy this year!

I think that about covers what we're up to for now. We've got lots of crafts planned and fun outings that I am excited to share with you. 

PS: I am linking up with my lovely friend Nicole at Frontier Dreams this week as well as Linda at Natural Suburbia! 

Love and Light,