Have you ever had an advent calendar? If so, what was it like? I remember having a small one growing up that had little cardboard doors in it. You would pull open a door each day in December leading up to Christmas. Behind each door was a picture associated with Christmas like a nativity or sleigh bells. When my first child was little I got an advent calendar for him that looked like a wreath. It had 24 different sized compartments in it that could hold a tiny toy or something like it. The challenge was always finding something that would fit in those small containers.
And then the Lego advent calendars became popular. You may know of these already. They are boxes that have pull open “doors” for each day of the season. Behind each door is a small amount of Lego pieces that can be put together to form a holiday themed Lego toy. Those were very popular in my house.
Here is a sampling of advent calendars I found out there for this season.
Bonne Maman calendar: This has 24 different spreads and jams like caramel coffee, apricot, guava and raspberry, etc.
Williams Sonoma Christmas Popcorn: this comes with popcorn kernels and seasonings of all different flavors
City Brew Tours 12 Beers of Christmas: you guessed it. There are 12 different small brewery beers in this one
Uncommon Goods 12 Days of Hot Sauce: Each door has a 1.75 ounce bottle of a different kind of hot sauce
Happy Socks 24 Pack Gift Set: Each door gives you another pair of socks
Why do we like these things so much? Advent calendars are now everywhere and it seems just about every company has one. One reason the marketing works so well is that these calendars tap into our feeling of childhood nostalgia. Another reason is that it gives us something to look forward to each day. When I was a kid I couldn’t wait to open another door, even though the calendars we had didn’t actually give you anything except for a nice picture.
All of this marketing blitz for these things may force you to ask yourself what advent is all about. It may very well be the case that many people only know of the word “advent” in association with these calendars. But the real reason behind this season can be summed up in one word, a word that doesn’t have anything to do with marketing.
Preparation.
On the surface it doesn’t seem as if we need to have a season devoted to something that happens to us all the time. We prepare for just about everything in our lives. You prepare for work, for school, church, bedtime, and waking time. You prepare to study, and you even prepare to play. There isn’t much we do in life that we don’t prepare for. The specific things we do to prepare depend on circumstances and what exactly it is that we are getting ready to do. But at the heart of it all we are trying to be ready for something.
So then, how do we prepare for Christmas?
There is probably a lot of things you do to prepare for the secular part of the holiday. You may put up a tree in your house and get and wrap presents. You might bake goodies and plan for parties. But what about the spiritual part? How do we prepare for that?
Isaiah 40:3-5
3
A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
We have a mandate to prepare for the Lord. Mary literally prepared for Jesus to come.
Luke 1:39-45
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for 3 months, and Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant when Mary came to her. What kind of three months that must have been!
I think Mary had to be in the right frame of mind for this. I think we do too. What frame of mind should we be in for Christmas, and how do we get there? My take is that we need to spend time with God. Prayer and meditation, for example, might do wonders to separate yourself from the secular parts. Also, ask yourself this: If you knew Jesus was going to walk through your door on December 25, what would you do now to get ready?
A lot of the liturgical year is spent preparing for Jesus in some way. In advent we prepare to receive Christ in us, as the world received him so long ago.
God Bless