I am curious could you please share with me some of your Advent/ Christmas traditions?

Question

What is your faith/belief and how does this play a part in your celebration? For those who do not celebrate Christmas is there a winter celebration you do celebrate?
Peace Be With You,
Debra

Answer 1

Well I am Christian and we have the Advent candles. An advent wreath is a ring or set of four candles, usually made with evergreen cuttings and used for household devotion by some Christians during the season of Advent. Many churches illuminate these candles in succession through the four weeks leading up to Christmas as part of their Sunday services for Advent.

Typically, three of the candles are violet-coloured, and one is rose-coloured. Increasingly, due to changes in the Roman Catholic Church's lectionary in the United States, all four candles may be violet. When used in household devotion, one violet candle is lit on the first evening of Advent (a Sunday). On successive Sundays, the second violet candle is added, then the rose candle, and finally, the third violet candle. Some Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans use blue candles rather than violet, while some use only white candles. Purple is a colour of penitence and royalty. Some churches will use Blue, a colour of hope, in place of purple to distinguish the use of purple during Lent. Some wreaths have a larger, central fifth candle (generally white), which is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to signify Christ's birth.

The wreath is meant to represent God's eternity. The violet candles symbolize faithful expectation, and the rose candle joy and hope. In earlier times the season of Advent had stronger penitential and ascetic aspects, and a relaxation of disciplines was offered on the third Sunday of Advent, also called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin for "rejoice", the first words of the Introit. This turn is reflected in the theme of rejoicing and the shift from violet to rose.

The first candle is often called the prophet's candle, and is meant to signify the hope of Jesus' arrival. The second is generally called the Bethlehem candle, reminding Christians that God appeared to them in a humble manner; Bethlehem was located in the territory of one of the least powerful tribes of Israel. The third candle is the shepherds' candle, representing the joy that more than half of Advent is over. The final candle is the angels' candle, symbolising their peace and the message of good news that they offer.

It took about 100 years until home decoration with advent wreaths became a custom in Germany. It has now spread to other countries as well. Eventually, the Advent wreath made its way into various Protestant churches and later into Catholic churches in the United States


Some friends of ours from Columbia use the nativity scene as an advent. Each day before Christmas, depending on how many pieces they have, they place one figure on the set and end with baby Jesus.

My Mom just bought my family a "Advent Calendar" from Cracker Barrel. It is shaped like a house with 24 little doors. We intende to place a little tree next to it and every day leading up to Christmas we plan on placing little ornaments or candy for our kids to place on the tree. This is more for good memories and to ramp up the anxiety and insomnia that children live for during the holidays or as my wife says "the kids will love it and it will be a good tradition."

Answer 2

Our family (Roman Catholic) we say the advent wreath prayers daily. My Father is a member of the Knights of Columbus - will distribute food and toys. Our parish has a Secret Santa, that we support.
Decorate the house, although it's more sparse as there are no children, no homemade decorations - nothing on the refrigerator.
We watch the TV shows and movies.
Tuesday will be Charlie Brown Christmas again.
(We rarely DVD anything.) We just watched White Christmas (Fri and Sat.) lol. My mom loves Danny Kaye and Bing.
My parents call back to Ohio to their brothers and sisters. Send cards and letters.
Oh, the food of course - strictly traditional. When we were young Mom would bake and cook more. Good memories now. Just constant prayer and thankgiving for our and others health, etc.
Same thing since 1968 :) in this house. We are rather unchaging through time, my family.
Peace.

Answer 3

I am a Christian, and I celebrate this as Jesus's birth.

I am alone. There is no one but me, so I have no "family" traditions.

It is a rather sad time in some ways, for I get a little blue when I see families enjoying one another. My friends are a huge help, as is the knowledge that I will see my loved ones again in heaven.


My faith/beliefs are the ONLY part of my celebration, really. I go to church on Christmas Eve with friends. I spend part of Christmas Day with them and then I go home and have a quiet day with my cats.

Peace be with you as well.
Bobbie

Answer 4

A family tradition for us is on Christmas we go to the movies we've been doing this for about the past 5 years or so. Once we get home from the movies we let them open a gift addressed to all of them and then they get there p.j.'s on and go to bed. While my husband and I get everything ready for the morning. In the morning the kids usually wake up around 7:00a.m. while everyone is getting up we let them go into the living room and take the stuff out of there stockings. Once everyone is finished with there stocking we let them open there gifts we always make sure to ask "Oh what did santa bring" or "Oh wow whats that" after we open all the gifts my husband and I start making breakfast while kids play with some of there new toys. After we eat breakfast, get ready, and our family comes over. It's a truly fun day! Best Wishes for a happy holiday season!

Answer 5

I am a Christian who celebrates Christmas as a festival of love, joy and family time. We can and do rejoice in the birth of Christ whenever we want to, but it's good to remember that Jesus was born as a baby, grew up in our world and had the same pain, weariness and frustration we do, though in a simpler context (no computer glitches then! LOL). Many babies were born in Israel that year, but only one died and rose again.

My husband likes the Christmas tree with the lights and a few ornaments, because it is beautiful, even tho we use an artificial tree. The lights look like stars among the branches, which in the city is as close to nature as we're going to get, I guess.

I like the manger scene because it reminds me of Who we're celebrating. We don't do much in terms of presents, but it's a quiet, loving family time. We don't have any kids so it's just him and me; we let our "inner child" out to play!

Answer 6

As an Episcopalian, I have an Advent wreath and when I was a kid we had that as well as a calendar. We never decorated until Christmas Eve; consequently, as an adult, I don't ever decorate until the 22nd or 23rd. I still take it down on Twelfth Night. I go to church both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Answer 7

I celebrate Christmas with my family, and we have my mothers entire extended family over for Christmas dinner. We also go out to breakfast on Christmas eve :)

Answer 8

Advent Wreath
Jesse Tree with symbols of the ancestors of Christ put on a few every day.

Answer 9

To me my Christmas faith is believing that my Christian religion celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. I like to celebrate by going to church on Christmans eve.

Answer 10

I am non-religious, not a Chrisitan but born into a christian family...so I celebrate with my family, but I prefer to refer to it as a celebration of good tidings, rather than making it a religious type holiday.