“I get to open the box
tonight!” sang Joy Lin. “Nuh-uh… It’s my
turn. You opened it last night,” Bekah
retorted. Knowing he had a better idea,
John played it cool. “Fine, but I get to
light the candles.” This is Advent
season in the Husted home, and yes, even with the kids married and moved away
this is still how dinner starts when we’re all together. Advent is a serious season for our family,
but it is also a season of joy and celebration.
It is a tradition that the Husteds have carried for 35 years as a way of
keeping the Christ Child the center of the Christmas season.
The Advent box we speak
of is similar to an Advent calendar with a door representing each day of the
Advent season. Each day of the Advent
season a small door in the box is opened and behind that door is
something. Sometimes it just a piece of
paper with a devotion, sometimes there is a Christmas tree ornament, or even
crazy things like a battleship. But
each item in the box comes with a story, devotion, or activity that reminds us
the true meaning of Christmas. Dr. Ben
Husted states in his book Christmas out
of the Advent Box, “The power of the Advent box comes from the way it
centers our lives on Jesus for that all-important season leading up to
Christmas. After filling our calendar
with the events, activities, stories, books, Scriptures, and movies, our family
has a daily exposure to some relevant truth or application from
Scripture.”
When Ben, my
father-in-law, was writing the Advent book, he asked each of us to write a
short essay about what Advent and the traditions meant to us. The first week, Prophecy and Planning, while
a bit daunting, has become one of my favorites.
It is amazing to be able to look in the Old Testament of the Bible and
then fast forward to the New Testament and see things that God said will
happen, happen.
A devotion for the week one:
What are your plans?
Read Isaiah 7:14:
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child
and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (NIV) and read
Matthew 1:22-23: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through
the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and
they will call him ‘Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us.’” (NIV)
The Christmas season is
one of the busiest and most rushed of the year. It helps tremendously to
take time during the first week to sit down with your family, with a calendar,
and plan events and a menu for the next few weeks. A menu on paper, which
you can then use for grocery shopping, really cuts back on the stress of the
holidays.
During the second week
of Advent we celebrate Bethlehem and Preparation week, and we typically make
gingerbread houses. Why? Because Bethlehem means “house of bread.” Although we do not get as elaborate as some,
we still have a fun time. Using graham
crackers as our walls and roofs and melted almond bark or decorators icing to
hold things together, we take off from there.
With bowls of gumdrops, M&Ms, tic-tacs, mini marshmallows,
lifesavers, coconut flakes, and a variety of other fun candies and eatable
items we each create a unique house. . .or barn or shed. . .or “I’m not sure
what this is.” I remember one year my
mother-in-law built a beautiful cottage while my father-in-law built a barn any
dairyman would be proud to own. It can
be a fun contest to see who even has walls still standing at the end of the
day.
A devotion for week two
Read Micah 5:2 “But
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you
are small among the clans of
Judah, out of you will come for me one who
will be ruler over
Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
It took God
a lot of preparation to get things into place for Jesus birth in
Bethlehem. Take time this week to
prepare for the weeks ahead. Are you
going to make cookies? Make sure you
have all the ingredients on hand. Are
you going to put up Christmas lights?
Buy extra bulbs.
Where is
Christ in all of this? Are you preparing
your hearts to receive Jesus anew? This
is very much what Advent is about. Yes,
Jesus came, and He is coming again. But
right now, Jesus lives in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Prepare to welcome Him once again.
Shepherds and Sharing
are the focus of week three. One of our
big eating traditions during this week is to share a meal outside “like the
shepherds.” This has led to some
memorable meals, since when that’s in the box we eat outside come rain or
shine. Bekah still doesn’t let us forget a celebratory dinner that happened
outside one year: Eating steaks outside in the middle of December is a unique
experience. Despite the shepherds’ lack
of conveniences, Luke 2:8 “And there
were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks
at night” they also got to spread the word about the birth of the Christ. Luke
2:17-18 “When they had seen him, they spread the word
concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the
shepherds said to them.” How awesome is
that?
A Devotion
for week three
Make several loaves of Buttermilk Cinnamon Bread and deliver them
to neighbors. Include a note with each
loaf sharing the good news like the shepherds did.
The forth week, the
Angle and Joy week, varies in length, depending on which day of the week
Christmas falls. That being said, angles
play a HUGE part in the Christmas season, from telling Mary, a virgin, that she
would conceive the Christ child, to announcing the birth to the shepherds. What joy both of those events are!
A devotion for week four
Read Matthew 2:10, Luke
1:41, 46-67, 58; 2:10
The point: Jesus intends for us to have fun and enjoy life,
especially at Christmas. We find
references to joy and rejoicing in the Christmas story…. Tonight we are going
to do something just for fun: play some
board games. First Scrabble, but our
words can be capitalized words, as long as they have to do with Christmas. Anytime we use a word having to do with
Christmas, the points earned for that word are doubled. (Adapt other games of your choice.)
The last candle
we light on Christmas Eve is the Christ candle, along with that, every year for
as long as any one remembers is a little block wood wrapped in Christmas
paper. We read Matthew 2:11and talk
about how the wise men gave gifts to Jesus to express their love for Him –
God’s greatest Gift! After a great meal
of stew and cornbread, we open gifts.
This closes out our
Advent season for this year. We have
gained sweet, fun memories to carry us into next year. With this tradition, a family bond and a
deeper love for Christ, has been created that will last a lifetime
Buttermilk Cinnamon Bread
(Makes eight 8”x3.75”x2.5” loaf pans)
12 cups all purpose flour
6 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons salt
1 ½ cups canola oil
6 ½ cups sugar, divided (put 4 ½ cups in dough and save 2 cups for
middle and topping)
6 cups buttermilk
6 eggs
2 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
4 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts or pecans, for garnish
In a small bowl mix 2 cups sugar and cinnamon, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking
soda, and salt. In a smaller bowl
combine oil and 4 ½ cups sugar. Add
buttermilk and eggs; ix well. Stir into
dry ingredients just until moistened.
Spray pans with cooking spray.
Put 1 cup batter in each pan. Top
with 1/8 cup cinnamon/sugar mixture. Put
1 more cup of batter on top of that and sprinkle with another 1/8 cup
cinnamon/sugar mixture and sprinkle with nuts.
Bake 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
Cool; then wrap with clear wrap and decorate as desired. Loaves may be frozen for giving later.
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