Advent: keeping it simple & meaningful

This Advent season is the first Advent we've celebrated. Sure, we've had Advent calendars before, the chocolate variety and the story variety.  But this is the first year I've truly felt the spiritual ideas of Advent deeply and wanted to celebrate the season with simplicity but meaning. So to celebrate the beginning of Advent we made beeswax candles.  We will light a candle every night at mealtime and say our advent verse.

 

This was my first time making candles.  I used this tutorial at Here We Are Together.

We had beeswax that I bought last year in New York and local desert beeswax as well. We were fascinated by the different colors and smells of the wax. The New York wax at the top has a deeper color and a more woodsy, strong smell. Our local, lighter colored wax has a beautiful delicate scent.  Both are lovely.  But since New York is my home and who doesn't want to be home for Christmas (as the song goes) we chose the woodsy New York scent. 

They came out lovely but a few of them have deep cracks in them.  I'm sure it's some newbie mistake. Does anyone have any thoughts on why that happens? 



This is our nature table.  We've started it by adding stone elements.  We have the beautiful quartz crystal that ties in nicely with the chapter we're reading in the Festival of Stones.  A Madonna and child stone that I made when we decorated rocks with melted crayons last summer.  We also chose a black Onyx stone egg that represents the darkness of winter evenings. 

I really love the nativity stable I found at Target for $2.50!  It's simple and small and just what I was looking for.  I also found the "Peace" ornament for half off at our local craft store.  It's unfinished and I was going to paint them, but I actually think the raw would is so beautiful in it's simplicity.

Mary & Joseph are currently traveling around the room.  I plan to tell stories of their journey.  Currently they are just plain peg dolls, but I hope to craft them as a surprise and just let the boys happen upon them.  

We've added a few simple decorations. We always like to add a string of lights on top of our wooden beam.  We made a garland a couple of years ago with found pine cones and hemp string. This year I added the unfinished wood ornaments.  One says Joy and the other Hope.  The other ornaments are the celestial and snow child ornaments that I have made for my etsy store.

One of my favorite decorations is this angel/ star garland I found years ago.

 

And this little angel is a new addition this year.  I have fallen in love with Georgian Wooden Toys!  I was helping my friend Becca add these lovely wooden toys & figures to her Waldorf co-op, Cedar Ring Circle.  I couldn't help but buy a few! 

So in any case we are enjoying the season.  I hope you are as well!

Until next time...