Esperando

I love this holiday season. Yet, at least while in college, I felt like I didn’t get to celebrate it fully because with the holiday season comes finals and papers, and where does that leave you to really bask in all the goodness this season has to offer? However, with the graduation of school, comes afternoons and evenings free to explore! It's been a blessing so far that I've had the opportunity to engage more fully in the season of Advent already. It's a beautiful season because it intentionally offers the opportunity to center yourself, reflect, and prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ.

Growing up, I've slowly stopped asking for gifts as Christmas time and my birthday came around. Out of the five love languages, gift giving is far down on the scale. I simply would rather not spend money on material items and sometimes I even feel uneasy with how much money was spent on certain items. Maybe this answers your question as to why I never bought gifts for birthdays or Christmas. Anyways, below I created a list of wonderful bits of information about Advent and Christmas, as well as some alternative items for gift giving. I hope you enjoy, and if you have any other ideas, I would love to hear about them!

What is the true meaning of Advent and Christmas? Let www.adventconspiracy.org remind you. It focuses on four values: worship fully, spend less, give more, love all. It takes one person to make a difference, so why not start this year?

Lee (the youth director here) is very persistent in reminding me that we are in the season of Advent. It is a time of waiting. The celebration hasn't started yet! To prepare yourself for Christmas and be mindful of this beautiful holiday, download the Advent calendar on www.simpleliving.org and create space for each day's reflection.

Give fair trade coffee as a Christmas gift. It’s supporting small farmers and their communities and it tastes mighty good! Fair trade focuses on a fair wage, fair working conditions, direct trade, democratic organizations, community development and environmental sustainability (taken from Fair Trade USA).

Instead of buying gifts for a loved one, buy an animal in the name of your loved one. Heifer International works with families in developing countries to bring them out of poverty by teaching them the skills to be self-sustaining and providing them with the livestock to get started! The animals are called “living loans” because the families promise to pass along one of the animal’s offspring to another family in need, thus spreading the love and creating a community of peace!

I’ve always liked picking out the cutest wrapping paper, but did you know you can’t recycle it? Wrap your gifts in newspaper, paper bags or old maps. Even though there won’t be cute snowmen on it, you are reusing what’s already at home. Plus, you can get caught up on the news from 2 weeks ago while opening your gifts on Christmas.

Do you like to paint, draw or write? Take time to create a piece of artwork for someone. If you’re like me and God didn’t quite give you artistic talent, do it anyways and if it comes out a little funky, just label it as abstract art.

Compile an assortment of memories and/or mementos of you and a loved one and display it in a creative way.

Walk in the footsteps of St. Therese of Lisieux and do random acts of kindness without seeking anything in return.

How about a cookie exchange! Get together with your roomies, best friends or co-workers and bake a sweet treat to share.

Find out where the tradition of where Santa Claus came from. You'll discover a man of humble servitude and a loving heart- St. Nicholas. His feast day is celebrated on December 6th and he is the patron saint of children, among other things. He was known for his endless generosity to those in need.

Speaking of traditions, do you know where the Christmas tree came from? Mistletoe? Candles? Have you ever thought about how they celebrate Christmas in Ethiopia? Do you have a free afternoon to do nothing? Well check out whychristmas.com for all your holiday answers. (clearly I had a whole afternoon of website searching)

Last but not least, if your love language is giving gifts and you can't bear a Christmas without buying gifts for others, please check out www.tenthousandvillages.com. This fair trade organization provides the opportunity for artisans in developing countries to earn a fair wage by selling their hand-crafted items through this partnership. You also receive the life story of the artisan who you bought your gift from. It's a pretty awesome collection. Promise me you will at least check out the website before going to Macy's or wherever else.


Happy Advent!!