How to Make Advent More Like Advent and Less Like Christmas Idea #1

Advent is just around the corner and I have been deep in thought, considering how to make Advent more meaningful for myself and my family.  Advent is a period of waiting, anticipation, and penance for Catholics.  Those who observe Advent faithfully, do not allow Christmas to encroach upon this season of waiting too quickly.  Our family has many traditions for Advent we've developed throughout the years and I thought we might share some of these ideas and traditions with you throughout Advent this year.

Here is Celebrating Advent Idea #1:

Do your Christmas shopping BEFORE Advent.  I try very hard to do this.  I want our focus to be on preparing for the arrival of the Christ Child, not on the arrival of gifts.  If I'm stressing over what to get this person or the next I'm not able to focus on preparing my heart.  This takes some planning to accomplish and we have simplified much of our Christmas buying in order to manage doing this each year, but it is well worth the effort.  As of this post, I have 3/4 of my Christmas shopping finished and I will be completely finished by the end of the first week of Advent, even with the added stress of The Nutcracker bearing down on me. You cannot imagine how much this eases my mind and my heart.