Advent is probably mostly recognised as the official countdown to Christmas and Chocolate Calendars. Day one being the 1st December. I'm sure we've all noticed in the last few years how this market has exploded!
It seems everyone is jumping on the band waggon. You may have seen cheese, beer & beauty Advent Calendars but look a little harder and the range is huge from seeds, personalised dog biscuits even science tricks! A far cry from the little windows with a different picture behind each in bygone years.
This is a fabulous list:
Christmas is very exciting following the pandemic. People seem to have new appreciation for it and I'm no exception. Especially in decorating my home which starts with making a wreath which I put up at Advent. I've done this for as long as I have been lucky enough to own my own front door.
I love foraging, finding different beautiful natural textures. I recycle the same frame each year and love experimenting with different looks. This is my latest inspiration if you're interested:
This year I'm really excited to be running a couple of wreath making workshops too.
I've been drawn to what advent means. We know it's the start of Christmas but according to the Church of England (I'll attach a link below), the Church prepares to celebrate the coming (adventus) of Christ.
Each of the four Sunday's leading up to Christmas has a different theme. Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.
In yoga (as I'm sure in many other traditions), these key themes present themselves time and time again. They thread through the Yamas & Niyamas. Which are ultimately a guide to self realisation. Here's a really great article for further reading. https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/philosophy/yoga-sutras/path-happiness/
At Christmas I love spending time with my family and friends, share gorgeous food, drink and gifts. But's it's also hard to ignore world wide suffering. So many who only have hope. Maybe it's a good opportunity to think about what we really hope for as it's so easy to allow our ego to get mixed up with hope.
There are loads of brilliant charity events and fundraising initiatives going on at this time of year. Some of you reading this may well be going to the one Gemma has organised for Ukraine on 10th December. A massive pat on the back to you if you are! But if dancing isn't your thing there are many other ways we can all give a little at this time of year (as I'm sure many of you already do).
So for Advent and in this season of good will here's a couple of shares form me too. Let's hope it can be a little better for some.
Namaste
https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons/advent
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