Advent

Last night was the first night of the Advent season. For years our family has marked the start of Advent the same way, joining with other families from our church to make Advent wreaths and share a simple meal and worship service.

The four of us were a great team as we worked on our wreath each year. We shared a wreath aesthetic, so we easily worked together to create a wreath that pleased us all. As the years went by and Emma started high school, I thought we might get some resistance about attending the Advent dinners, but she was always fully on board. Traditions were very important to her and this had become a family tradition. She would happily work on the wreath with us and when we were done she would work the room, chatting about school, music, her plans for Christmas. She was always one of the readers during the short worship service and her strong, sweet voice helped bolster the often under-confident crowd when we sang Silent Night after lighting the first candle on our wreaths.

We would bring our wreath home and place it on the dining room table. Truthfully, we were very inconsistent about lighting it during the rest of the season. Sundays got busy with concerts and gatherings and it seemed we were rarely home to share a meditation and light the wreath. But making the wreath together was an important act of communion that helped us start the season, as we would end the season, together.

Last night we attended the Advent dinner again, as Emma would have wanted. We made a beautiful wreath, punctuated by some purple tinged hydrangea blossoms, a new and fitting addition to our wreath contributed by another family. Emma was not there to work the room. Silent Night was not the same without her sweet voice. But I felt her presence as we honored tradition, constructing our wreath, lighting the first candle and uniting in prayer and song. We started the season, as we will end the season, together in spirit.