Advent Begins: Countdown to Christmas – 1 December 2012
Scroll down or click here for a video of the unwrapping of our Advent candle. |
Around the country, delicate perforated cardboard doors have been torn back, neat aluminium foil has been sharply poked, and determined fingers have mined miniature chocolates out of Advent calendars.
It’s that time of year again.
Actually, technically speaking, Advent begins tomorrow (Sunday) – the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. Derived from the Latin adventus, which means ‘coming’, this is the period in which Christians like myself prepare for the coming of Christ.
One alternative to Advent calendars is an Advent candle. Marked on the wax are the 25 days from 1 to 25 December. As Christmas nears, a little bit more of the candle is burned.
Yesterday, a brown parcel arrived from Lincolnshire (home county to my aunt and her family) with an Advent candle wrapped carefully inside. The annual exchange of these gifts between my father and his sister is a Burdett tradition that goes back many years.
Rather sadly, this (Saturday, 1 December) is the first day of the last month of this incredible year. The beginning of the end, one might say. Don’t forget to look out for my Review Of The Year (2011’s is available to view here), coming soon.
