Making an Advent Wreath

Last night we met at the parsonage to talk about our Worship Together service and to make an Advent wreath for the service.  This Sunday will also be the annual Advent wreath making event at our church, so our pastor had lots of supplies.  We ended up not only making a wreath for the worship service, but also for our homes.

At first, I thought, no, I won't do this, no need for this.  And then, I was curious.  And then, I really enjoyed it. 

I've had some trouble coming to terms with the fact that Thanksgiving is over.  I'm still wishing I had taken more time to enjoy the time that led us to Halloween.  It was wonderful to slow down enough to make a wreath that can help us focus on the coming of Christmas.

We used wreath forms made of straw, so it wasn't as hard as the wreaths I've made in the past, which involved twisting evergreen branches into a wire form.  We put the candle holders in, which was the hardest part.  And then we arranged bits of pine branches around the wreath.  We plunged wire hook-like devices into the form to hold it all together.

I didn't think to bring my camera, but really, the process isn't hard, and most of us live in places where the supplies are readily available.  Why not make a wreath?

We had a few ribbons, so we did some decorating.  I tied ribbons around the candles because I really liked the look of the unadorned greens.

My spouse tied a red, wiry ribbon around the bottom of the wreath.  He talked about its prickeriness and likened it to a crown of thorns.

We've grown weary of the "Put Christ back in Christmas" campaigns.  I have said our slogan should be "Put the cross back in Christmas."  I've been partly kidding, partly not. 

On our way home, we thought about creating Advent wreaths that are both wreath and crown of thorns.  We thought about a Lent wreath.  We thought about an Advent wreath that transitions to a Lent wreath.

If I was a visual artist, I'd have all kinds of inspirations.  Maybe I'll play with it some more at a future point.

But for now, I have a lovely Advent wreath.  Of course, last year I had a lovely Advent wreath; see this post for pictures of my tropical Advent wreath.  And I never lit the candles.

I'd like to light the candles of my Advent wreath at least several times a week this year.  I'd like to add some special Advent meditations.  My schedule is already starting to get a bit fuller than usual.  I'd like to fight back with these bits of Advent put into my week.