Monday, December 2, 2013

Advent - Preparing the Way




Preparing the Way to Christmas - That's Advent

Sunday, December 1 marked the first day/week in Advent. Does your family have any Advent traditions?

We've done a combination of things...daily calendars with pictures behind the doors or chocolate. Yum! A wreath of greens with four candles. But the one thing that does happen almost every year is the arrival of the German Christmas Advent House Pyramid. (Click the link to learn about the history of these houses.) Some years it comes out on Christmas Eve, but this year we are right on time!

Haley, Kaya, Kirsten, Lanie, Melody

And there it is!
What?
The Advent House Pyramid.
What?
A type of Advent Calendar that counts down the time until Christmas.
Oh.
There are four doors?
One for each week in Advent.
Kirsten, you open the first one.
It's a baker inside.
He's an angel too. Look at the little green wings.
Preparing all the goodies that make Christmas a festival.
What is your favorite Christmas treat?
There is a Nativity scene in the bottom level.
And look there are the sheep, a shepherd and the kings.
What are the four points at the corners?
Those hold candles. Each week you open a door and light a candle. On the fourth week the heat from the candles rises to the paddles causing the top and ring with the kings to spin. It's really neat.
Do we have candles?
No, they are a special size that is not common in the US. Now in Germany...
That's too bad.
It's still very pretty and still helps us prepare the way for Christmas.
This is a really big one (by Richard Glasser). There are others much smaller and simpler.

What is you favorite Advent tradition?

Thank you for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon.

Best wishes!



13 comments:

  1. Loved seeing this Advent pyramid. For its age, it is still quite striking and lovely. Kirsten did a great job opening the first door. Too bad about the candles. Happy Advent to all.

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    1. We really don't miss the candles. The pyramid still serves its purpose without them. Plus no kitties singe their fur.

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  2. What my famiy does for a Christmas countdown is this;
    We wrote on a strip of paper what we are thankful for, then we make paper chain out of it and by the time it gets to December, we break one of the paper chains of and read it. I know this is confusing but I tried my best to describe it! Lol

    -Meghan at girlydolltype.blogspot.com

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    1. That's a neat tradition. I think you did a great job explaining it.

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  4. That is so cool. We have two advent calendars that have pockets to move the piece each day. One is a snow man and the other one is a mouse. :)

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  5. Cool! Too bad you don't have any candles. :(
    We have an Advent Calender. Each day you turn the notch on the side and there is a decoration inside the door. You hang the decoration on one of the various pegs on the house. That's what it's shaped like.

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    1. Sounds like a fun one. I bet it is really pretty when all the decorations are displayed.

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  6. I like that your Advent calendar actually has the Nativity scene! It's such a pity that every one seems to think that Christmas is all about Santa Claus, when it's not.

    Did you know that Santa Claus started with St Nicholas? In Holland, the kids called him "Sinta Klaus" so that's kinda how it started, because with other accents, it sounded like Santa Claus. I might be doing a post about it on my blog soon.

    Jessi
    xx

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    1. Yes, Santa's history is quite interesting. Something really cool, that you know too, is that we couldn't have one without the other (no matter what some people try to tell us).

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  7. Wow, your advent calendar is huge! We have a smaller one, but we still love it.

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