Advent

Advent is an important part of lead up to Christmas here in Denmark. My churches back home would usually have advent candles that we would light during the four advent Sunday's but the notion of advent being a time of waiting and preparation was never impressed upon me very deeply. Here many of the Christmas traditions are built around advent such as Danes tend to not put up their Christmas trees until the 23rd or even 24th, and the unveiling of the tree is a central part of the Christmas celebration. And the advent wreaths are large and exquisitely beautiful.

Perhaps this season of advent meant a bit more to us this year in part because we're in the midst of a period of waiting for Providence in our own life. Michael left the day after Christmas to fly back to the States for the annual philosophy conference where he presented a paper and interviewed for jobs. And the waiting to find out what the future holds for us post-June continues.