E9 How You Mama Can Experience The Kiss Principle This Advent Season

Hello Mama who can’t quite believe the Christmas season is actually here…or can’t believe that it isn’t already over?

Whether you’re welcoming this Christmas season, dreading it, or somewhere in-between, it’s here. 

I pray you can enjoy this season…even though it adds an extra layer of To-Dos to your already busy schedule. The best way to do this is by keeping things pretty simple. 

At the beginning of Advent in the thick of raising four kids, with all good intentions and perhaps too high hopes, I had many things I was trying to add to Advent to make sure I didn’t miss the blessings…to make sure I honored Jesus as the center of this sacred season.

I remember one year, ordering a few new Advent devotionals – one for me, one for us as a family, and one for my husband and me to do alone together during the quiet evenings that frankly didn’t exist. 

We started off well, doing lots of Advent activities, and within about a week we had to abandon them all because they had become too overwhelming…too much added stress…and just too much. 

Don’t do that to yourself. 

Choose one thing. 

We loved our Advent wreath tradition and, if we do nothing else, this is one tradition that has proved sustainable throughout the four weeks of Advent. Plus, the kids loved it because they each got a chance to light the candles through the four weeks, assisted by an adult of course. 

A little bonus is that candlelight tends to bring a little awe into the midst of a usually noisy dinner time, creating a hush in the room, a sense of wonder, at least for a few minutes. We accompanied this lighting with a very simple scripture reading. You can find those by googling Advent Scripture Readings if you’d like to do this. 

Your one thing can be anything! It can be a pageant your kids participate in. Or a carol sing-along. It can be a nativity scene of clay figurines. Or a lovely picture of the same scene on your bulletin board or fridge. It can be something you do or something you observe. Use the KISS principle – Keep It Simple Sweetheart. 

Blessed Advent to you and yours. 

A MomVision Prayer for Advent

Oh Lord, please be with this mama today. Give her blessed assurance that no matter what she does or doesn’t do this holiday season, she is loved wholly and completely by you.

Whether it’s a quiet moment by the fire…a gathering around an Advent Wreath…a moment warmed by a hot cup of something cozy…or a whispered prayer in the middle of this busy season, allow her to sense your presence. 

Prepare her heart to receive the beauty of the Christ child come to live among us and remaining in Spirit to this very day. I pray in Jesus name, amen.