The Lost Advent Wreath, Hospitality, & Putting the Kitchen to Bed

Advent is upon us and moving quickly! On the First Sunday of Advent, my husband and I hosted a small (but larger than I anticipated) gathering with family and friends from our community. 

It was a lovely day, filled with excitement, hope, and of course a debate about whether or not Catholics should do Santa Claus for their children (my husband and I are still deciding...thankfully we aren't to that point yet) 

one candle for hope

The Advent wreath above, we bought this year. Not because we didn't have one, we did. Only I could not for the life of me, remember where I put it away last year. We also moved so that made it harder to remember and harder to find things. My husband and I looked everywhere for that thing. It was nowhere to be found. So, the day after Thanksgiving, we rushed down to our local religious gift store, in between drying coats of paint in our bathroom, and bought this one. Then, we happened to run into a priest who is a friend of our family, and he took us into his office to bless the new wreath and candles. In his office, he had tons of relics. He prayed for us with a relic of the shroud of Turin. It was a very special moment for my husband and I and a story I won't forget. We did find the old Advent wreath, inside a box with a smaller Christmas tree. But I think it was all meant to be this way. 

the empty manger. I couldn't resist putting it out

Fast forward to today and we're almost to the end of the first week. I have to say, it felt like the first week was kind of quick and exhausting. Lots of things came up, but I guess that's life. I was able to help a lot of people in my life and that made it worth not getting all my Christmas shopping done. All of that will be here for next week. Hospitality has also been a big theme this week, from our party on day one of Advent, to yesterday having my aunt and uncle over to see the new house. 

the shepherds in the field,
awaiting the angels

My husband and I really love having people over. I need to be better about offering things up to God in the moment. Things like cleaning up the house before company comes, serving during a party, speaking to people and getting to know them. We know one couple that prays with the friends before they leave, and I think that is a nice tradition. This is definitely something I want to work on during the season while we seem to be having so many people over!

a glimpse of the advent tree

Something that I started this Advent, unintentionally, is putting my kitchen to bed. This idea is from Mrs. Midwest, one of the first traditional housewives I started following on YouTube. Her idea is very simple. Cleaning up the kitchen before bed, or after the last meal or snack has been made so that in the morning, everything is clean and ready for when you wake up. This makes the morning smoother and also doesn't make you dread waking up to last night's dishes in the sink. Ugh-been there. 

I did this on Monday night because my husband had to do some work in the office, and I had nothing else to do. So, I forced myself to clean the kitchen. I wiped the counters, made the coffee, dried all the clean dishes and put them away. And let me tell you, the feeling of waking up to a clean kitchen is incredible! A clean workspace to begin the day! And it is practical. We teach kids to put things away after we use them, we should be able to do the same thing with our kitchen counters. Easier said than done, I know. We all have that junk counter in our kitchen. But after that wonderful feeling, I've made it kind of an Advent sacrifice to do it every night. 

I hope your Advent is going well!

God bless!

Gina💕