Approaching Advent

The first Advent is this Sunday, and every home in Germany has some variation of an Advent Wreath or a collection of 4 candles that they burn. I really love this tradition and each year, my Advent Wreath is the Christmas decoration that I splurge a little on. A beautiful Advent Wreath is just the thing that sparks my excitement for the Christmas Season and gets me looking forward to spending time with family and celebrating Christ's birth.

So, here is a picture of my Advent Wreath for this year. Typically, I am very traditional and only want red decorations on my wreath, but this one just caught my eye.

One thing that drove me crazy in the beginning (but I am learning to adjust) is how you burn the candles on the Advent Wreath. The first candle is lit on the first Advent Sunday and for that week, you only burn one candle. Do you know the self restraint it takes for me to only light one candle? Then on the second Advent Sunday, you light two candles and those two candles burn that week. I think you get what happens on the third Advent Sunday. Finally on the fourth Advent Sunday, you get to light all four candles.

Clearly, I did not make the Advent Wreath myself, however I did make the wreath for our front door myself. It isn't quite as professional as the one above, but I am quite proud of it. The only thing I didn't do is bind the pine needle clippings to the wreath base, which I actually did do myself last year. Both our Advent Wreath and Front Door Wreath are real needles, which I think is so neat. Of course, that would not be an option in Augusta climate since the things would dry up and turn brown in about 2 days.

Are you getting into the Christmas spirit yet? I would love to see pics of your decorations and hear about your favorite Christmas traditions.