So, I'm Being a Catholic Mommy Blogger
Advent has just begun. The Advent purists are pushing for us to completely forget Christmas until late on December 24. Last year, I liked to refer to this as the Christian (TM) War on Christmas: Just like the secular War on Christmas, only Christian! (May the InternetMonk rest in peace!) This year, it seems that some of the Catholic Mommy bloggers are tired of it too. Perhaps it's just because I'm 8 months pregnant, but I'm getting a little tired of the way that everyone seems to have a superiority complex over when they put up their Christmas trees.
I'll confess: We put our tree up Thanksgiving weekend. I would rather have waited until Gaudete Sunday or my birthday 8 days before Christmas, whichever worked better for us, but that's after the baby (currently named Sibby by my father-in-law) could arrive. (Not that we expect Sibby before Christmas, but babies are like the Master of the House and one should be prepared for them to be early or late as it suits them.) As John's mother, I did not want to cheat him out of the first Christmas he'll be able to vaguely remember by Sibby's birth, so I decided that we should prepare early.
That doesn't mean we're disregarding Advent. Really, we're not. Advent is a time of preparation, both of our hearts and our homes for the celebration of Christ's birth. No one (except someone unprepared like me) runs to the store on the morning of their child's birthday and buys all the supplies and presents for the party that afternoon. Instead people (yes, even me most years) realize that their child has a birthday in a few weeks and start preparing. (Sometimes I even prepare months in advance if I see a 70% off sticker during after Christmas sales!) There are always lots of last minute things to prepare, no matter how early one starts, so why be like the Foolish Virgins and wait until the last minute?
There is such a thing as starting too early, of course. Decorations get dusty and boring if they are up too long and unlike the servants in the Master's house, we know when Christmas will be and the Church isn't going to change the celebration of Christ's birthday just to teach us a lesson about preparedness for the Second Coming. The approximately four weeks of Advent should give us plenty of time to prepare for the biggest birthday party of the year without turning into Martha and missing the Guest for the preparation.
I'll confess: We put our tree up Thanksgiving weekend. I would rather have waited until Gaudete Sunday or my birthday 8 days before Christmas, whichever worked better for us, but that's after the baby (currently named Sibby by my father-in-law) could arrive. (Not that we expect Sibby before Christmas, but babies are like the Master of the House and one should be prepared for them to be early or late as it suits them.) As John's mother, I did not want to cheat him out of the first Christmas he'll be able to vaguely remember by Sibby's birth, so I decided that we should prepare early.
That doesn't mean we're disregarding Advent. Really, we're not. Advent is a time of preparation, both of our hearts and our homes for the celebration of Christ's birth. No one (except someone unprepared like me) runs to the store on the morning of their child's birthday and buys all the supplies and presents for the party that afternoon. Instead people (yes, even me most years) realize that their child has a birthday in a few weeks and start preparing. (Sometimes I even prepare months in advance if I see a 70% off sticker during after Christmas sales!) There are always lots of last minute things to prepare, no matter how early one starts, so why be like the Foolish Virgins and wait until the last minute?
There is such a thing as starting too early, of course. Decorations get dusty and boring if they are up too long and unlike the servants in the Master's house, we know when Christmas will be and the Church isn't going to change the celebration of Christ's birthday just to teach us a lesson about preparedness for the Second Coming. The approximately four weeks of Advent should give us plenty of time to prepare for the biggest birthday party of the year without turning into Martha and missing the Guest for the preparation.