Advent is for Anticipation

This year was going to be the year. The year where we truly did not celebrate Christmas in the midst of waiting for Our Savior to be born. This year we were going to treat Advent with the reverence that it deserved. We were going to patiently wait, we were going to eat better, to not celebrate too soon, to really soak up the spirit of waiting, to unite ourselves with Mary as she waited for her Son to be born.

Funny thing about all that. The fact is, we're human. We weren't doing as well as I had hoped. We were finding excuse after excuse to celebrate early, to get carried away, to treat ourselves to special foods, etc. So, God threw us a little curve ball if you will. He provided us, through some generous donors who will remain anonymous, with the means to get some home improvement projects done. Not just any projects, but the project that I had been wanting to do ever since we moved into this house 2 1/2 years ago. The living room. The carpet is disgusting, our couches are well-loved, and the walls were screaming for some paint. Life happened, money disappeared 6 feet under (literally....sewer, remember?) and we have been dealing with a less than ideal situation in our living room ever since.

So what does God, our failed Advent attempts and home improvement projects have to do with each other? Because of our eagerness to get our house in order for Christmas we wasted no time in getting started. The old couches are gone, everything is out of the room, the ceiling and walls are painted, the trim is painted, the windows are taped, the dining room ceiling is painted (couldn't just stay in the living room ya know), and now....we wait! We wait like we were supposed to be waiting all along. While we wait, we don't decorate, we don't celebrate, there are no festivities around here. We cope. We agonize. We become creative with our current situation. Much like the anticipation that is supposed to be surrounding this time of waiting for our Savior we find it challenging. What put us here? What is causing such a situation in our household? I would like to say it was a renewed spiritual vigor. Unfortunately it is simply


CARPET!