Image Credit:- Image is authors own and is taken from her personal library.
Decorating your home can be something of a thorny subject, with many people decorating well in advance of the liturgical calendar in today's day and age... yet, there are some Catholics who maintain that the liturgical calendar is the only way to go, which means that Christmas begins at sunset on Christmas Eve for them.
The simple answer is that it is a matter of personal choice when you choose to decorate your home for Christmas - however, I feel that it's important to consider the reason why you are choosing to decorate your home when you do.
I have to admit that I had initially planned to simply talk about my own thoughts and feelings about Advent and Christmas when I initially began to write this post... however, I found this video that I feel expresses Advent so much better than I could, while still doing it justice, So I'll insert that here and let you watch it for yourself.
As far as Christmas preparations go, both Advent and Christmas are equally as important as each other because there are things that we need to do in advance of attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Day, like receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation , for example. Then, there's the two weeks of fasting for the beginning of December. And preparing the way for the Lord to enter in.
Making space for all the new things to come into our lives can be something of a chore as we are required to cast out the old things that no longer serve us, but it also gives us a chance to remember the less fortunate at Christmas, too, be it by donating old items that are no longer of use to us, donating our time to the less fortunate or by clothing the homeless. It's important to remember that Jesus lay in a manger in a stable, so we must never get too complacent in our lives.
While I speak about the homeless, please also spare a few moments to help those who might be in emergency accommodation over the colder months. These homeless people are harder to spot than the rough sleepers that we see a lot more of, but they have it just as rough since they can spend 12 or more hours of their day just wandering aimlessly from place to place, too poor to afford a hot drink to take away the chill from their bodies. These people are considered to be "too vulnerable" to have to sleep on the streets, but their reality is often little better than those who do have to sleep on the streets.
Anyone who chooses to put up their Christmas Tree before Christmas Eve isn't sinning in any way and nor are they somehow "less Catholic than thou". After all, they are still preparing for the birth of Jesus in their own way. They could be too pressed for time that they fear being able to get everything done in time for Midnight Mass on Christmas Day, or maybe the act of putting up the Christmas decorations has become an Advent tradition of itself for them.
In the ideal world, I think that I would have my nativity set out starting from December 1st (obviously, I would place baby Jesus at the appropriate time) as a visual reminder of Christmas and what it is that I am preparing for, since I tend to shy away from things like Advent Calendars and Advent Candles since my time as a homeless person. I feel that these things have largely become too commercialized for my liking these days.
Some of my American Catholic Vloggers have also spoken about the Jesse Tree, which is a new concept for me. I feel that this could be something that I could possibly work through next Christmas, however, I would like to spend a little more time researching about it myself before I pass further comment on the tradition or decide one way or the other if this is right for me.
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