Dear friends,
The season of Advent begins today—appropriately enough for some of us, on the feast of St. Bibiana, patron saint of hangovers—and I am wondering if you would like to join my family and me in accepting the “Advent-Christmas Challenge.”
The Challenge is simply this: to observe a traditional or old-fashioned Advent and Christmas as best one can. I will disclose additional details in later posts, but here is the basic idea:
1. Make Advent a time of both spiritual and temporal preparation for the Lord’s Coming rather than an extended pre-game party before Christmas.
2. Observe traditional Advent customs, which include Advent calendars, Advent wreaths, setting up a nativity scene and having some of the figures “travel” to the stable, etc.
3. And, perhaps hardest of all, celebrate all Twelve Days of Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany, from December 25 to January 6.
The good news is that an old-fashioned Advent does not necessarily involve abstinence from alcohol, although it may be a good time to let your liver catch its breath before the Christmastide festivities really kick in.
Like I said, we fill in the details with a series of additional posts that will contain explanations of the season and practical ideas–including, of course, drink suggestions. (Our next post in a couple of days will be entitled “When to Put Up the Christmas Tree”). And you can add comments or suggestions of your own on our Facebook page.
So who’s with us? Do you have any Advent tips you would like to share? And who else among your friends and family would be interested in taking up this Challenge?
Drinking With The Saints 