An Advent Event – Floss rambles her way towards some suggestions

I got up early this morning, as Son 2 was also up to finish off his homework – he’s good at getting it done in the mornings. I cleaned mirrors, sinks, baths and toilets while he revised, and I tested him on giving directions in Spanish whilst laying the breakfast table.

After breakfast the boys and I cycled off to College together, and I went on down to the lake. Crossing the small bridge, I stopped to look at the point where our own little stream meets the town’s river. There was an enticing gurgling sound as its waters joined the murkier flow, and the pause was much appreciated.

After around a minute of listening to the gurgle and flow of the streams, I began to notice the visual details of the scene. Small yellow leaves were flowing with the current, standing out against the brown pebbles in the river bed. As human minds do, my mind began to relate what I was seeing to human situations. I thought of the pretty leaves bobbing along as all of us bloggers, jiggling along, mostly happily, through the varied waters of our lives. I saw three yellow leaves temporarily held up against a stick in the water, and it felt to me that they were having a much-needed pause in their journey, just like my own break on the footbridge.

Soon they were joined by a round, green leaf, and I thought how good it was to pause with others who have different experiences and ideas, as well as with those who are similar.

This was all influenced by my thinking about an Advent blogging event, of course. I would love to be able to join with other bloggers in little pauses throughout Advent.

The activity, the busy-ness, the rush to prepare for Christmas are all going to be fun, but I would personally like to have reason to stop every week, to pause, and to reflect. If you would like to contribute your own little something to those pauses, then my next questions are for you!

I have been doing these pre-Advent posts on a Sunday. Sundays in Advent are very meaningful, as they are usually when people light the candles on their Advent crowns. Advent always starts on a Sunday – this year at the end of November.
Thus, I’d quite fancy inviting people to do a series of four posts on any kind of Advent theme that interests them, each Sunday in Advent.

However, given that not everyone posts on a Sunday, we could make it a Saturday/Sunday event, or a Sunday/Monday one. Please let me know what would work for you.

I will do a post on each Advent Pause day, giving a link to everyone else who has told me that they’ll be involved.

I’d really like people to post about what’s important to them. It would be a shame if every contributor was the same. For some it may be about the family time they are spending with an Advent Calendar or other crafted delight. For others it may be about their Advent traditions old or new – ‘traditions’ was one of the key words of your comments on my pre-Advent posts. For myself I think I’d like my posts to be reflective; to give me some kind of reason to take a break from the Christmas rush and re-focus my priorities.

So, please tell me, will you join me to take a little bloggers’ pause each week in Advent? And if so, how should we do it?

j

PS I'm posting this today because I'm going to take a little 'pause' away from blogging this weekend - parties, music rehearsals etc are going to make me quite busy enough without blogging too!