Entries from December 2002

December 4, 2002

Advent with Sarah
posted by Heather at 07:41 AM |

The first week of Advent always catches me unprepared. I know it’s coming, but I just can’t make the transition from Thanksgiving fast enough. So, of course it means we don’t have the wreath or calendar out yet. Nonetheless, the church we went to on Sunday had the Hanging of the Greens and I wanted Sarah to begin to understand what Advent was about.

So, I decided while I get my act together with the props, we’d still do an Advent activity every day. I’ve realized that kids get exposed at later ages to Advent and Christmas hymns because of the movement to remove religious content from public places. I’m completely in agreement with these changes (such as not teaching carols in school), but just realized that it makes my responsibility as a parent more explicit.

So, I decided we’ll learn a Christian carol each week of Advent. We always have our time in the car going to and from school, as well as other errands, so what a great time to learn a phrase at a time.

I started with “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”. I love that hymn, it has Judaic roots, and expectancy is the central theme of Advent.

So, we started. I could only remember the first line and the chorus, but of course that was enough to begin with. I was explaining that Emmanuel meant “God with us” (at least, that’s what I remembered!). Then, Sarah asked what “rejoice” meant, so I said that it meant to be happy and joyful.

So, she has learned the chorus, but has added a line of her own (sung to the same notes as “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel”): Be happy! Be happy! God is with us

Isn’t 5-year-old insight great!

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