"Watch for the light: Readings for Advent and Christmas" book cover against a Christmas tree background

Why I’m Not Doing Advent Photos This Year and What I’m Doing Instead

“What will you be doing for Advent this year?” a friend asked me. She knew that for the past three years, I have engaged in an Advent Photo-a-Day practice, reflecting on a prompt word each day and capturing it in a picture.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “It hurts too much. My heart is still tender from the grief of my dad’s passing.”

In previous years, the season of Advent had been a source of joy and consolation for me. I looked forward to the anticipation and the gentle, dark time of waiting. Advent had always been a time of finding hidden beauty. This year, however. This year was different. I couldn’t even think about Advent without tears welling up and my chest feeling like it had exploded. Or maybe imploded. Oh, what a raw place.

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joy - advent week 3

Gratitude Comes Before Joy [Reflections for Advent Week 3]

The theme for the third week of Advent is Joy. One thing that I’ve thought about this year is the relationship between gratitude and joy. I started off thinking that we are grateful as a result of joy. For example, I have a great family that brings me joy, and because of that, I am grateful. Or my boss just praised me for doing a great job on a recent project which brings me joy, and as a result I feel grateful.

But it seems I may have been mistaken.
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How I Fought With My In-Laws (and Won)

How I Fought With My In-Laws (and Won)

[This is an excerpt of our book, “Then Came The Baby“, about the time I fought with my in-laws shortly after Allie was born.]

Before Allie was one week old, I had a big fight with Olive’s parents. They were so angry they wanted to cancel Christmas.

Well, technically no one could cancel Christmas. But they wanted to cancel Christmas with us by changing their plane tickets to fly back to Toronto early.
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