advent, second sunday

We're starting the second week of Advent, which took some effort. Our "Advent candles" are all silver, since we couldn't find a traditional four-pack of Advent candles. The actual candles are white. Then, they were dipped in this silver, sparkly paint stuff that I don't think was meant to be set on fire. It oozes & bubbles & covers the wick. So this week, I had to pick around in the wax, peel off some paint & tolerate a horrible burning smell before we got the Bethlehem candle lit.

I did this candle this morning, & I'm not a fan. I have only had time to make one leaf, "Rejoice." More will be made later, & this candle will be redone. There are actually two reasons for that:
1. I wrote "Bethleham."
2. It looks like poop.

I'm stopping work on that so that I can focus on the actual meaning of the candle instead of focusing on how much I suck at Illustrator. This random web site has a nice collection of information about Advent's second Sunday, like this quick explanation of the Bethlehem candle:

The Bethlehem Candle represents the preparations made for the coming Christ child. Bethlehem is an appropriate place to signify preparation because, even though no room was available for Mary and Joseph when they came, God had orchestrated events so that Caesar Augustus called for a census to be taken. Joseph and Mary had to leave Nazareth so that they could register in Bethlehem and the Scriptures below were fulfilled!

So last week, we had the Prophet's candle–the prophets shone light onto the world by teaching about the coming of the Lord. This week, we have the Bethlehem candle–the city from which Jesus' light first started shining on the world.

 To celebrate the light of the city, we're going commercial & hanging out in some city lights ourselves. Today, we'll head to Metz for the Christmas market with friends for some traditional French Christmas celebrations.

Hope you've all experienced your first snow of the season & are excited for the holidays! Have you started your shopping or baking? How do you prepare for the holiday season?