It's 13 Days Until Advent -- Do You Know Where Your Wreath Is?

And have you bought Sarah Reinhard's new Advent book?

Welcome Baby Jesus is a sweet, wonderful, simple-but-meaty resource for families. The four weeks of Advent are presented thematically:

Get Ready
Repent
Love
Anticipate

The final section, Rejoice, takes you through the Christmas season to the Feast of the Epiphany.

Each day includes sections to help us Think, Pray and Act, along with a Scripture verse.

Here's an "Act" example from the first Sunday of Advent:

One way to get ready for Jesus is to make an Advent resolution. What can you give Jesus? Is there a person you can be nice to all during Advent? Could you help someone in a special way during Advent? Think of something you can do to get ready for Jesus' birth. 

Because Sarah doesn't talk down to kids, there's enough substance in the "Think" sections for us adults, so they work at varying levels for the whole family. We can all be challenged by such questions as, "When we are asked to do work we might consider 'servant' work, how do we respond?" (Ummm, I think I'll be taking yet another look at my attitude toward laundry this Advent.)  For very young children, the "Think" passages could be shortened or skipped -- head straight to "Pray" and "Act" with the littlest ones.

I remember several years ago, when I first stumbled onto Sarah's blog. My first thought was that anyone who had a booklist sidebar labeled "Nose Inserted" and who called herself the Snoring Scholar was a kindred spirit. It's been a perfect delight to see Sarah's writing bloom and grow beyond her lovely blog.

And, speaking of those blooms, look at all these other books Sarah has in the works!

While I'm on the subject of Advent -- I hope to get my "No Panic Advent" series updated and posted this week.

Now, on to the all-important question: Do you know who your chocolate-a-day calendar supplier is?