Advent Is Right Around The Corner!

Advent planning never goes smoothly for me unless I start before Thanksgiving, and people, it’s right around the corner! For anyone who downloaded my Advent Christmas Planner last year, it’s time to pull that baby off the shelf!

Just yesterday, I received such a sweet email from a reader that purchased the Advent Christmas Planner last year. I wanted to share her thoughts on the ebook with all of you:

Dear Lacy,

I’ve been reading your blog for a few years now and have always enjoyed the various crafts and ideas you’ve presented for teaching the Faith to children.

Last year, I decided to purchase your Advent Planner because I was raised only nominally Catholic and the season was always somewhat of a mystery to me.

 

Over the years since my return to the Church, I have found lots of information online and in books, but it was almost information overload. Sometimes I’d catch myself spending too much time online hunting for ideas and not enough time actually implementing them!

 

I knew I liked your projects from reading your blog over the years, so I figured I’d give your planner a shot. I was hoping it would help me plan Advent so that it would not be so overwhelming for me.

 

All I can say is, wow! Your planner really delivered, and then some. Our Advent last year went so much more smoothly than previous years, and most importantly, I felt we were really able to get across the true meaning of the season.

 

Not to say that things didn’t get nutty at times (in addition to Advent and Christmas, we have *5* birthdays in our family during the month of December, including my husband’s!), but I felt so much more able to handle stuff than in previous years, where it seemed I was almost literally running around like a chicken with her head cut off. 🙂

 

I really love the gentle and kind tone you take with us mothers. As I sat down with my planner that first day after I purchased it (I printed it out, hole-punched it, and put it in a binder), I almost felt like I was sitting down with a friend for coffee. Just reading your introduction put me at ease, and lifted some of the stress from my shoulders. And your prayer at the very beginning was one I read and re-read to myself many times during the Advent season.

 

I also love how honest you are with your own experiences. Sometimes I read blogs and I end up feeling badly about myself and my life because the bloggers make their lives look almost perfect. I loved how throughout the planner you would often say stuff like, “look, some years I make baked goods from scratch, and other years I buy pre-made cookie dough”. It may seem like a small thing but this was huge to me. It really made me breathe easier to know that someone I admired did the same thing when she needed to.

 

In that same vein, I thought your approach to feast days during Advent was great. You really made celebrating these days accessible by always giving easy ways to make the day special. (Like making a simple Mexican dinner on St. Juan Diego’s feast day). In the past I would get caught up thinking I had to do something super fancy and then I’d end up doing nothing. Your planner helped me see that even doing something small is great, and that kids will remember it.

 

Lastly, while your planner helped keep the Advent season “Advent” and not “Christmas”, I also liked how you offered different ideas for how to do things as opposed to being all, “this is the way it must be done”. (Like when to put up your Christmas tree… thank you for not being judge-y about that!)

 

Anyway. I had wanted to write you last year after Christmas but time just got away from me. However, I pulled out the planner last week in anticipation of Advent and was reminded of how wonderful it is, and how I had wanted to thank you for what you had written. So, thank you! I know we are strangers but through your planner you have really touched my life. 🙂

 

In His Peace,

 

Monica B. (wife, and mom to 4 kiddos, ages 8 through 2)