Weekly Update: 12.3.23

It's the first Sunday of Advent, the Christian season dedicated to anticipating Christ's return even as we remember His first coming as the babe in the manger. My family discovered Advent as a homeschool foray into historical church practices. I still remember the first year, when we cut our own evergreen Advent wreath from our rural north Idaho property. I plunked out a rustic rendition of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" on our antique cabinet grand piano while we sang and prayed together. It was a novelty at the time, but decades later, it is a beloved family tradition. At times, we have belonged to churches that also kept Advent, which made the season all the more special.

This year is special in its own way. It is the first (and likely only) Advent season we will keep while living in a wall tent. The forced simplicity of this lifestyle will doubtlessly flavor this holiday season, as we are forced to make space for only the traditions that matter most to us. The concept of "preparing room" in our hearts for Christ has felt especially tangible, as we chose this week to set aside our bunkhouse project to prepare for not only the holiday season but for winter itself.

We spent most of this week cleaning and organizing our wall tent and camp area. Among the many lessons we are learning during our homestead adventure is the importance of making time for quality of life. We have been so busy, we have set aside "frivolous" wants like increased organization, self-care, and fun in general. We are a family of notorious neat-freaks (we sisters even used to have a cleaning business), so we haven't let things fall apart completely, but we also have resisted the urge to keep things how we would really like them. The subtle stress of clutter and known-but-not-seen mess has, I think, dampened our spirits in recent weeks. As we discussed the coming of Christmas and how much we could celebrate with so much going on, we decided that celebrating would have to include preparation. We needed to clean and reorganize so as to optimize space so that we could function and even think better -- and maybe even have space for luxuries like a Christmas tree.

So we did it. And we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. All of us ladies worked together and had more time together than we normally do when we are divided around our homestead doing our particular tasks. We joked that our tent is like one of those tile puzzles, where moving one tile requires moving several others in the process. It was one of the most enjoyable weeks I've had in a long time, spending time together doing things we have always done as a team. We treated ourselves with a small break from our typical low-carb diet, enjoying turkey sandwiches as well as a macaroni and cheese bar one day.

We moved most of our food out of the tent and into the storm shelter, where we already had produce and bulk items. We purchased two new pieces of furniture with better storage capacity than what we already had. Grace and I put them together, and we couldn't believe how much more space they created inside our tent.

We also replaced all of our bedding. We exchanged our light coverlets for heavy down duvets. We actually purchased our warmer bedding weeks ago, but we waited to put it out until we were sure the cold weather was here for good. I had been chilly a couple nights during the last week, but the new bedding has made all the difference. I don't think I've ever been more cozy in my life.

We finished out our week by decorating for Christmas. We put up a pretty little tree we picked up on a supply run to Menards. Usually it takes us a long time to choose a tree, but this one was sitting out in front of the others, already untied and obviously rejected -- probably because it is narrow. With our space limitations, we wanted a full yet narrow tree. It was so perfect, we barely looked at any others.

We picked up all of our Christmas decor from our storage unit, and we sorted out a selection we could use to decorate the tent. Grace hung lights, and Bonnie-Jean hung up the cardstock snowflakes I made as a teen. Rainy weather made it all a bit tricky, as we had to have our laundry drying in the tent several days. But we managed, and it turned out so beautifully.

One evening, all of us ladies sat around our table to help my mom make the kids what our family has always called Christmas calendars. We wrapped 25 tiny gifts and glued them to a ribbon. The gifts are usually made up of candy or small toys. The kids get to open one each day of December as they count down to Christmas. My mom started making these for her little brother when she was a teen, and she has made them almost every year since -- for kids she babysat for, for us when we were little, for some of our friends growing up, and now for her grandkids. The calendars have changed over the years. When I was a girl in the 80s, they gifts were always glued to bright red velvety ribbon, but these days my mom opts for tasteful burlap bases for the presents. Being a part of making calendars has become one of my favorite holiday traditions. Since we have so little wall space, we created a small plywood wall on the side of the German Shepherd's huge stacking crates where the calendars could hang.

Waking up today on this first Advent Sunday, I feel prepared, both physically and spiritually, to celebrate the first coming of our Lord and King. As we dusted and vacuumed our tent, I spent a lot of time thinking through my priorities for the holidays, and I found myself cleaning out mental clutter. I tend to face the constant temptation to focus on what needs to be done, taking responsibility for accomplishing tasks to the exclusion of the discipline of rest. I've made some progress toward these ends during the months on our homestead, but preparing for the holidays has been another opportunity to let go of my own plans and timetables and rest in blessings of the season. I am easily tempted to take on more during the holidays, and I tossed around the idea of handmade gifts and additional Advent devotions. As I prayed through these possible plans, I realized that, rather than add more to my already overflowing life this season, I want to focus on preparing Him room. I want to have more time for quiet moments, for the simple joys of the holidays, for fellowship with family I work beside but often fail to connect with. Instead of being busier, I want to make space to hear God's voice more strongly in my life, from His Word, but also through His creation, including the people He has placed around me. Jesus came and is coming again. In the words of the old hymn, let every heart prepare Him room.