Advent Is Almost Over - Christmas Is Almost Here

A couple of years ago we deliberately began a new tradition in our family - observing the season of Advent. In a word, Advent is derived from the Latin meaning "coming," and is a preparatory season in the life of the church in which we anticipate Christ's second coming in glory and contemplate his first coming in a manger in Bethlehem.
To help us in this 'new' thing, we purchased an Advent wreath consisting of four purple (usually) candles and sometimes a fifth candle in the center of the wreath representing Christ. Now, as many of you know, boys love fire and ours are no exception. So we had no trouble in getting them to buy into this liturgical observance.
Each week we read a scripture pertaining to the theme of the week, prayed a Collect from the Book of Common Prayer and then sang the refrain to the well-known Advent hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Then we light the candle (or candleS in the subsequent weeks).
The symbolism related to the Advent wreath is pretty cool and can get pretty deep if need be. But the most obvious and straightforward symbol is that of the growing light. Each week as another candle is lit, the light in the room grows until by the fourth week in Advent you have all four candles lit. The relationship to Christ is simple. As we await the celebration of his birth at Christmas, the light grows stronger and more distinct, and so too our lives should do the same. As we await the celebration of his first coming at Bethlehem and ultimately his very real and glorious second coming, the light of Christ in our lives is to grow stronger and more distinct. Here is a prayer we prayed this morning at church which alludes to this:
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The point? We like celebrating Advent. Our boys love to light the candle and sing "Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel." They love to blow out the candle(s) when dinner is finished. My prayer is that the simple and beautiful parts of this ritual will allow all of our children to grow into the light of Christ as they take his promises for themselves so that Christ finds a mansion prepared for himself in their lives.
Oh, and it makes Christmas that much more special. :)