Western Christian liturgical calendars are based on the cycle of the Roman or Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, including Lutheran, Anglican, and Protestant calendars since this cycle pre-dates the Reformation.
Generally, the liturgical seasons in western Christianity are Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time.
Thinking of the advent season and on creating memories, as well as incorporating new and old traditions from both of our families, I have come up with this list of ideas and projects:
From the Latin adventus, “arrival” or “coming”, the first season of the liturgical year begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve.
I think it would be fun to decorate just a bit every night, in the spirit of preparation (what is advent for anyway?) and maybe to get a tree somewhere in the middle of the season.
Christmastide begins the evening of Christmas Eve (December 24) and ends on (or, in some Anglican traditions, the day before) the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6.
The Twelve Days of Christmas and the associated evenings of those twelve days (Twelve-tide), are the festive days beginning the evening of Christmas Day (December 25) through the morning of Epiphany on (January 6). The associated evenings of the twelve days begin on the evening before the specified day. Thus, the first night of Christmas is December 25–26, and Twelfth Night is January 5–6. This period is also known as Christmastide.
The twelve days have special significance to us as this is a tradition we have observed in some way since our first Christmas. Sophie’s birthday is on Epiphany, (which means, appropriately enough, appearance” or “manifestation”). So, you can imagine the possible celebrations to arise here.
Some possible ways to observe these days::
Boxing Day – sorting through toys with the girls and taking some extra to a needy family.
Sophie’s first birthday
And of course, re-reading the 12 Days Poem to the girls.