Advent is Coming!

Remember when counting the days to Christmas included opening the little doors of those cardboard Advent calendars? Each morning you anticipated the tiny chocolate treat waiting on the other side. Sure it was great fun to know opening doors brought you one day closer to the big event, but didn't each little surprise make the waiting an event of its own?

Getting older, it's more likely you mark December's calendar by crossing off shopping days or counting toward the arrival of bills in the mail. Certainly not the same as looking forward to a sweetly-shaped, milk chocolate bite. It's no wonder the season seems to fly by faster and faster each year.

Advent is a beginning, a time of preparation filled with anticipation. With the remembrance of Christ's birth we are given a chance to renew ourselves each year. Why have we allowed this season to translate into a time of such great stress and anxiety? What if you could harness some of the excitement and magic you felt as a child?

We're offering you a simple gift this Advent season, an invitation to pause for a moment in the waiting and experience the joyous little moments of life. Like those sweet treats you remember from childhood, we invite you to take a minute to open a door (or browser window), discover a surprise, and savor a treat for your heart, mind, and soul.

Join us here, starting December 1, for a virtual Advent calendar. You'll find a little something to make you smile, or think, or feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Give it a try. You may find yourself looking forward to the wait!

Who says you can't still experience Christmas like a child...

...and who says you can't buy yourself one of those little cardboard Advent calendars, too?