Advent begins with evening prayer, and more realistically, the anticipated Mass that takes place sometime on Saturday afternoon/evening. It is a most beautiful season and properly prepares us to more fully celebrate the incarnation of Jesus who comes to us as the babe of Bethlehem and it is a time to also prepare ourselves for the 2nd coming of Jesus.
Advent is what Catholics should be celebrating from tomorrow through the first half of December 24th. If we follow Christ and the Church He established, we celebrate Advent then enter full into the Christmas season that lasts from the second half of December 24th until mid-January(ordinary calendar) or February 2nd(extraordinary calendar).
The world won't let you do this but it really is up to us. Heck, the secular and the retail has been in full blown Christmas overdrive since before Thanksgiving. Hallmark runs non-stop movies way too early and Christmas music shows up on the radios soon after Halloween.
You can be in the world and start decorating or talk to your children about the coming of Christmas, but please avoid the human/secular tradition that Christmas is now and ends soon after the Christmas dinner is digested.
Make use of things like the Advent wreath, a small Jesse tree, find Advent music(yep, there is such a thing) and teach one another, especially the children things like joyful waiting, anticipation, hope, preparing, the coming of Jesus.
To help us the USCCB has lots of resources provided in the link below. In the meantime, wish me a Happy Advent and I will wish you the same:
http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/advent/
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