Advent by Candlelight

It has been a busy weekend.

Not only did I have to work this weekend, but on Saturday night was the event at my church called, Advent by Candlelight. We first heard about this event from my SIL in Wisconsin. Her church has such a great response to it that they have to hold the event over two nights to accommodate all that want to attend.

The event is beautiful. It is a gathering of women to mark the start of the Advent season. A time to focus on the true reason for the season of Christmas. This year it was held in the fellowship hall of our church. There were ten tables...and each table had a pair of hostesses. The hostesses were in charge of providing the dishes and centerpieces for their tables, as well as dessert. There was to be no artificial light...the room was to be lit by candles only.

I was a table hostess along with my friend, Amy. We used her fine china plates and coffee cups for serving our dessert and coffee. Our table was decorated with my Christmas table runner which depicts the nativity scene. We had tons of candles. It looked absolutely beautiful. Since all of the tables had different hostesses, all of the tables were different--and it created a stunning effect. The room was bathed in candlelight. We opened with prayer, had dessert, listened to an inspiring devotion given by my Mom, heard quotes from famous women about their thoughts on Christmas, did a choral reading of "Mary, Did you know", and closed with a final song and prayer. I think all of the guests had a wonderful time.

Advent by Candlelight reminds us that Christmas is truly the celebration of the birth of Jesus. It makes us pause...focus, rejoice. It was a great night. I will share pictures as soon as I see some.

Thanks to Kim for telling us about this wonderful event. Thanks Mom for the planning and hard work. You gave a beautiful devotion and had a very successful evening. Thanks Amy for being a great hostess. I enjoyed working with you on this!

Happy start of Advent!