Creating Space for Advent

Even the simplest Christmas celebrations usually mean more stuff.  Decorations and trees and seasonal books and gifts!  But where is it all going to go?  Before we welcome this new things that wants to be born, we’ve got to make space.

Declutter

This is a huge, recurring theme for me.  It’s one of Gretchen Rubin’s Secrets of Adulthood: outer order contributes to inner calm.  When I’m feeling frazzled and over-extended, there’s a pretty good chance that my space is overrun with too much stuff.

Last year, I discovered the Decluttering as an Act of Self-Care workbook at Right Brain Planner.  Reading Teresa’s words really turned on lights for me.  Decluttering moved from being a necessary evil, to being the way I can set the stage for the next bit of creating.

Create a Staging Area

As you clear out a little space, see if you can create a staging area.  Maybe in a little used closet or a corner of your bedroom.  We’ve got an (unheated!) sun porch that I’m going to use.  This will be the place where the books we are opening each day are stored until it’s their turn.  A place to wrap gifts.  A place to hold the rest of the decorations that aren’t being used this year.

Making Room

Advent is traditionally a season of repentance.  It’s a time to prepare our hearts for the wonder of the Incarnation.  All this preparing is just a way of welcoming the child, practices of hospitality that make us ready.