Simcha says what needs to be said. (Again. It needs be said every year.)
And so I leave off my rant about a certain otherwise excellent homeschooling magazine that devoted a disproportionate number of pages to Advent Crafts. No. No. Just say no. Advent is for catching up on your math and maybe chopping up a lot of firewood. My goodness are families really sitting around trying to think up one.more.thing. that must be done in order to properly mark the season??
I think not.
Then again, if you have a lot of nervous energy you need to work off, crocheting O-antiphon doilies and making a special set of Jesse Tree shaped cookies is no doubt better than chain-smoking and raiding the eggnog ahead of schedule. So I condemn you not, Craft People.
You are crazy, yes. But then again I’ve got Bethlehem built in my living room (getting crowded now that the seven dwarves have rented out rooms — you begin to see why Joseph should have hit the road sooner), and no doubt some poor reader will feel inadequate for want of their very own pseudo-medieval Playmobil version of Herod’s fortress. With kangaroos.
I suppose we chalk it up to man’s need for penance? For lack of a strict orthodox-style fast, we punish ourselves with craft guilt? One more week of Advent, and then we can all switch gears and complain about people who celebrate Christmas for the wrong number of days.
Happy Holidays.