ADVENT-URES

In addition to being Day #1 of Hanukkah, it is also Day #1 of Advent.  I really enjoy when the holidays all fall together.  It reminds me of when I was very young and lived next door to a boy my age who was Jewish.  His mother taught me my first Hanukkah song ("Burn Little Candle"), and I picked up a few more along the way through school chorus.

I clean off the kitchen table (also known as "My Desk") so I can put the Advent wreath out and get the candles into it.  While rooting around, I also find the infamous Christmas wine stopper.  Of course, this means that things are only going to get worse.

I don't have the Christ candle added to the center of the Advent wreath - not yet, anyway - but I do have a half-finished bottle of Chianti.  I replace the rubber stopper with the ornate Christmas one, and stick the bottle into the center of the wreath. 

Once this is done, I light the first Advent candle, which I always thought was Hope, but someone else told me it is for Peace.  This sparks a firestorm of Internet activity.  How could I be wrong all these years?  I mean, I even created my own mnemonic device so I wouldn't screw it up every year.  And why do they say to light the pink candle last?  I was always taught it was third in line? 

Holy crap, now I'm screwing up Advent, too.

Turns out many different Christian religions and sects mix up the four, but I'm sticking with my UCC knowledge (and my old church bulletins) and going with the same old: Hope, Peace, Joy (pink), Love, then the big white candle (I'll move the chianti bottle before then because it will most likely be empty soon, anyway).

That's my Holiday Story, and I'm sticking with it... for now, anyway.