Slowly over the past four years or so I've been intentional about keeping Advent as a separate season from Christmas. And each year, I get better at it. This Advent we really fostered a feeling of anticipation. We really were waiting. We really did deny ourselves most of the indulgent materialism of this world, hoping instead to stir up within ourselves a deeper longing for God and ultimately a closer connection to Him. We denied our senses the delight of the season until the season actually began, which made it all so much sweeter when, at last, it came. Slowly the Christmas things emerged. The manger scene was out, but baby Jesus wasn't there. Each week another candle was lit on the advent wreath, each day an ornament was added to the Jesse tree. Each week, each day, we inched a little closer. We read a new book ea