December Daily® Day 5: Advent (Updated)

The focus of Day 5 is the focus of the season for the church: Advent.  Not an "Advent calendar," giving parents 25 extra days of trinkets to have to think up.  But the season of Advent, the wreath, the symbolism, the hope, the peace. 

I took a picture of my church's Advent wreath and used Ali's freebie from Day 12 of the Twelve Days of Giving (available for a limited time).  I thought the message was perfect for that picture, and I used the entire 6 x 8 to show its significance.  The facing page is the flipside of the Day 4 spread.  The Hershey kisses were already there, and it is almost an anachronism of the post's topic.  The post does mention the secularism of Christmas, though, so I decided to keep it there for now.  I love the kisses, just maybe not at this place.  Maybe just a swatch of patterned paper will be a better choice.  Now in typing this, I have already made up my mind to change it.  Oy!  I'll update this post once I change it.

Journaling:  The secularism of Christmas overtakes the reality of what is going on in the church at this time.  The season is actually Advent. It is the beginning of the new church year, and is scheduled 4 Sundays before the actual day of Christmas.  We are called to prepare for the anniversary of the birth of Christ, There are many ways we are called to prepare: Reconciliation, the Eucharist, intense prayer time with God.  So, while we prep ourselves physically for the day of Christmas, spiritually, we look at how our souls can be best prepared.  The readings are all of hope and fulfillment of God’s promises.  Today’s photo shows the Advent wreath in front of the Baptismal font of Saint Patrick Church of Merna.  Two candles are lit, signifying the second week of Advent.  The pink candle will be lit next week, Gaudete Sunday, signifying the joy that we are almost there.    

UPDATE:

I went with some kraft cardstock with a very subtle white star print, as other prints seemed to overwhelm the page.  I added a bit of stars from an Ali Edwards kit (I have no idea which). 

Because sewing the pocket was not what I first had in mind, I decided to put gold glitter washi on the side so the stars would not slide out.