Who helped me reach the end of a wait this year?
Christmas morning already has its own excitement. Most kids wake up and run straight for the tree, and plenty of families go to the stockings before anyone has had breakfast. All of that is part of the day, and none of it has to wait. Sometime in the morning, gather everyone for 20 to 25 minutes to hear the Christmas story, light the fourth candle, and read the gold ornaments. Right after stockings, before stockings, after presents, or after breakfast are all good times. The only order that matters is that the candle comes before the gold ornaments, and before the gifts from your Christmas agreement if you made one. Pick whatever time causes the least tension. This shouldn't become one more thing to manage on a full day.
Remember: the Christmas story, "Silent Night," and the fourth candle.
Rejoice: the Christmas Opening. Everyone reads the gold ornaments with their name on them.
Ready: a short Plan for December 26 to 28, whenever it fits.
The Christmas Story and the Fourth Candle
Supplies: the Generosity, Hope and Peace candles, a fourth candle for Joy, the lighter, and this page.
Instructions:
Remember has four short steps. Any of the first three can be skipped. On a crowded morning, light the candle with its usual words and go straight to the ornaments.
1. The story. Gather by the candles and choose one of the two readings below. Both are printed in full, so there's nothing to look up. The longer one follows Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and ends with the angels' song, right where last night's reading began. It takes about three minutes to read aloud. The shorter one is just the birth, and it works well when the kids are very young or the morning is crowded. A grown-up reads it out loud.
The longer story:
Luke's story of Jesus's life starts this part with a long trip. Mary and Joseph lived in a town called Nazareth. The Roman emperor wanted to count all the people in his empire, so everyone had to go to the town their family came from. Joseph's family went all the way back to King David, a famous king from long ago, and David's hometown was a little town called Bethlehem. Here is how Luke tells it:
"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them."
A manger is a box that holds food for animals. Then Luke turns to the fields nearby. (The "heavenly host" in this part is a huge crowd of angels.)
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.'"
"Messiah" was a name for the king Israel had been waiting for, for a very long time. In Luke's story, that long wait was finally over, and that's why the angel called it great joy.
The shorter story:
In Luke's story of Jesus's life, the birth itself takes only two sentences. Mary and Joseph have traveled to a little town called Bethlehem, and it's time for Mary's baby, Jesus, to be born. "While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them." A manger is a box that holds food for animals.
2. The song. Sing the first verse of "Silent Night" together, the carol your family heard about on December 20. Use any version you like, including a recording if nobody feels like singing.
Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child.
Holy Infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
3. The Christmas line. A grown-up says a line used only today, and everyone answers:
Grown-up: Today we remember the light that came into the world.
All: Jesus is born.
4. The fourth candle. A grown-up reads this to the kids:
Joy is how it feels when a long wait is finally over. Today joy gets added to our answer.
Then say the candle words the way you have each week, with a grown-up leading each line and everyone saying it back. On "Grace comes in," relight the first three candles. On "Passed along," light the Joy candle from the third. Everyone can do the hand motions in parentheses, but they're optional.
Grown-up: Grace comes in. (Cup both hands, palms up.)
All: Grace comes in.Grown-up: Gratitude sees it. (Point to your eyes.)
All: Gratitude sees it.Grown-up: And graciousness passes it on. (Open your hands toward the new candle.)
All: And graciousness passes it on.Grown-up: What do we pass on?
All: Generosity, hope, peace, and joy.Grown-up: One light.
All: One light.Grown-up: Passed along. (Light the Joy candle.)
All: Passed along.
Alternative Liturgy: Ancient Light Version
For families who want it, these words can replace the candle words above (the Christmas line in step 3 stays either way). Relight the first three candles without words, then light the Joy candle while a grown-up or an older kid reads:
Reader: On December 3 we heard John's poem about Christmas, the one that starts before the world began. In it, the light is Jesus. John wrote, "The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world."
All: One light, passed along.
Leave the candles burning. You'll read the gold ornaments by their light.
Didn't plan ahead? Any candle in the house works today.
The Christmas Opening
Supplies: the gold ornaments on the tree, the lit candles, and the gifts from your Christmas agreement, if your household made one.
Instructions:
On December 22, everyone wrote a gold ornament to each person in the house, thanking them for carrying part of a wait this year or for celebrating when it ended. This morning those ornaments come down.
Each person finds the gold ornaments with their own name on the front, takes them down, and brings them to the candles. Take turns reading them out loud, one at a time. Anyone can read theirs privately instead, and a grown-up sits with each child who can't read yet and reads theirs to them. The red and white ornaments stay on the tree.
If your household made the Christmas agreement on December 4, open those gifts next. Each one was picked with a single question in mind: "What will make their life better?" Before a gift is opened, the giver can say in a sentence why they chose it.
Afterward, today's gold ornaments go into each person's stocking with the ones from earlier weeks. Some families like to read the whole season's stack again today. Most will put them back and come back to them another day.
Kids: the agreement gifts give a five-year-old an easy sentence to say: "I picked this because..." A grown-up can whisper a start.
A Short Plan for December 26 to 28
Supplies: paper and a pen.
Instructions:
Christmas Day is full, so the Plan may not happen today. If ten quiet minutes turn up, use them: when the gift opening winds down, around the dinner table, or as the last thing before bed. If they don't, make the Plan over breakfast on December 26, before you read Day 5. That's a great backup, and for a lot of families it's the more realistic time anyway.
Write one line for each of the next three days. Time (December 26): who is on the outside this Christmas, and when can you give them some of your time? Resources (December 27): whose wait could you end with money or something you own? For suggested organizations, see the facilitation notes on Day 6. Words (December 28): who finished something hard this year and deserves to hear "you made it"? A plan only has to be good enough to follow. Put it where everyone will see it.
Kids: let each child choose one of the three lines and fill it in.
Kids' story: read "The Overflow Feast" from The Overflow Adventure in Wanderful Woods together.
Time: 20 to 25 minutes in the morning: 5 to 10 for Remember (the longer reading takes a few minutes more) and 15 for the Opening, a little longer if you open agreement gifts. The Plan takes 5 to 10 minutes whenever it fits.
Short on time? Light the candle with its usual words, read the ornaments, and save the Plan for later today or for breakfast tomorrow.
Leading the words: an older kid can lead the Grown-up lines.
Guests in the room: relatives who don't do Advent Overflow can join in or just watch. The reading and the song are a story and a carol most people already know.
Blow the candles out when you're done. On January 1 they're relit, and the fifth candle is lit from the fourth.
Hello, my wonderful story friends! Last time, Shiloh saw the sky dance, and he ran and shouted the news until the whole woods was awake and looking up. Today is the day everybody has been waiting for: the Overflow Feast.
Have you ever had to wait for one more person before something special could start? Let’s go see who everybody is waiting for.
Sunny Square had never looked like this. A long, long table stretched all the way across it, made of every log and plank and flat stone in Wanderful Woods, pushed end to end. There were bowls of berries and baskets of bread, honeycomb and apple pies, roasted nuts and a giant pot of Mama Moose’s cocoa, steaming in the cold air.
And all around Sunny Square, as far as anybody could see, every single home in the woods had a light in its window.
By the fire, on their flat stone, the three candles were burning. Next to them stood a fourth candle, waiting.
Everybody was there. Well, almost everybody.
“Where’s Tessie?” asked Benji.
Everybody looked around. Then Dottie’s nose went up. “There!”
Way, way across Sunny Square, at the very edge, was a small round shape in the snow. It was Tessie, on her way. Slowly.
“We can’t light the candle until everybody’s here,” said Mama Monkey.
Mr. Monkey looked at the fourth candle. He looked at the cocoa pot. He looked at the pies. And then he looked at Tessie, way over at the edge of the square.
“Okay,” he said. “I can wait.”
He waited. He wiggled. He climbed up on the table and looked. “Is she here yet?”
“Not yet,” said Mr. Moose.
He climbed up the Wishing Tree and looked. Tessie had moved. A little. “She moved one snowflake!” he called down.
He waited some more. He hung upside down from a branch by his tail and looked at her upside down, just in case that helped. It didn’t. “Now she’s moved TWO snowflakes!”
“Hee hee hee… SNORT!” went Hazel. “Upside down doesn’t make her faster!”
Mr. Monkey dropped down out of the tree. He couldn’t stand it anymore. Everybody was waiting. The cocoa was waiting. The candle was waiting. And Tessie was all the way over there, all by herself, walking and walking.
That was the part that bothered him most. She was all by herself.
“Mr. Moose,” he said. “She’s walking all alone.”
Mr. Moose looked at the long table full of everybody, and the long snowy square, and Tessie at the other end of it. He thought about it. They couldn’t make Tessie go faster. Nobody could. But they didn’t have to wait for her over here.
“Then let’s go wait with her,” said Mr. Moose. “Over there.”
Mr. Moose and Mr. Monkey walked across Sunny Square to Tessie. Benji came too. And then Hazel, who usually galloped everywhere, came walking over very slowly, one hoof at a time, so she could walk at Tessie speed.
“Hello, dears,” said Tessie. “Am I late?”
“You’re right on time,” said Mr. Moose. “We came to walk with you.”
Then Dottie came running over. Then Shiloh, and Ricky, and Bruno, carrying the whole cocoa pot so it wouldn’t get lonely. Then the mamas and the daddies. Then the old crow and his son and the three grandchicks, hopping.
Until the whole Overflow Feast was walking across Sunny Square at Tessie speed, all together, and the long, long table sat there in the snow all by itself.
“Haw haw haw!” went Bruno. “The table’s waiting for US now!”
Ricky counted Tessie’s steps out loud. He got to forty-two, and then he lost count, because Tessie took a step so slow that he wasn’t sure if it was a step or not.
So they walked. Very, very slowly. Mr. Monkey tried to walk at Tessie speed too, but it was so slow that he kept tipping over in the middle of a step. He tipped over three times.
“Hee hee hee! Tessie, how do you walk so SLOW without falling down?”
“Heh… heh… heh,” laughed Tessie. “Practice… dear. Lots… of… practice.”
And somehow, walking with Tessie, the waiting didn’t feel like waiting anymore. It just felt like walking with Tessie.
When they finally reached the table, everybody cheered.
Mama Monkey held out the twig. “The first light was for the light we got, given away,” she said. “The second was for the light that keeps us walking. The third was for the light that holds steady. And this one is for the light at the end of the wait.”
Mr. Monkey took the twig. He touched it to the third candle, inside its thick glass jar. And then he carried the little flame over and lit the fourth candle.
Four lights, side by side, glowing in the middle of the Overflow Feast.
Then the feast began.
Daddy Monkey picked up the giant cocoa pot to pour. He started with Mr. Monkey’s mug. But right then, Daddy Moose said something funny across the table, and Daddy Monkey turned to laugh, and he kept pouring. And pouring.
The cocoa filled Mr. Monkey’s mug right up to the top. Then it went over the top. It ran down the side and across the table, gluggle-gluggle, right into Benji’s mug next to it. It filled up Benji’s mug. Then it ran over into Shiloh’s mug. Then Hazel’s. Then Dottie’s. Then Bruno’s.
“Daddy!” said Mr. Monkey. “The cocoa!”
Daddy Monkey turned around. All the way down the long, long table, the cocoa was running from one mug into the next, filling up every single one.
“Oh!” said Daddy Monkey, still pouring. “Well, look at that.”
“Haw haw haw!” went Bruno, holding up his full mug. “Daddy Monkey filled up the whole table!”
“Hee hee hee!” went Mr. Monkey. “The cocoa is overflowing everybody!”
Then Sammy popped up on the end of the table. “Why was the snowman looking through the bag of carrots?” she asked. “He was PICKING HIS NOSE!” And she was gone before anybody could answer.
“Haw haw haw!” went Bruno, so loud that his cocoa sloshed.
Then came the gold circles. Everybody went to the little green pine by the Moose home’s door, found the ones with their own faces on them, and turned them over.
Daddy Monkey found the one with himself on the front, arms up like a tree. On the back was Lookout Ledge in the dark, and the big blankets, and a little monkey asleep standing up. Daddy Monkey didn’t say anything. He just picked Mr. Monkey up and held him for a long time.
Mama Moose found the row of candles. “I didn’t know you noticed,” she said softly to Mr. Moose. “All those candles.”
“I noticed every one,” said Mr. Moose.
Tessie lived by herself, so she didn’t have a gold circle. But on the little pine was a red circle with her face on it. She held it very close to her face. Then very far away. Then close again. She squinted. “Is this a turtle… or a rock?”
“It’s you, Tessie,” said Benji. “I painted it.”
“Ah,” said Tessie. “It’s a lovely… rock.”
“Ha-ha-ha!” laughed Mr. Moose.
“Heh… heh… heh,” laughed Tessie, so slowly that by the time she finished, everybody was laughing with her.
Mr. Monkey looked out over it all: the long table, the four candles, everybody’s cocoa, all the lights in all the windows of all the homes in the woods. Every home. He had never seen anything so full.
“What a day!” said Mr. Monkey. “We waited for Tessie, and I hung upside down, and she only moved two snowflakes. So we went and walked with her, and I tipped over three times. I lit the fourth candle. Daddy poured the cocoa and didn’t stop, so it filled up everybody’s mug down the whole table. And Tessie called her own picture a lovely rock.”
Mr. Monkey whistled, and Mr. Moose hummed, and together they sang:
We are better together,
Moose and Monkey forever.
And in Sunny Square, four candles glowed side by side over the long, long table, while a little warm cocoa still dripped, drip… drip…, from the very last mug at the very end.