Making an Advent Wreath for Home

Each year we've walked into our church four weeks before Christmas excited to see the advent wreath adorning a brass post or hanging from the ceiling. The advent wreath is symbol of the beginning of the advent season. An advent wreath, covered with greens and adorned with four candles, sits flat rather than hanging on the wall. There are four candles, three purple with one pink lit each week before leading up to Christmas until finally the purple candle is lit to celebrate the birth of Jesus. This year for the first time we set out to make our own advent wreath to have in our home to celebrate advent and as a visible symbol of the reason we celebrate the Christmas season. We were fortunate to be able to join several other families from our children's school who had advent wreath making experience.

Materials for an advent wreath:

Wreath ring

Greens

3 purple candles and 1 pink candle OR

4 white candles and pink and purple ribbon

4 candleholder inserts

Floral pins

Directions for creating an advent wreath for home:

Have fun as a family collecting greens. We brought some blue spruce limbs and other families brought boxwood, laurel or holly. We also brought some sprigs of rosemary to add a little extra aromatherapy to our advent wreaths. After they are cut, you can allow your greens to sit in a vase of water for a few hours to get hydrated for their four weeks of service.

To assemble your vase, first insert your candleholders into the floral wreath. Now as you cover with greens, you can hide the candleholders. Inside, outside and round and round, cover the wreath completely. Each sprig you add will cover the floral pin of the last. Floral pins are really easy to work with. Even our seven year old enjoyed pinning the evergreens to our family wreath.

Now there are two options. You can either add 3 purple candles and one pink candle and if those colors aren't available or you have a good supply of white candles, you can use four candles and tie purple bows on three and one pink bow on a fourth.

To help keep your advent wreath fresh for the four weeks, keep it in the coolest area possible in your home and you mist with water every other day. If you have room in a fridge, that's the perfect place to store your advent wreath when you're not at home to enjoy it, but unless your home is overly warm and dry, most homemade advent wreaths will last until your Christmas celebration.

We are enjoying having our own advent wreath at home and lighting a candle each week in anticipation of Christmas and the celebration of birth of our savior. During the hustle and bustle of the "holiday" season, our advent wreath is a beautiful reminder of why we are celebrating the Christmas season.

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