December starts this week. The season of anticipating is here. If you are looking for a way to celebrate with your family in the midst of the anticipation, Ann Voskamp just finished her Jesse Tree Advent Devotional. You can download it for free here. I’m not sure we’ll do it this year, as we are still trying to build the Sunday Advent tradition with our kids. Maybe we’ll work up to the Jesse Tree next year. Still, I’m keeping her thoughtful work for the future.

My friend Kari is pregnant, due just after Christmas. She wrote a beautiful post on Advent that is worth the read. It is a letter to her son, Atticus, and in it she honestly shares her perspective on the whole thing. I love it.

“Your dad is the feeler in this family. I will be interested to see which you are. I don’t think I know what it means to be seized by the power of a great affection, but Christmas and Advent are as close as I get to understanding what that feels like.”  -Kari

Finally, I am so excited to be writing about that today over at Christmas Change. Even more exciting to me is that my husband is joining me there, and together we share some of those things we are thinking on as we enter into December. I would love for you to join us there as we write On Returning.