Have you ever wondered why Christmas Day can seem like such a letdown sometimes? Sure, everybody does the presents thing, you get the day off from work and school, families get together to eat and watch some TV…maybe your Uncle Teddy has a little too much eggnog and passes out in the tub. But with all of the hype surrounding Christmas, with all of the effort we go put into making it a really big to-do, there are times when the day itself just seems sort of…empty. For all the hype surrounding Christmas, we’re often left trying to manufacture joy on Christmas Day, sitting in our living room surrounded by half-opened boxes of gifts and wondering along with Charlie Brown what all the fuss was about.Why is this? Why do we get so excited around Christmas time, but feel so utterly confused when Christmas actually comes? Why do we get the sense that we’re like dogs chasing a car, unsure of what to do once we finally catch it?
The answer is simple. If we want to understand Christmas, we've got to understand the significance of Advent.
