Advent Stars

"Above the cloud with it's shadow is a star with it's light." ~ Pythagoras

 

 

Advent is upon us. That holy, quiet time where we all take stock of ourselves; look deeply

 inward, bring less judgement to others, open our hearts more to the idea that we are all along this journey together, no one against the other. We are all that much closer to an inner peace that we are seeking. We are all closer to really feeling that stillness, that inner reverence to all who cross our path.

 

Advent is a building up, a gathering of precious moments to lighten our days (and nights) leading up to Christmas. Beginning on the first Sunday in December we begin our yearly ritual  of creating that sacred space to honor this time of year. Our nature table is ready to begin our first week, with a chalk drawing of an Advent wreath with these words by Rudolf Steiner "The first light of Advent is the light of stones. Stones that live in crystals, seashells and bones." We've changed our silk color to blue and have a little porcelain dish with some shells and beautiful quartz rocks that we've found on many of our adventures. A few years ago the children and I went to the ocean and we collected some beach sand and shells. I put them into an old canning jar and have held on to it, not knowing until we really started to dive into Advent celebrations that that jar would be essential in representing the mineral world during the first week of Advent.

 

We've also dedicated a large cupboard top as our Advent Garden. Our creche stable stands empty, waiting as the days progress for the addition of animals, shepherds, Joseph, Mary,the Angel and then the baby Jesus on Christmas morning.  A light colored cloths drapes across the cupboard top with some lights glowing beneath to create the illusion of snow sparkling beneath the star light. A star covered blue silk is the back drop of our little landscape and a beautiful paper star hangs above, reminding us to allow all that we know and feel to guide us along our Earthly journey.

 

Stars are so beautiful and magical. We as human beings have such a deep connection to these heavenly lights. They've guided many centuries of explorers, including the Wise Men. We lay on blankets and marvel at their beauty and wonder....we even wish on them. We've decided to use this star energy as our way to count the days/night in our Advent season. Each night, when the littles retire to bed, I will hang another star above our Advent Garden so that when they wake in the morning, they will find another star shining above. Each star will represent an activity for the day (bake and bring cookies to Grammie and Poppy, make our homemade hot chocolate, learn a new Christmas carol, bring some treats to our friends at the Humane Society; just to name a few!) 

 

Here is how we made our stars::

 

You will need::

 

2 pieces of square paper- I used colored card stock in this instance

This is a great way to use up some of those paintings your children have made!

Scissors

hot glue gun

Or other glue that you have on hand or prefer.

I like hot glue as it dries quickly and needs less attention to holding the flaps down

Needle and thread

 

You can use any size square paper. Just make sure the two pieces you use are the same size!

 

 Fold the paper in half along the diagonal.

 

Turn the paper on the opposite diagonal and fold in half again.

 

Fold the paper right sides together in half, horizontally.

 

Turn again, and fold horizontally. You should now have a square with folds forming 8ths.

 

Cut a little less than half way up the straight folds.

 

Now, bring the edges of each section together to form a point.

 

This is what it will look like with all sides folded.

 

Overlap the edges of each point and glue them together.

 

This is a finished piece of the star.

 

Now, repeat these steps again on your other piece of paper.

 

Attach the two stars together with some hot glue. Using your needle and thread, bring it through

one of the points, tie the thread together to form a loop that you can to hang your star from.

 

 

 

"As your bright and tiny spark,

Lights the traveller in the dark-

Though I know not what you are,

Twinkle, twinkle, little star."

 

How are you preparing for Advent?