Two Good Things for Advent 🕯

Hello, and happy Advent Eve friends!

At Hotel Yokel, we just finished getting the Christmas decorations up... including our first ever artificial tree. Yep, surprising times. But it was cold and finding a real tree that looks good is hard and sometimes you just gotta simplify.

A more traditional issue of Finding Home will be on the way soon, but for now, I have a couple of quick things I want to share with you on the eve of Advent. Despite the long dark nights, the onset of cold weather, and the inevitably full calendar, these weeks before Christmas have become one of my favorite times of the year. 

So, Fun Thing #1: I recently discovered The Mustard Seed Conspiracy, a really lovely website about art, faith, and humanity. This year, they've put together a community Advent calendar full of reflections, essays, art, poetry, and all kinds of other good things, and you can have it delivered to your inbox every day! Sign up to get them right here.

I am grateful to contribute a reflection on The Magnificat for Christmas Eve's entry. You can also look forward to some writing from my friend Amelia from Innocence Abroad and so many other cool people. I can't wait to open this email every day, and hope you'll join me in reading along!

Fun Thing #2: The Poetry Pub is currently accepting submissions for a Christmas digital chapbook! So we won't get it done quite in time for Advent, but you can be sure of some good Christmastide reading from my PoPub friends. If you've got Christmas poems, don't be shy and send them to me at submissions@thepoetrypub.com (and of course you're welcome to join us in the Facebook group for poetry prompts and good community)

That's all for tonight! I know this season may bring a lot of different things to you -- craziness, loneliness, joy, or sadness. So, as we light the first Advent candle and start another journey toward Christmas, may you find moments of rest, wonder, and grace along the way. The light is coming.

Oh yeah, and get the fake tree if you need it. I promise, they look fine. :)

Peace,
~Jen