Living Liturgically: Celebrating the New Liturgical Year’s Eve with a Party

I love just about any excuse to get together for a celebration, so this year I’m excited to host a party at our parish to celebrate the new year – the New Liturgical Year, that is! The church’s calendar begins each year not on January 1st like the traditional Gregorian calendar created by Pope Gregory, but it instead begins on the first Sunday of Advent. So, each year, the Saturday right before Advent begins (since it always begins on a Sunday) is the day before the new liturgical year begins: hence, it’s New Liturgical Year’s Eve!

Let’s talk about some of the ways we celebrate in our home:

• PACKING AWAY THE FALL: One reason I’ve enjoyed celebrating this day is it gives us a clean break between all things fall and the start of Advent. Each year, we relish the colors, spices, and – of course – pumpkins that traditionally are associated with the fall. On Saturday morning, we pack away all our fall decor and pull out the minimal, yet sparkly, decorations we have for Advent. Which brings us to the next point…
• UNPACKING ADVENT: In our home, Advent is a season separate from Christmas. While we do put up our tree on St. Lucy’s feast day each year, our home isn’t decked in bows of holly, nor are the chestnuts roasting on the open fire. Instead, we focus just on a few simple decorations for the advent season.
  • ADVENT WREATH: on our table, every year, is an Advent wreath. With its three purple and one pink candle, it’s one of the most recognizable symbols that we are in a season of preparation. We invested in this beautiful wreath a few years ago, and now it’s so easy to just order a set of candles each year. Instead of just putting the wreath on the table and calling it good, we bless our wreath on Saturday night with this lovely prayer from the USCCB. Taking this moment to come together once the packing & unpacking of decorations is done, assembling the candles on the wreath, and sharing a short prayer really sets the tone for a peaceful season. We hang our Advent Wreaths quilt on the wall, and replace our cross with a non-flammable wreath that we “light” each night.
    
  • HOME DECOR: our home decor during Advent is pretty minimal; as mentioned, we put up our tree on St. Lucy’s feast day, but keep “all things Christmas” tucked away until Christmastide really begins on December 25th. In addition to our wreath and Jesse Tree, I hang this Advent quilt up on the wall where our family cross usually hangs. Because it’s in the main hall of our living space, it’s something beautiful that we see all the time! I also place this Advent-themed table runner on our dining table…having these little pops of color around the house still make things feel festive while we wait for Christmas Day.
  • JESSE TREE: I’m a huge fan of having a Jesse Tree in your home if you have little people! Back in 2013, a good friend and I created our own Jesse Tree for our families, and it’s something we mostly still use today. As my son gets older, we still pull it out each year – it’s something he asks about if we don’t! – but our time has evolved away from the daily games into more of the simple scripture reading and hanging of that day’s ornament. Of course, we have a piece of chocolate with it, too! This faith-filled countdown creates that much-needed connection between the true anticipation we feel during Advent and the countdown to the birth of Jesus. Now, if you’re not into sewing, that’s ok – I also purchase this sticker Jesse Tree for my niece and nephew. I still haven’t gotten around to making them their own set of ornaments! My favorite favorite, though, is the Jesse Tree Quilt…just saying 🙂 It’s important, too, to remember this isn’t just for kids – adults, too, can benefit by using a Jesse Tree devotional each evening of Advent.
    
  • BOOK BASKET: can I admit this tradition is almost more fun than our Jesse Tree? I borrowed this idea from my friend Emily, who inspires me daily with her love of books. A few years ago, I began collecting wonderful children’s books centered around Advent, feast days during Advent, and Christmas. Before Advent begins, my husband and I wrap all the books up, individually, in newspaper. Then, each day, our family unwraps a book and reads it! These books stay tucked away the rest of the year, so opening them up each day is genuinely like getting a “new” gift each day. The relevance of having them read on certain feast days, and during the Advent season, makes theme extra special.
• LET’S PARTY: onto the fun! After the fall is put away, and the Advent decor brought out, we’ll invite our friends over for some yummy treats and a few spins on traditional games.
  • SPARKLING DRINKS: for the kids, I love picking up a few bottles of sparkling cranberry apple cider. This cider is not only yummy, but has a lovely rose color to it which ties into the pinks and purples of Advent so well. For us grownups, there are much more fun drinks that we love to try out! This Purple Rain drink is a great one to make in batches and serve from a punch bowl (be sure to label it as “adults only”, though). Another favorite is the Purple People Eater…yes, it’s intended as a Halloween drink, but it’s just too liturgically colorful to leave out!
    
  • SNACKS AND FOOD: since it’s a family party, you can’t go wrong with salad and pizza – but we’ll be playing with our food a bit to make it fit the party theme! For the salad, I’ll be preparing a large platter of spinach spread out in a circular wreath shape. Decorating the wreath will be four mounds (where the candles would be) of blueberries and blackberries for the purple candles, and raspberries to symbolize the pink candle. Now, this will only be beautiful until we mix it up to eat, but what a lovely addition it will be to the table as all the guests arrive! Dessert will be mini cupcakes baked into purple metallic liners. To make clean-up easy, and add to the festive theme, we use a set of disposable purple plates and cutlery.
  • PARTY GAMES: what would a party be without a few games?
    • My friend Theresa came up with the fun idea to put a spin on the tradition “pin the tail on the donkey”, so this year we’ll be playing “pin the flame on the advent candle” – how cute is that? When we started planning for the party, it was fun to see what kind of little changes we could make to existing party games to make them fit our theme.
    • We’ll also be playing Advent bingo, which I think will be a blast…there are so many bingo cards if you search online that we’re still trying to narrow down our choices!

So, there you have it – a few fun ways we mark the passing of one year and the start of the next. Each of these simple ideas is a way to really start the Advent season with a true intent. How do you celebrate New Liturgical Year’s Eve? I’d love to hear in the comments below.