Creating Rituals

One of the reasons I like going to All Saints Westboro with Margot every so often is that it creates a sense of routine and ritual. Once a month, we go to church, see the church regulars, receive the host, and then cap it all off with some bagels from Kettleman's Bagels. It's a nice rhythm we've developed and in addition to helping her become a spiritual person,  I hope years from now Margot will have a sense of nostalgia about all the Sundays she spent with daddy.

December is an especially nice time of year for rituals because of advent. Even if you're secular or from a different religious background, there is something exciting about a community counting down to the same day. 

We've definitely hopped on the advent bandwagon this year. First, Glosette Girl couldn't help herself but she bought Margot a Harry-Potter themed advent calendar. Margot is still loving Mr. Potter and we are now two thirds of the way through book six (not too bad considering we only started reading them in March).

We got extra parent points for this one.

Second, we had to, of course, get the annual chocolate advent calendar.

Finally, after going to church for the past 10-years, our congregation is Margot is pretty familiar with Margot now. So she gets singled out a bit more and this past Sunday even had an opportunity to light the latest advent candle.

I was ready to bolt if she dropped the candle!

I believe its so important in this day and age for parents to look for experiences - spiritual, cultural or whatever. No one will ever remember what social media post they were looking at when they were young. But to be called upon to do something important in front of a crowd? That's a memory!