DIY Advent Wreath

One of my favorite Catholic traditions is the Advent Wreath (read more about it here). Basically, it's a wreath with four candles (three purple and one pink) that you light during the Advent season (the time leading up to Christmas). The purple ones (lit on the first, second, and fourth Sunday of Advent) stand for the preparation we should be doing to ready our hearts for Jesus's birth at Christmas, and the pink one (lit on the third Sunday) marks the half-way point of Advent by symbolizing the joy and rejoicing that comes with the birth of the Lord.

It's such a simple thing, but it's a wonderful reminder of the true purpose of the holiday season. Last year, I wanted to make an Advent wreath for our home, but I just never got around to it. This year, I made it a priority! Traditionally, advent wreaths look like these:

(source)

(source)

I wanted ours to be more personal and creative though (and didn't want to pay for a wreath form and candleholders), so I picked up a four candles during a 50% off sale from Hobby Lobby, and I used some berry branches and mistletoe picks that I already had (also originally from Hobby Lobby) to make this:

I put it all on my favorite Martha Stewart cake plate (a wedding gift from my sisters).

I started with four berry branches and made a wreath out of them by cutting off the long stems and twisting the wired branches around each other to connect the four into one circle. 

Then, I just put the four candles inside the berry wreath, and stuck four mistletoe picks between the candles.

Here it is with the first candle lit for this first week of Advent!

I'm excited to finally have an Advent Wreath in our home. When I was growing up, we would always light the candle(s) before eating dinner and say a little prayer. My sisters and I got to take turns lighting the candles. I'm not sure how exactly we'll adapt that tradition to our own home with just the two of us, but for now I'm loving having that candle lit as a simple reminder of what I should be focusing on during this busy holiday season. 

I'm looking forward to lighting a second purple candle this weekend!