Often I will read an Advent meditation or read Compline. It is for me a holy time, when the cares of the world are pushed aside. Another thing I do is to choose very carefully what I give as Christmas gifts. Because there are so many international students here at VTS, I have been made very aware of the pain and suffering in other countries. From my own experience I know how much of that pain exists here, too.
Traffic is horrendous and it gets worse in Advent.
The spirit of the season is lost on the general public. In general, people are not charitable and loving, they are eager, pushy and they want my parking space. I avoid them. Last year, everyone in my family got a note saying that I had donated funds to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief in their honor and asked that the money be used to help people in Honduras who were recovering from Hurricane Mitch. I hope I have found a way to make gift-giving a blessing for me, my friends and family, and all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.