Add to ORKGI have, mainly because the new church year begins on the first Sunday in December. In certain ways I prefer the Advent celebration to the New Year’s festivities. Advent, to me, is quiet. There are no big parties, no loud celebrations. Advent arrives with the words “watch” and “be ready.” If there are any Advent celebrations, they are done in moderation because that is the only way we can watch and be alert. Most New Year’s celebrations are about surviving to the end of another year. They are about forgetting the past.Advent is a about expectation. Watch. Be ready. Be alert. We hear these words with hope as the New Year begins. We look forward, not back. The resolutions we make are for the future to make ourselves and our lives better in th...