He said:

We always hear it and say it: it’s the simple things in life that mean the most. Well here’s an example. She wanted an Advent wreath but traditional wreaths aren’t really her thing. We bounced around some ideas and came up with this. I headed to the garage and used the eyeball theorem to measure things out. Drilled out the hole for the candles and simply screwed them together from the bottom side. She did some fanciness with the candles and took the wood burner to it to mark each level. Brianna loved it! And I always love seeing her giddiness with things like this. We used this “wreath” to converse about the reason for the season with the whole family. So simple. Yet, so meaningful. 

She said:

I love our church. The worship makes me cry, the messages always hit true to mark. But it’s a very contemporary church, and there’s not a whole lot of “holy” in it. I crave more sacred, and look for ways to create it myself. This year I really wanted to do an Advent wreath, since our church doesn’t recognize Advent or Lent or much tradition, and I asked Dustin if we could make our own version. I honestly don’t much like wreaths, so I brainstormed ways to make something a little more us, while maintaining symbolism and meaning. I explained what I had in mind, Dustin ran out to the garage, and a few minutes later I had this awesome stair-stepped spiral candle holder! I painted some taper candles the traditional purple and pink, and used my wood burner to write the word each week represents on each step. The whole family loved doing our weekly readings and prayers and getting to take turns lighting the candles! And I found one more way to reclaim the holy in the holiday.