On Sunday, my six-year-old and I went rummaging in the attic for our advent calendar -- not really a calendar, but a tabletop cabinet with 24 wee drawers in it, one for each day from December 1 to Christmas Eve. My son filled each drawer with four Hershey Kisses, one for each of us, and then we set it on the table in our foyer. We also dug out our Advent storybook, which has twenty four little stories, all leading up to the Christmas story, of Jesus' birth in the manger. And then last night, after we ate our chocolate and read our story, my older son asked about the difference between Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas, so we talked about waiting for the Wise Men to come see the baby.

And he said, "Let's celebrate that, too!"

It's December 2 and while my sons are getting more and more excited about Christmas, I'm exhausted already, and the very thought of having the season last from the beginning of December until Twelfth Night (January 5) is just too much. Stores around here started putting out Christmas decorations in October, and the Christmas music made an appearance two weeks ago. I feel a little like the whole thing should be winding down, not just getting started. And yet here we are, on December 2.

This year, like so many people, my family is cutting back on spending, so we're already looking for ways to celebrate without going into debt. And that makes me think that maybe this really is the year to focus on some other story, one that doesn't include Santa, one that is really about waiting patiently for the coming of peace and kindness. Maybe this is the year when Advent and Twelfth Night should be the focus of our holiday.

It's just a long time to be listening to Christmas carols.

What about your family -- what do you celebrate this time of year? Do you get the ball rolling on December 1, or do you hold off until closer to Christmas Eve? And how do you use the stories of Christmas -- do you threaten the kids with Santa to make them behave, or remind them about the baby Jesus and how he cries when they are bad?

Or is that just me?