{"id":13865,"date":"2026-03-10T08:43:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T08:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T09:33:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:33:27","slug":"advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/angels-and-miracles\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent, Day 19: Making Ready for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A wreath with blazing candles, children building a miniature cr\u00e8che, an old lady in a little Texas town pondering the \u201cspecial\u201d gifts she wants to give\u2014these are the pictures in my mind as we move into the four weeks of Advent every year.<\/p>\n

This is a spiritual season, of course, a time when the mind and heart turn not only to celebrate but to \u201cmaking ready the way of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are all kinds of things we can do to remind ourselves of the spiritual side of Christmas, not just in church, but at home as well. I like to see a manger scene become a family construction project, and I like the idea of creating homemade religious ornaments for the tree.<\/p>\n

The custom of the Advent wreath, found most often today in Lutheran and Catholic homes, is particularly appealing. This is a wreath with four candles standing in a circle of seasonal greens. Sometimes the wreath is fitted with ribbons so it can be hung, but I like it best as a centerpiece for the dining room table.<\/p>\n

A Baptist family in Hightstown, New Jersey, has a permanent Advent wreath. I know this because of a letter I received recently from Mary Ann Bohrs. \u201cEach Sunday of Advent,\u201d she wrote, \u201cwe light a new candle until, by Christmas, all four candles are blazing. Then each evening we light the candles again and read the ancient prophecies.\u201d<\/p>\n

What a wonderful sight! Can\u2019t you picture that family, Harry and Mary Ann and their two little boys gathered around the table, the candlelight flickering dramatically, every one of them listening intently to those tremendous Old Testament words?<\/p>\n

Those are words that make you sense the long centuries of waiting, that make you experience a mounting excitement about His coming…The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord.\u2014Isaiah 40:3 And the tension grows in that family until there comes at last that quiet moment in the Gospels when…a child is born in Bethlehem…<\/p>\n

Mrs. Bohrs closed her letter to me in a lovely way. \u201cAs I put our Christmas decorations back in the attic each year,\u201d she said, \u201cI pray that the Lord Jesus be in our lives, not just in our festivals, not just over the mantel, but in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Be inspired each day! Order Daily Guideposts 2021!<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Certainly it is our hearts that provide the key to Christmas each year. In this respect, I often think of a lady I never even met, a lady named Mrs. Mason. Virginia Rootes Juergens of Dallas, Texas, wrote a story about her and her creative approach to the holiday.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Mason, it seems, lived in the small Texas town where Virginia grew up. Mrs. Mason was an elderly woman with very little money, but her Christmas preparations were extravagant.<\/p>\n

Weeks before Christmas every year, she plotted and planned for what she called her \u201cLordly gifts.\u201d Wandering around the little town, the old lady would select three people to give a gift to, three people from whom she expected nothing in return. A lot of thought would go into each present, a lot of work, a lot of self-denial\u2014and a lot of pleasure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t think of my third Lordly gift,\u201d Mrs. Mason said to Virginia one time when she visited the Mason cottage during this period of preparation. \u201cYou know, child, we have to give something worthy. Don\u2019t forget, it\u2019s the birthday of God\u2019s Son.\u201d<\/p>\n

That year Mrs. Mason had decided already on a pair of shoes for her first gift and had saved the necessary money. Her second gift was to be a week\u2019s mending of a poor family\u2019s clothes. (Mrs. Mason did not disclose the names of the recipients-to-be.) But her third gift, as always, seemed to give Mrs. Mason trouble. \u201cI just can\u2019t think of anything, child,\u201d she said to Virginia, \u201cat least nothing Lordly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Christmas, of course, just as Virginia knew she would, Mrs. Mason made her momentous decision and carried it through. \u201cOnly later did I discover what her gift was,\u201d Mrs. Juergens wrote. \u201cShe came in three afternoons a week to \u2018baby-sit\u2019 (a term unknown then) and helped my sister Helen and me make cookies while my hard-working teacher-mother was away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Mason knew what Christmas was all about. She approached it seriously and gaily, indeed it was a birthday to her, and her gifts were Lordly because they were gifts to the Christ Child. No one had to tell Mrs. Mason, “As ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”\u2014Matthew 25:40<\/p>\n

So Christmas is coming again. This year during these meaningful weeks of Advent, let\u2019s all bring out the trappings of the holiday, but let\u2019s keep in mind what significance they can have just as the Bohrs family does with its Advent wreath.<\/p>\n

This year let\u2019s prepare for Christmas as Mrs. Mason did, as we would for \u201cthe birthday of God\u2019s Son.\u201d Let\u2019s be creative. And let\u2019s make ready our homes, our hearts, our world, to receive Him.<\/p>\n

This story first appeared in the December 1968 edition of\u00a0<\/em>Guideposts.<\/em><\/p>\n

More inspiring Advent stories from Norman Vincent Peale<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A wreath with blazing candles, children building a miniature cr\u00e8che, an old lady in a little Texas town pondering the \u201cspecial\u201d gifts she wants to give\u2014these are the pictures in my mind as we move into the four weeks of Advent every year. This is a spiritual season, of course, a time when the mind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[142,15,58,26,55,61],"ppma_author":[629],"class_list":["post-13865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-angels-and-miracles","tag-advent","tag-faith","tag-guideposts","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-norman-vincent-peale"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAdvent, Day 19: Making Ready for Christmas - Guideposts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On the 19th day of Advent, Guideposts founder Norman Vincent Peale reminds us that this is a time of anticipation, of preparation, of celebration.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advent, Day 19: Making Ready for Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the 19th day of Advent, Guideposts founder Norman Vincent Peale reminds us that this is a time of anticipation, of preparation, of celebration.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/angels-and-miracles\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Guideposts Articles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T08:43:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T09:33:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/articles.guideposts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/26_days_of_advent_peale_2020_fnl_17-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"866\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Norman Vincent Peale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Neeraj Rai\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f0862e0bfb5f72f571ea4d005001f0be\"},\"headline\":\"Advent, Day 19: Making Ready for Christmas\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-10T08:43:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-13T09:33:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":895,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/26_days_of_advent_peale_2020_fnl_17-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Advent\",\"Faith\",\"Guideposts\",\"Hope\",\"Inspiration\",\"Norman Vincent Peale\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Angels and Miracles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-19-making-ready-for-christmas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Advent, Day 19: Making Ready for Christmas - 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