How to start Advent

This is how Advent should be started:

By playing with rockets on the Moor:

And then by having friends for lunch and eating cheeses brought back from Paris:

Yes, of course that's reblochon.

And then by cycling to the Steiner Advent Spiral:

For the uninitiated, this festival entails sitting in the cold, dark gym while singing Christmas carols to the accompaniment of a group of musicians. Then, one by one, each child walks through a spiral laid out on the floor with greenery. In the centre, they light their candle (wedged in an apple) from the central candle and walks out again, placing their lit candle on the ourwards spiral. By the end you get a spiral of light. Its rather atmospheric!

Then coming home and making the advent ring, known in our house as the Advent Tray due to our inability to find oasis in a ring shape!