Last year, I did a whole series on the inner work of parenting and personal development during Advent.
Here is a round-up of these posts:
Boundaries: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/02/cultivating-boundaries-the-inner-work-of-advent/
Rhythm: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/18/cultivating-a-rhythm-for-your-personal-care-the-inner-work-of-advent/ and here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/01/cultivating-rhythm-the-inner-work-of-advent/
Increasing the Energy in Your Home: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/16/cultivating-the-energy-the-inner-work-of-advent/
Cultivating the Quiet in Your Home: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/15/cultivating-the-quiet-the-inner-work-of-advent/
Cultivating an Early Bedtime for Yourself: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/12/cultivating-the-early-bedtime-for-yourself-the-inner-work-of-advent/
“No Comment”: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/11/cultivating-no-comment-the-inner-work-of-advent/
Fun as a Family: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/09/cultivating-the-fun-the-inner-work-of-advent/
Staying Home: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/06/cultivating-the-ability-to-stay-home-the-inner-work-of-advent/
Gratitude: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/11/29/cultivating-gratitude-the-inner-work-of-advent/
These might be nice to print out and use during your meditation time during the Twelve Holy Nights.
Many blessings,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
Great links! Three of those ideas made a phenomenal difference in our family:
1. Inner work… cultivating in myself FIRST what I expect out of my children.
2. Early bedtime for myself. I have a super, super intense 3 year old who woke up around 15 times a night until she was 2. Once I started just going to bed with her (we co sleep), she fell and stayed asleep much easier. Plus, I usually could sleep until I was done sleeping, and sometimes get the bonus of special quiet morning time. Plus, my YEARS of insomnia seem to have been lessened considerably by this routine of going to sleep early, regularly, and without a barrage of television and computer at night.
3. Rhythm… we aren’t as rhythmic as I would like, but we have started with meal and rest times, and that seems to make a big difference!
It’s a bummer to miss out on spouse and down time, but we are all still happier for it. I’m sad that I fought the idea of just going to bed for so long@!
Thank you for these links. I just posted my first Advent post on my blog where I talk about Steiner’s 4 bodies to the four weeks of Advent. I got a lot of material out of Lynn Jericho’s “I am a Human Being” essay you linked to recently. Thanks for being such an inspiration!
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