For families, there can be temptation at Christmastime to pack everything into Advent — both the preparation and celebration crammed into a season meant for peaceful anticipation. This is actually a distortion of the liturgical year, in which the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ begins on Christmas and continues for a full 12 days! If we can align our practices this time a little closer to the Church rather than the culture, we just may find some of the byproducts of a rightly ordered life: serenity, attention and receptivity of the gifts God wants to give.