Why celebrate Advent?

Kelly M asked a question in the comments to the post below that I thought was worth a whole post for an answer. Miss M asked:

Why do you celebrate Advent? I thought it was a Catholic celebration, but what you've posted doesn't look bad to me, so I'm not sure why the protestant church doesn't celebrate it too. And, what made you and Mr. Cumbee decide to start celebrating it?

The short answer is that while Mike and I both grew up in Christian homes and knew that Christmas was the celebration of the birth of our Savior, the focus of the actual celebration in our homes was the Christmas tree and the coming of Santa and presents. We wanted our celebration of Christmas in our own home to focus on why God sent his son, from his birth to his resurrection, and to downplay the "getting presents" part of it, and Advent seemed the ideal tool for doing that.

to be continued...