Most Americans these days know Advent as a sort of countdown to the Christmas-shopping deadline, fueled by Christmassy songs on the radio and in stores and punctuated by office parties and reminders ...

Let's face it, the Christmas season comes at us hard and fast — and early! And once it does, it's full-on immersion: food, songs, shopping, decorations, parties, school concerts and presents — "not ...

When most people hear “penitential season,” they tend to imagine ashes on foreheads, solemn hymns and the intensity of abstinence and fasting. But when it comes to Advent, a season similarly steeped ...