Come and See

Five quiet minutes each morning of Advent, from Sunday 29 November to Christmas Day 2026.

Most Advent devotionals start on 1 December. Advent does not: in 2026 it begins on Sunday 29 November, and it runs for twenty-six days before Christmas morning. This book is made for this year's calendar. Every morning has its date, so you always know which page is today, and every Sunday tells you which candle to light.

It follows the Christmas story in order, the way the church has always read it in Advent: the prophets who promised a king, the old priest struck silent, a girl in Nazareth, a man shouting in the desert, two mothers and two sons, a journey to Bethlehem, shepherds on the night shift, and Christmas morning.

How a day works

Each morning is two pages.

• Look. A great painting of that day's moment, with three numbered things to find in it. Duccio, Michelangelo, Botticelli, van Eyck, Rembrandt, Bruegel, Leonardo, Georges de La Tour, Millet, Caspar David Friedrich, Henry Ossawa Tanner and more: twenty-seven paintings, each with its title and the museum where it hangs. One minute.
• Read. A short Bible passage printed in full, so you do not need a Bible beside you, with the old words explained in the margin. Then a few plain paragraphs about the passage and the painting. Two or three minutes.
• Do. One small thing chosen for that date: on St Andrew's Day, St Nicholas Day, the shortest day of the year, Christmas Eve. Most take less than a minute.
• With children. A question or a game for any children with you, if you want it.
• Write. One question and ruled lines for one line in answer. By Christmas you have a record of your Advent, and a page at the end to read it back.

Also inside

• Advent 2026 at a glance: the whole season on one page, with every painting and page number.
• The Advent wreath: what it is, where the custom comes from, what the colours mean, how to make one in ten minutes, and which candles to light on which Sunday.
• Week openings for Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, each with words to say when you light the candle and a table of the week's readings.
• Looking at paintings, reading old words: a page for anyone who has never looked at a painting closely or read the King James Bible. You need no knowledge of either.
• After Christmas Day: the twelve days of Christmas, Epiphany on 6 January 2027, and the wise men in a Flemish snowstorm.
• Where the paintings are: every painting listed with its museum, so you can go and see the real thing.

Who it is for

An adult of any Christian tradition who wants a steady, unhurried Advent and has not managed one before. It assumes nothing about the Bible or about art. It reads aloud in about three minutes, so it works for a household breakfast table or a small group as well as for one person with a coffee before the house wakes up.

Good to know

• Bible readings are from the King James Version. References are given with every reading so you can read the passage in any translation you prefer.
• The paintings are reproduced from museum open-access collections and Wikimedia Commons; every one is in the public domain.
• The dates are for Advent 2026 (29 November to 25 December). The readings and reflections can be used in any year.
• US Letter size, 73 pages, in colour, with bookmarks and a contents page. Print it all, or print only the odd-numbered writing pages and keep the paintings on a screen.
• This is a PDF download. No physical book is shipped.