Creative Minority Reader: Advent. What's the Point?

The Anchoress sums things up quite nicely.

I have been asked that more than once, particularly by my Evangelical friends: why do Catholics and others, put so much stock in “ritualistic” sorts of things not explicitly spelled out in scripture – things like Advent, and its trappings - the purple vestments, the Advent wreaths and such. “Jesus came once for all, he doesn’t keep coming,” one woman said. “Christmas is a wonderful season. Why do you need a whole Advent season, too? What’s the point?”