Advent: It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

We love Advent around here ... but we love the Christmas season even more. And our home is beginning to look and feel and smell like Christmas!

Especially during these last days of Advent, we remember the 4 p's: penance, prayer, partying and preparation.

• Penance to atone for our sins that created a world where God had to send his Only Son to save us. We were able to have our adopted chaplain hear our confessions on Wednesday ... always a great thing!
• Prayer for an increase in faith, hope and love during the coming year.
• Partying for the saints whose feast days fall within Advent -- Our Lady of Guadalupe and others -- who help us see the great goodness that exists in our fallen world
• Preparation for the great feasting during the Christmas season -- which for Catholics lasts from Christmas Eve till the Baptism of Jesus (this year, January 11th). Some Catholics even go till the old end of Christmas with February 2nd, the Presentation of Our Lord or "Candlemas" as it used to be called.

And preparation is one of our favorite parts of Advent. When I start doing the Christmas treat making -- especially when I haul out the big roasting pan for my special caramel popcorn -- the kids KNOW Christmas is close.

In this age of everyone working and no one having time for the home arts, a bag of homemade goodies is very appreciated. We love to do this for our friends and family. So, last week we put the baking into high gear so we'd have goodie bags to give on the last day of dh's school before break. We made:

Port Cake (which we made on Stir-up Monday)

Candy-Cane Crisps and Caramel Popcorn

M&M Pretzel Wreaths

English Toffee

Nanna's Swedish Nuts (Kotch's specialty)

Sweet'n'Spicy Nuts (with the "kick" coming from the cayenne pepper!)

Rocky Road Candy

and Spice Gumdrop Cookies

We makes tons of all of these things ... not just for snitching by the kiddoes and dh ... but also so we can give lots of variety to one and all.

On the 17th we also started to celebrate the O Antiphons using our "house" we made last year; Kotch has been cantoring the appropriate antiphon each night (with the rest of us singing the refrain, not even half so well as Kotch does the antiphon!). Thank God for Kotch's singing talents!

On the 4th Sunday of Advent we bring out the Christmas Tree (which we usually buy the first Sunday of Advent but leave outside in water till the 4th Sunday). We bring it in and set it up ... but don't decorate until Christmas Eve. We put out the Nativity set and begin to get out the blankets, kitchen linens and Christmas dishes reserved for this time of year. We start shifting from our Advent music to Christmas music playing in the background. In short, it begins to look alot like Christmas around here.

I probably won't post again till after Christmas ... but I want to wish one and all of you a very joyous, faith-filled Christmas. We'll be attending Midnight Mass this year (Lego Maniac wants to serve this one and we used to always go to Midnight Mass when I was little so ... we're all going!) and I will pray for each one of you and your intentions during that holiest of nights!

Advent: A time of Repentance, Reparation and Resolutions

Today is the first Sunday of Advent! Oh, happy day ... we love advent around here because we pull out all the stops and prep in every way for the coming of the Christ Child on Christmas Morning!So we have the candles and wreath ready for lighting tonight ...the Jesse Tree is ready for the hanging of the ornaments each night as we learn about the link between the Old and New Testaments, between the prophets and Jesus' fulfillment of the prophesies...the family altar is ready for our advent blocks and (from Dec 17th) our O Antiphons house ...and we have the basket of Christmas crafts (gifts, decorations and fun items) all set to start working on for our first home-made Christmas.We always read from Geraldine McCaughrean's The Jesse Tree -- a great story about a crochety old wood-carver and an inquisitive little boy who gets the old man to tell him the story of the Jesse Tree. We read a section each night at dinner and then place the appropriate symbol on the tree. I'll set aside 30-60 minutes each day for personal meditation -- this year, I'll use Catherine Doherty's Donkey Bells. I particularly like this book for meditation as it goes beyond Advent and into the Christmas season.

Tomorrow, we'll start the Christmas baking -- around here "stir up Sunday" usually becomes "stir up Monday" as somehow the First Sunday of Advent always sneaks up on me! As we progress, I'll post recipes and results here.

As a final thought for this first Advent post, this quote from the Magnificat really hit me today as we continue to pray for the sale of the house in Denver and I continue to pray for the wisdom and grace to simplify and refocus our lives:

At a certain point in life, the profound deisres and cravings of our heart
reach a point of eruption in us. Yet, at the same time comes the awareness
that we cannot bring about what we want -- we do not have inside us what is
needed to fulfill and satisfy our longings. And so, with our infinite yearnings we turn to the Infinite and cry, "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down." Our experience of helplessness before the fact of our boundless human need moves us to ask for fellowship with God's Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. The nature of our desire assures us as we enter into Advent that we are not lacking in any spiritual gift as we wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord of the house is coming ... Be watchful! Be alert!

Advent: Now it kicks into high gear ...

... and I'll be shutting down my computer (except for emails) for the next few weeks!

Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, also known as "Gaudete Sunday" for the joy we experience today and always, knowing that Jesus will be born on Christmas morning and will save us from our sins.

This is also the one of only two Sundays throughout the year where the Catholic priests (from the lowliest village vicar to the Pope himself) will wear the "rose" colored vestments which signify joy.

Tomorrow, December 17th, we'll start praying/meditating about the O Antiphons (and our use of the new "house" and blocks will start) and then we'll join in the Hispanic celebration of Posada at Church on Friday, Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent, Monday is Christmas Eve and then the partying really starts from Christmas, through the 12 days, to Epiphany!

So, dearest readers, this post will be the last of the year ... as a gift to my family I will be shutting down the computer and only checking emails from tomorrow until after the Epiphany, January 6th. This is a gift VERY worth giving to my family who are pretty much supportive of the time I take to write, read and play on the computer ...

My prayer is that all of you will have a healthy, holy and blessed end of Advent 2007 and beautiful start to Christmas season!

Advent: O Antiphons

Last year, I believe it was Katherine J. who had the SENSATIONAL idea to create an O Antiphons house with blocks. Check this post from Jenn GM for her write-up on O Antiphons last year. Anyway, I was too late to do this last year, but remembered early enough this year (surely a minor miracle!) to go ahead and get one ready.

Today we worked on putting it all together for Monday's start.

I wood-burned a wooden "house" I'd gotten at Hobby Lobby. This was my first attempt (ever!) at wood-burning and it really made a cool "rustic" looking house. I then oiled the wood to keep the natural, rustic look while keeping it from drying out in this Colorado desert!

The 1" cubes I'd gotten were too small for the openings, so I put 1-3/4" flat squares on the cubes -- we then did the symbols and name of each antiphon -- Sapientia, Adonia, Radix Jesse, Clavis David, Oriens, Rex Gentium, Emmanuel and I added a final one for the 24th -- Light of the World. Just used Sharpies and a bit of patience.

I think the final result will definitely be a family tradition for years to come!