Second Sunday of Advent

Amor (Love)

 

 

 

Advent
Thomas Merton 

Charm with your stainlessness these winter nights,
Skies, and be perfect! Fly, vivider in the fiery dark, you quiet meteors,
And disappear.
You moon, be slow to go down,
This is your full!

The four white roads make off in silence
Towards the four parts of the starry universe.
Time falls like manna at the corners of the wintry earth.
We have become more humble than the rocks,
More wakeful than the patient hills.

Charm with your stainlessness these nights in Advent,
holy spheres,
While minds, as meek as beasts,
Stay close at home in the sweet hay;
And intellects are quieter than the flocks that feed by starlight.

Oh pour your darkness and your brightness over all our solemn valleys,
You skies: and travel like the gentle Virgin,
Toward the planets’ stately setting,
Oh white full moon as quiet as Bethlehem!

First Sunday of Advent

Spera (Hope)

  

Advent
Christina Rossetti 

This Advent moon shines cold and clear,
  These Advent nights are long;
Our lamps have burned year after year
  And still their flame is strong.
'Watchman, what of the night?' we cry,
  Heart-sick with hope deferred:
'No speaking signs are in the sky,'
  Is still the watchman's word.

The Porter watches at the gate,
  The servants watch within;
The watch is long betimes and late,
  The prize is slow to win.
'Watchman, what of the night?' But still
  His answer sounds the same:
'No daybreak tops the utmost hill,
  Nor pale our lamps of flame.'

One to another hear them speak
  The patient virgins wise:
'Surely He is not far to seek'—
  'All night we watch and rise.'
'The days are evil looking back,
  The coming days are dim;
Yet count we not His promise slack,
  But watch and wait for Him.'

One with another, soul with soul,
  They kindle fire from fire:
'Friends watch us who have touched the goal.'
  'They urge us, come up higher.'
'With them shall rest our waysore feet,
  With them is built our home,
With Christ.'—'They sweet, but He most sweet,
  Sweeter than honeycomb.'

There no more parting, no more pain,
  The distant ones brought near,
The lost so long are found again,
  Long lost but longer dear:
Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,
  Nor heart conceived that rest,
With them our good things long deferred,
  With Jesus Christ our Best.

We weep because the night is long,
  We laugh for day shall rise,
We sing a slow contented song
  And knock at Paradise.
Weeping we hold Him fast, Who wept
  For us, we hold Him fast;
And will not let Him go except
  He bless us first or last.

Weeping we hold Him fast to-night;
  We will not let Him go
Till daybreak smite our wearied sight
  And summer smite the snow:
Then figs shall bud, and dove with dove
  Shall coo the livelong day;
Then He shall say, 'Arise, My love,
  My fair one, come away.'

(Image: Kim's Cottage Art)

Third Sunday of Advent

The color of Advent is purple. Purple is for repentance, which is taught how people should be preparing for Christmas. However, there is one exception: the third Sunday of Advent.

Each Sunday has a theme; the first Sunday is Hope, the Second is Peace, and the Fourth is Love. But the Third is Joy, and, because of that, the third candle is pink rather than purple.

Two days ago, the Feast of Santa Lucia occurred. Her feast is celebrated in such varied places as Sicily in Italy and in the Scandinavian nations. On "Lucia Day," it has been traditional for the eldest daughter in a household to arise early, and to serve her mother and father and other elder members of the household coffee and saffron buns called lussekatter for breakfast. The customary costume for this ritual is a white dress with a red sash, and the young woman would wear a crown of candles. These days, to keep down the risk of fire, battery-powered candle crowns are available for those who wish to continue the ritual. Lucia Day celebrates the days now slowly growing longer.

Second Sunday of Advent

So the first three feast days have passed!

December 4 is the Feast of St. Barbara. She was born into a pagan household, but chose to become a Christian. For this she was tortured by her own father. Miracles delayed some of her torture; wounds from torture carried out healed instantly. Eventually her father had her beheaded, but he was struck by lightning on the way home from her execution.

From Wikipedia: "Saint Barbara is venerated by Catholics who face the danger of sudden and violent death at work. She is invoked against thunder and lightning and all accidents arising from explosions of gunpowder. She became the patron saint of artillerymen, armourers, military engineers, gunsmiths, and anyone else who worked with cannon and explosives.  Following the widespread adoption of gunpowder in mining in the 1600s, she was adopted as the patron of miners, tunnellers, and other underground workers. As the geology and mine engineering developed in association with mining, she became patron of these professions."

December 6, of course, is the feast of St. Nicholas. Those who see him as a jolly Santa Claus type, however, should know he started out as a Turkish bishop. His miracles included saving three students who had been killed and robbed by an evil innkeeper. The innkeeper had chopped up their bodies and brined them, but St. Nicholas returned them to life. The custom of hanging stockings before a fireplace came from the story of St. Nicholas saving three unmarried girls from a poor family from having to be sold into slavery (read: prostitution): supposedly St. Nicholas tossed a bag of gold for each girl into their poverty-stricken home and they ended up in stockings. In places like the Netherlands, where St. Nicholas is the gift bringer, he's usually accompanied by a helper, perhaps Black Peter or Belsnickel or Pelznichol. St. Nicholas rewards the good children while his help punishes the bad.

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This feast is often confused with the Annunciation and people wonder why Mary the mother of Jesus spent nearly a year pregnant. The Immaculate Conception actually refers to Mary, who was born without sin so she could become the mother of God's son.

From catholic.com: "The Immaculate Conception is a Catholic dogma that states that Mary, whose conception was brought about the normal way, was conceived without original sin or its stain. That’s what 'immaculate' means: without stain.

"When discussing the Immaculate Conception, an implicit reference may be found in the angel’s greeting to Mary. The angel Gabriel said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). The phrase 'full of grace' is a translation of the Greek word kecharitomene. It therefore expresses a characteristic quality of Mary."

First Sunday of Advent

I'll admit, it's hard this year. It's been difficult some other years, but 2024 has been a very cruel. We lost our friend Linda Butler in January. Our little budgie never did relax in our home, then became ill with some type of infection of his air sacs after boarding at our vet in March. By the time we found another avian vet, it was too late and we had to have him euthanized on August 1. In the meantime, James' kidneys failed at the end of June, after six years of us fending off dialysis. He also fell several times this year, leaving him with terrible back pain and leaving him no recourse except to use a walker in the house. We are still investigating options to relieve this pain, but he won't have a procedure until January.

And even in its closing days, 2024 couldn't leave well enough alone: our brother-in-law Bobby Thrift lost a battle with a quickly moving cancer a few days ago.

I was outside stringing up Christmas lights on the bushes out front, and it struck me that I was doing the same thing Bobby might have been doing this first weekend after Thanksgiving if Old Man Cancer hadn't stripped him down to the bone, stringing lights around their home to delight the eyes of his beloved grandchildren.

In the darkness, like St. Lucia whose feast we celebrate in twelve days, we must strive to be the light.

Keep us well. Keep us strong. Amen.

"Jingle Bells" ... NOT a Christmas Song!

Third Sunday of Advent:

Even though "Jingle Bells" is a universal musical trigger to begin thinking "Christmas," the song, originally called "The One-Horse Open Sleigh," was written by James Lord Pierpont to be sung in a Thanksgiving pageant (in those days of the Little Ice Age, snow in New England and the northern US often started as early as November); indeed, it doesn't mention Christmas at all. It's actually a dating song, the 19th century equivalent of taking your best girl out in your convertible on a summer night. Young ladies were usually not allowed to go out with young men they were not engaged to unless they had a chaperone. However, a one-horse open sleigh, with just room for two and used in public in freezing weather, was considered relatively safe for a young lady to ride with her beau alone. These sleighs were considered the equivalent of sports cars and sleigh racing between young men and their ladies was common. That's why there's a verse about the "bob-tailed nag" who's "2:40 for his speed"—a mile done by a trotting horse in two minutes and forty seconds was considered quite fast in the day.

Other fun facts about sleighs and sleigh bells:

• Contrary to what you see or hear, roads in those days were not necessarily plowed; instead big shire horses pulled rollers over the snow to smooth it out for sleighing.
• Sleigh bells were originally made in two halves and soldered together, later bells were cast in one piece. Bells could be either single-throated (with one open slash) or double-throated (with a cross slash).
• Sleigh bells were originally made like cowbells, and then like cones.
• There were different brands and types of sleigh bells; some were on the harness, some on the shafts of the sleigh. Brands were Swiss Pole Chimes, Mikado Chimes, King Henry Bells, and Dexter Body Straps. Some sleigh bells, like those of Conestoga wagons, were mounted on an arch of metal over the horse's collar.
• Sleigh bells weren't put on horses to sound pretty. People all wore thick hats or earmuffs against the cold in those days. A sleigh is a fairly silent vehicle since the runners make almost no sound and the horse's hoofs are muffled by the snow, and they can't stop on a dime. The bells are a safety device to warn pedestrians!
  
  

* some facts are from Eric Sloane's The Seasons of America's Past.

"Stir Up, We Beseech Thee, O Lord..."

Here once again is the "Last Sunday in Ordinary Time" in the Christian calendar. Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent, in which Christians begin to prepare for Christmas. In stores this means a frenzy of shopping and the putting up of Christmas decorations.

In the past this preparation was more subtle; it was behind the scenes. Christmas decorations didn't go up until Christmas Eve, and then they remained up until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany. In the very oldest of traditions, you needed not take down your decorations until Candlemas, February 2.

The earliest preparation was that of the Christmas Pudding, or "plum pudding," which was made and then let rest (allowing all the alcohol in the mix to "settle in"). This was made on "Stir-Up Sunday," from the text for that Sunday from The Book of Common Prayer: "Stir-up, we beseech thee, oh Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may be thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."

"The whole family participated in Stir-Up Sunday, with each member taking a turn to stir the pudding mixture—always from east to west to honor the journey of the Magi—making a wish as they did...Also symbolic is the notion that the Christmas Pudding should have thirteen ingredients to represent Jesus and the twelve Apostles. Traditionally, the ingredients were raisins, currants, suet, brown sugar, breadcrumbs, citron, lemon peel, orange peel, flour, mixed spices, eggs, milk, and brandy. (No plums.)"*

* from the Christmas 2021 issue of "Early American Life."

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Many European countries celebrate St. Nicholas Day as the gift-giving day of December and leave Christmas Day for religious observances. Some countries celebrate on both days.

In the Netherlands St. Nicholas rides a white horse and arrives on a ship from Spain. Other St. Nicholas figures ride a donkey. They usually travel with a companion like Zwarte Pete ("Black Peter"), Krampus, Belsnickel, or Pelznichol, who is the actual figure who disciplines the children. When the children swear they will do better, St. Nicholas forgives them and gives them a gift, holding off the Christmas disciplinarian!

St. Nicholas Day - December 6, 2021 - National Today

How St. Nicholas Day Became a Cincinnati Tradition

German Culture--St. Nicholas Day

Heinz History Center: Awaiting the Arrival of Old St. Nick

Leave Your Shoes Out: It's St. Nicholas Day

St. Nick May Have Inspired Santa, But His Own Story is Very Inspiring

Celebrating Sinterklass in the Netherlands

First Sunday of Advent

There's a rule here: no Christmas decorations before the First Sunday of Advent.

However, today all the gloves are off!

So I hit the ground running: walked the dog a mile, then put him on a leash on the grass while I took down the Thanksgiving items and put up the wreath on the door, the Santa Claus moon flag, the mailbox cover with the goofy moose on it, and the Christmas greens basket. At this point I let Tucker go inside and then started on the real work: the lights. I managed to get through this practically unscathed.

Decided I wanted to go back to the blue lights this year. Now Saturday at Lowe's I bought six strings of 100 blue lights on discount, but we still had blue lights, so I put those out instead. Thinking I should have put the Lowes lights on instead; some of these are badly faded and the blues don't even match. When I took a photo one string even looked green! Maybe I'll redo. Also put up the Christmas tree with the multicolor lights and the wreath, which has the multicolor seed lights on it. I could probably go out and get a new blue set for the tree, but I prefer the wreath in colors, and don't think I'll find them in blue anyway.

I didn't have a terrible time with the lights, but I do understand why my dad always swore while he did this!

Our neighbor Ashley came out while I was working on this, to take out little Diesel (he's some kind of Lhasa Apso or shih-tzu mix) and Nala, who's some type of Rottweiler cross, and we were chatting for a while. It was just her birthday and she'd been to Colorado as a birthday gift. They had snow and everything. She kept asking me if I needed help. Maybe I was just looking particularly decrepit this morning? I know I didn't feel decrepit; when I put up Christmas decorations I feel about fifteen (except my back didn't hurt this dang bad when I was fifteen).

A year or two ago James bought this set of four LED snowflakes that were on clearance for $7. I put them behind the three log deer as kind of a fun display. Didn't use any of the lighting effects, though; maybe will try them out later. You can twinkle and flash and make them chase, eight different effects in all.

Before dark I had also put all of the candoliers in the windows (blue lights as well; frosted for the upstairs and clear for the library downstairs), the multicolor changing bulb candle in the kitchen window, and the two flickering candles in James' "man cave." These eat up four AA batteries, but they will last through Epiphany, even though the flicker will be minimal by then!

My last step was to turn on the two flickering candles at 5:30 (they have timers and will keep them on for five hours) and put the batteries in the seed lights (this also has a timer that will turn on the same time every night and go off six hours later). And all is lit.

Also did my usual Sunday chores (towels washed, master bath cleaned, meds sorted for the week) and managed to sit and listen to some Christmas music and work on a story. It ended on a sniffle, so I think I achieved my goal. 😀

Cattern Cakes for St. Catherine's Day

St. Catherine of Alexandria was a Christian martyr who was condemned to death on a torture device called "a breaking wheel." "Catherine wheel" fireworks are named after this event, and "cattern cakes" are made in the shape of a swirl or in a spiral shape to commemorate her. The day was once widely observed and the days before and after the holiday were known as Catterntide. In medieval times, Catterntide marked the beginning of Advent.

 

St. Catherine is the patron saint of spinners, weavers, and lacemakers, and the latter used to take their annual holiday on this day.

Here's a British recipe (from "The Simple Things") for Cattern cakes:

275g (9.7oz) self-raising flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

25g (.9oz) currants

50g (1.77oz) ground almonds

2 tsp caraway seeds

200g (7oz) caster ("superfine") sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

100g (3.5oz) butter, melted

1 medium egg, beaten

Sift flour and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl, then add currants, almonds, caraway seeds, and sugar.

Add the melted butter and beaten egg to form a soft dough.

Roll out on floured surface to about 2cm (3/4 inch) thick and cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter. Lay the rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

Using a sharp knife, make swirls in each cake, then sprinkle on sugar.

Bake for about 10 minutes in an oven already preheated to 190C (375F) or until they are brown and slightly risen. Cool on a wire rack.

❤ French Culture: What Do the French Do on St. Catherine's Day?

 

❤ The Free Dictionary: St. Catherine's Day 

 

❤ St. Catherine and Milliners 

❤ Fish Eaters: St. Catherine

 

St. Catherine was known to be well-educated and a book lover. You can celebrate her feast by buying a book as well!

The People of Christmas: St. Martin

St. Martin? Has he something to do with Christmas?

 

Well, peripherally!

 

St. Martin of Tours was originally a soldier, and it is ironic that his feast day falls on November 11, the anniversary of the Armistice that ended the first World War. Martin was a cavalryman, well mounted and well clad, but when he came upon a ragged man shivering for lack of clothing in the snow, he sliced his voluminous cloak in half and gave it to the man. That night he dreamed of Jesus wearing the half cloak and saying to a contingent of angels, "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is now baptized; he has clothed me." Martin converted to Christianity and later became a bishop.

 

His association with Christmas is that the preparatory season of Advent used to be forty days, the same as old Christmastide and the same as Lent, and began on his feast day, Martinmas.

 

In European countries, Martinmas marks the end of the harvest season. Livestock that had multiplied during the summer and which could not be fed during the winter was butchered and preserved by salting or smoking, and farmers would provide cakes and ale for the harvesters. Now that farm work was over, the laborers would attend Martinmas hiring fares to find positions for the winter.

 

Waterfowl are also involved in Martinmas celebrations. As at Michaelmas, a goose is usually eaten as part of the feasting. This alludes to the part of Martin's story where he did almost everything to avoid becoming a bishop, prefering to spread the gospel his own way. Martin hid in a pen of geese as a last resort, but the geese raised such a racket that he was given away. Weather forecasting is associated with the holiday, as it is on Candlemas, or, as it's known in the US, Groundhog Day. According to folklore, if Martinmas is cold and icy, the winter that follows will be milder, all through Candlemas. This is alluded to in a poem:

 

"Ice before Martinmas,

Enough to bear a duck,

The rest of winter,

Is sure to be but muck."

 

In other words, if the water is frozen over so that a duck cannot break through the ice on Martinmas, the remainder of the winter will be mild.

 

Snow on St. Martin's day is greeted with the exclamation: "Here comes St. Martin on his white horse!"

 

St. Martin of Tours 

 

Martinstag and St. Martin 

 

Historic UK: Martinmas

 

Slovenia Incognita: Martinmas 

The Tudor Society: The Feast of Martinmas

Who...is Santa Lucia?

Many people know "Santa Lucia" as an Italian song, but unless you are Scandinavian you might not know that "Lucia Day" is celebrated every December 13 there, especially in Sweden.

 

The story of Lucia (whose name means "light") is a sad but ultimately triumphant one. Lucia was a martyr in the fourth century who was killed for helping Christians. Her saint's day falls on what was, on the old Julian calendar, the shortest day of the year, and the day on which light begins to reappear. It is said Lucia wore a crown of candles on her head in her efforts to bring food to hidden Christians, so to leave her hands free to carry more food. Now on December 13, it is a tradition for the eldest daughter in a household to don candles—today battery-powered crowns do the job more safely!—on her head to bring coffee and sweet rolls called "Lucia buns" or "Lucy cats" (some are made with raisin eyes) to the rest of the household. The familiar song "Santa Lucia" is sung, but with different lyrics.

 

Northern Italians and Sicilians also celebrate Lucia Day. Some of the celebrations just involve religious devotions, but sometimes children receive gifts on the feast day.

 

☙ St. Lucy's Day Celebrations as Recounted in Wikipedia  

 

☙ The Surprising Ways that Italy Celebrate Santa Lucia 

 

☙ Lucia in Sweden 

 

☙ Celebrating Santa Lucia in Sweden 

 

First Sunday of Advent

Theme: Hope (and boy, do we need it this year).

You never take a vacation without preparation.

Neither do most people go into Christmas without a little preparation. Shopping, baking, wrapping, decorating, and more are all part of Christmas prep. But if you celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, there's more to it than that. Advent is a time of reflection, to prepare hearts for the birth of Jesus Christ.

Advent was originally a 40-day period, like Lent, and fasting, except on Sunday, was common. Now Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The longest Advent period happens when Christmas is on a Sunday, and begins November 27. The shortest Advent happens when Christmas is on Monday, beginning December 3.

Several Christmas-y holidays fall within the Advent period, including St. Nicholas Day and St. Lucia Day. St. Thomas' Day also used to be a pre-Christmas holiday until the church moved it to another month. "Thomasing" was practiced as children went "a'souling" for soul cakes on that day, a combination of trick or treating and caroling.

Here are some Advent and Christmas customs in other countries:

• Advent Period Begins: The Most Beautiful Hungarian Christmas Traditions

• Advent Traditions in Germany

• Six Quirky Italian Advent Traditions

• A Guide to Advent in Britain

• How Do We Celebrate Advent in France? 

• Seven Unique Spanish Christmas Traditions 

• 25 Surprising Facts about Christmas in the Netherlands 

• Christmas in Brazil 

• Posadas and Other Mexican Christmas Traditions

Christmas Countdown: 100 Days Until Christmas

It's the time of year when I usually pull out my pre-Christmas books, Unplug the Christmas Machine and The Christmas Survival Book (also Celebrate the Wonder), to see what I can do this year to keep the holidays happy and sane. I'm sure it's going to be an odd Christmas this year, what with remaining COVID-19 restrictions. I can't see Black Friday happening, for instance—just too many people in one place at one time. And many people have been out of work, some for only a few months, right now for some people this is ongoing. So this has been seen online and it sounds like a nice gesture.

Some people have pointed out that December 24 seems too late to donate to a food pantry; that food for the holidays may have already been distributed. Why not start your collection on Thanksgiving? (You might locate your closest food pantry first—this is important; last year I had food to donate and the pantry I had intended to give it to, one operating out of a small church, had closed due to a declining congregation—and give them a call to find out if there is a specific date to donate before Christmas?) And, while you're at it, why not start another box on Hallowe'en night, so that you may treat someone before Thanksgiving?

There is no need to limit yourself to brand names. We eat any number of store brands in our home, and they are actually supplied by the same companies that furnish the "brand names" like Del Monte, Kelloggs, etc. We once asked a friend who worked in a meat packing plant what the difference was between Winn Dixie meat and Kroger meat. His answer: "The label."

You can also avail yourself of the pre-packaged bags you can buy at the grocery store for a donation of $5, $10, and $20, but I tend to avoid these as they supply a lot of processed food in these packages. I find I can afford food with better nutritional value from the shelves. You might buy foods with low salt or low sugar, as often people on limited incomes cannot find these in their local grocery stores (we have to go looking for them) and have health conditions where it would be preferable for them to eat reduced salt or sugar.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

For the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, the theme is Peace.

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
 
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."
And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

Embrace the Winter!

Merry Midwinter, Gillian Monks
I awarded this book the ultimate accolade: after reading the electronic version, I ordered the "real" book. So this is technically a re-read, although I notice that when I read anything electronic it doesn't feel like I've really read it.

Monks, who describes herself as a Quaker and a practicing Druid (I didn't think that was possible!) has written a great book about celebrating all of the winter holiday season, from Hallowe'en/Samhain all the way through Candlemas, as our ancestors did. She traces the history of all the wonderful customs of the season, from decorating with evergreens (greens which represented both the spirits of nature and the "ever green" eternal love of the Son of God) to celebrating female bringers of light like Saint Lucy and Frau Holle to the connection of the winter solstice to the establishment of Christmas by the Christian Church on a day that was already celebrated as a religious holiday (the Saturnalia of the Romans, the feast of Mithras by the Persians, and ceremonies for the Egyptian Osiris and the Greek god Apollo). And of course she addresses feasting, gift giving, the origins of some of the gift givers, including the now-ubiquitous Santa Claus, snow. As she states "Midwinter has always been a time for people to set aside their differences, lay down their weapons, and come together in a sense of community and celebration."

Her coziest chapters include some of her personal memories of each of the holidays marking the winter season; she once lived along a country road and had the pleasure of gathering her own winter greens like holly and mistletoe. Plus there are family recipes and DIY crafts, but the thing she emphasizes most of all is simplicity and anticipation of each phase of the season: not to rush any part of the winter season, but to enjoy each aspect of it, from the fun of Hallowe'en to the days building up to Christmas, and then not to let Christmas just stop at 11:59 p.m. on December 25, but to celebrate the entire twelve days of Christmastide and even the January days leading finally to Candlemas/Imbolc on the second of February by walking in wintry woods or enjoying the cold weather, and enjoying days doing crafts indoors when the weather is inclement. She firmly believes in the philosophy of "there is no bad weather, only inadequate clothing" and invites you not to bemoan the loss of summer warmth but to embrace the wintry chill. I loved this whole attitude of enjoying all the seasons, not overspending but making some Christmas decorations out of items found from nature (her example which goes throughout the book is having found a large branch just as the leaves were changing and bringing it inside to fasten in a container; she allows the leaves to fall off it naturally, and supplements it with items like acorns and berries in the fall, then tinsel and ornaments and winter-themed items at Christmas, then removes the tinsel and ornaments and just leaves the winter themed items until spring comes and the wood is ready to be recycled into firewood), and also of not allowing Christmas revelry to be trapped in a 24-hour period as our modern society dictates.

At the back of the book there is an extensive calendar of autumn and winter celebrations you can observe, like St. Catherine's Day devoted to reading and learning, St. Cecilia's Day with an emphasis on music, Feast of Fools Day on December 29 when you can go out with tomfoolery, Distaff's Day after Epiphany celebrating your work life, etc.

Third Sunday of Advent

For the third Sunday of Advent, the theme is Joy.

As streets fill with shoppers,
bright lights and tempting offers,
Christmas songs and children’s laughter,
You lead us along a different path,
to a desert and a prophetic voice,
a call to repentance,
a call to service,
a call to immerse ourselves
in living water that will never run dry,
a call to prepare a way in our own lives
for the Saviour of the world to enter in,
to know the touch of tender mercy
and rest in your forgiving love

God of hope
be with us in our Advent journey
to the stable and beyond,
be with us in our meeting
and in our travelling together,
be with us in our worship
and our praying together,
be with us in our Advent journey
to the stable and beyond,
our God of hope.
                                                            . . . from the Faith & Worship page

Second Sunday of Advent

For the second Sunday of Advent, the theme is Faith.

Annunciation
Denise Levertov

We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,
almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.

       Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.

But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions
courage.

       The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent.

         God waited.

She was free
to accept or to refuse, choice
integral to humanness.
                  ____________________

Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?

         Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.

More often
those moments
      when roads of light and storm
      open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from

in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
                                 God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.

                  ____________________

She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child–but unlike others,
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.

Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,

  only asked

a simple, ‘How can this be?’
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s reply,
the astounding ministry she was offered:

to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power–
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.

                     Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love–

but who was God.

This was the moment no one speaks of,

when she could still refuse.

A breath unbreathed,

                                Spirit,

                                          suspended,

                                                            waiting.

                  ____________________

She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’

Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’

She did not submit with gritted teeth,

                                                       raging, coerced.

Bravest of all humans,

                                  consent illumined her.

The room filled with its light,

the lily glowed in it,

                               and the iridescent wings.

Consent,

              courage unparalleled,

opened her utterly.

Vintage Christmas Videos

These are Christmas stories from the 1950s done either as shorts for a Christian film company, Cathedral Films, or were shorts done on anthology television series. They are all heartwarming if a bit old-fashioned.

"Star of Bethlehem" (the story of the Nativity told with narration and silhouettes)

"Three Young Kings" (three young Hispanic boys re-enact the story of the journey of the Magi)

"Christmas is Magic" (a war widow and her son take in an amnesiac veteran at Christmas)

"Holy Night" (the first part of "The Living Christ" series, about the Nativity)

"God's Christmas Gift" (a little girl learns that Christmas is more than about gifts)

"Child of Bethlehem" (a live-action black-and-white Nativity story)

"The Christmas Spirit" Part 1 and Part 2 (the story of a boy who wants a pony for Christmas)

"The Guiding Star" Part 1 and Part 2 (Uncle Henry solves the family's Christmas problems in his own way)

First Sunday of Advent

For the first Sunday of Advent, the theme is Hope.

This Advent, Lord, come to the manger of my heart.
Fill me with Your presence from the very start.
As I prepare for the holidays and gifts to be given,
Remind me of the gift You gave when You sent Your Son from Heaven.
The first Christmas gift, it was the greatest gift ever.
You came as a baby born in a manger.
Wrapped like the gifts I find under my tree,
Waiting to be opened, to reveal Your love to me.
Restore to me the wonder that came with Jesus' birth,
When He left the riches of Heaven and wrapped Himself in rags of earth.
Immanuel, God with us, Your presence came that night.
And angels announced, "Into your darkness, God brings His Light."
"Do not be afraid," they said, to shepherds in the field.
Speak to my heart today, Lord, and help me to yield.
Make me like those shepherd boys, obedient to Your call.
Setting distractions and worries aside, to You I surrender them all.
Surround me with Your presence, Lord, I long to hear Your voice.
Clear my mind of countless concerns and all the holiday noise.
Slow me down this Christmas, let me not be in a rush.
In the midst of parties and planning, I want to feel Your hush.
This Christmas, Jesus, come to the manger of my heart.
Invade my soul like Bethlehem, bringing peace to every part.
Dwell within and around me, as I unwrap Your presence each day.
Keep me close to You, Lord. It's in Your wonderful Name I pray.
~~~~~~~Renee Swope, “The Manger of My Heart” (under "Advent" at Christianity.com)