Craft Basket Wednesday

What a busy—but fun—Christmas week it has been! I keep trying to sneak some time to write a bit, but my time has been filled with family, food and lots of fun! When things finally quiet down, I will be able to catch up.

But for now, since it's Wednesday, I wanted to try out my very first Craft Basket Wednesday post. Amy-Caroline at Knit Together sponsors them. I always enjoy reading her crafty posts, so I thought I'd join in the fun.

I made one thing for Christmas gifts this year: hand-knit dishcloths. I found the pattern at Homespun Living. Here is a direct link.

I purchased more than enough yarn, so I'll probably make them from time to time ... I thought that I'd whip up at least a dozen, but I made six (five and-a-half to be exact).

I wrapped them up with green ribbon and included some Christmasy recipe cards. I gave one to my mom, MIL and three SILs. I hope they liked them. I know my mom did, for sure!

I really would like to increase the number of handmade gifts that I give, but at the rate I knit, I'd have to start in January! LOL! Maybe that's not such a bad idea ... Hmmm.

Christmas Quote

Christ saved men not with thunder and lightning, but as a wailing babe in the manger and as a silent sufferer on the cross.

~ St. Jerome ~

All is Calm, All is Bright

May God bless you and yours with a very happy and holy Christmas!

Peace and joy~

Sarah

Words to Ponder

There is nothing Mary has that is for herself alone — not even her Son. Before He is born, her Son belongs to others. No sooner does she have the Divine Host within herself than she rises from the Communion rail of Nazareth to visit the aged [Elizabeth] and to make her young.

~ Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, The World's First Love: Mary, Mother of God

It's Beginning ...

... to look a lot like Christmas!

Our much-fuller Advent board. This ended up being a wonderful blessing for our family. Over the past four weeks it has really taken shape! It's a lovely focal point in our kitchen, and we actually use it, too, with our Advent chain, Advent calendar and our newest addition ...

... an O Antiphon house. I originally had wanted to make this O Antiphon craft with my preschooler, but after I tell you about all that happened last week (good but stressful!), you'll understand why it didn't happen. Miraculously, I found the house my oldest made last year in Kindergarten. (Thank you, Lord!)

On the first night, we talked a bit about the O Antiphons. Then, we sang the first verse and the "O Wisdom ..." verse of O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Then, each older girl received a new Christmas book as a symbol of just one way to gain wisdom in the Lord—by reading about Him and stories related to His birth. The books were The Gifts, The Little Drummer Boy and The Legend of the Candy Cane.

On the second and third nights of the O Antiphons, we had a school Christmas pageant and a Christmas party to attend. I had wanted to make a gingerbread house as a way of honoring "O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel ..." on Dec. 18, but we'll just have to do that one day during Christmas vacation.

Tonight, we will play a little catch up and also enjoy Key Lime Pie, as we recall that Jesus is "the key of David." Thanks to Jessica for this idea! Oh, and we have to do a little catch-up with our Destination Bethlehem book, too =)

Never really knowing how to display Christmas cards and usually simply putting them in a pretty basket, I found this idea here and thought, "That's easy enough. I can do that!" So, I did. It's really lovely to see and enjoy all the cards everyday!

Our little good-deeds manger. "Are we making Jesus' bed warm and cozy?" is a question that has been out of my mouth a lot these Advent days. I think it's been good for the girls to think about and a little way for them to prepare their hearts for Christmas.

This year, we have slowly added figurines to our manger. It started empty. Then, just the animals were there. Last week, the angel and shepherd arrived. And I believe Mary and Joseph are expected sometime today! And those wise men ... well, they've been spotted in a number of closets and shelves upstairs. They still have a ways to go, and they seem to travel mostly at night. This practice of slowly adding the nativity figurines is new to us this year, and it's been a wonderful way for all of us to slowly transition from Advent to Christmas. To really focus on the journey, the waiting, the praying.

Our Christmas tree is decorated (photos to come!) And I still want to put up one more nativity set, closer to Christmas, though, because Jesus is already in Mary's arms in this one ... There are a few Christmas-decoration boxes I just didn't unpack this year. I think it was part of my quest for simplicity. And it's been a good thing for me.

What's up for the week? Cookies to finish decorating. Presents to wrap. Cards to mail. (This year they will arrive during the Octave of Christmas—again another thing to surrender.) Grocery shopping for Christmas festivities. My mom arrives during the afternoon of Christmas Eve ... Looking forward to all of it, as I wait in joyful hope for the birth of Jesus on Christmas!

Advent Playlist

This Advent I created an Advent playlist to listen to on my iPod (mostly) while I work on my knitting or wait for dance lessons. I have really enjoyed the differentiation between Advent and Christmas music. Something I honestly had not thought of until this year. The themes of hope, preparation, and waiting in the lyrics have truly helped me enter into this season and embrace a bit more fully all that it has to offer.

O Come, Divine Messiah :: Passionist Sacred Music

People Look East :: Alfred Deller & the Deller Consort

Veni Veni Emmanuel :: Beth Nielsen Chapman

Magnum Nomen Domini :: local choir CD

The Holly She Bears a Berry :: local choir CD

Lo, How a Rose E'r Blooming :: local choir CD

Still, Still, Still :: local choir CD

Ave Maria :: local choir CD

Conditor Alme Siderum/Creator of the Stars of Night :: The Christendom College Choir & Scholla Gregoriana

Alma Redemptoris Mater :: The Christendom College Choir & Scholla Gregoriana

I found some of the songs on iTunes and some on CDs I already owned. This truly has enhanced my personal Advent experience, and I highly recommend creating an Advent playlist of your own. (It's not too late!)

Memory Awakens Hope

Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope …

It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.

~ Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Seek That Which is Above, 1986

This Just Never Gets Old

My second oldest daughter—my five-year-old, my kinder-girl—lost her very first tooth at Mass on Gaudete Sunday. (Another cause for joy that day!) I wasn't there for the event, because I had attended Mass earlier. (We currently "do the split shift," as my husband calls it, because going to Mass with two-year-old twins is, well, too crazy.) But when she came home and showed me her new smile, she. was. beaming. She told me that it just fell out. And she was so excited to finally be able to use the tooth-fairy pillow that her older sister has been hoarding, after losing a total of eight teeth =)

I don't think it will ever get old. Seeing your child for the first time with a missing tooth. How it all-of-a-sudden makes her look bigger. Another sign that she is growing up. (Sigh.)

This little girl of mine says the funniest things, too. And her expressions are priceless. Her current favorite Christmas carol is The Little Drummer Boy, particularly the version by Josh Groban, because we have that CD in our van. She could listen to that song all. day. long. When another version of it is on the radio (not a CD) and we happen to hear it, she always asks me with surprise, "Where did you get that?" As if I was the one who programmed the song to come out of our speakers at that very moment. I love those five-year-old questions.

Lord, help me to savor these moments, these stages. One day, they will be only memories. And we'll be on to something else. Thank you for my sweet kinder-girl, her toothless grin ... and all the joy she brings to my life. Amen.

In Pieces

This morning, there was a large package on my front porch. My Amazon order had already arrived earlier this week, so I wasn't sure what this particular box could be. Then, I noticed who it was from ...

... It was my Advent wreath! Finally!!

Although I have gotten very used to my simple little wreath and have actually grown quite fond of it, I was excited to introduce our new "Journey to Bethlehem" Advent wreath—with purple and pink tapers—on Gaudete Sunday, and enjoy it for the second half of Advent.

I quickly opened the box to find ...

... an Advent wreath in four pieces!

I didn't know if I should cry or laugh. So. very. unbelievable, I thought to myself!

I packed it back up and will get it ready to return.

Perhaps a formal Advent wreath is not meant to be this year. Perhaps this is a continuation of the lessons God is trying to teach me during this time of waiting, hoping and preparing. I thought that I had learned my little lesson already, but perhaps there is more to it.

I think I'm OK with it all. A little disappointed. But OK.

Our Advent has been so blessed this year, and I have much to be grateful for. Even though this time of year is naturally busy, I feel like it is going a little slower. I am grateful that I still feel like I don't have to do it all (and that's huge for me =) I am enjoying our simple prayers, books, Advent calendar and count-down chain. It is fun to make little bead projects with my preschooler, rather than doing any formal lessons with her this month. It is good to talk with the kids about how to prepare our own manger, the manger of our hearts, for the Baby Jesus. All the good deeds make His bed warm and cozy. All the bickering and complaining isn't very welcoming ... Yes, with or without a formal wreath, our Advent has been good. Not perfect, because it never will be, but oh so good.

With that said, we look forward to a fun weekend ahead of us. We plan on putting up our Christmas tree, and celebrating the feasts of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Lucia. What will you be up to this weekend? Whatever it may be, I pray that it is a blessed and joyful time, as we wait with anticipation for the coming of Our Lord Jesus on Christmas!

Peace to you ...

Snow Day!

The snow started yesterday, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. While driving home from the pediatrician's office, the pure white snow reminded me of Mary. And it just felt like this snow was a little gift from God to remind me of His incredible love, His incredible plan for salvation ...

To commemorate yesterday's solemnity, we had a liturgical tea. It wasn't exactly as I planned it, but no one was the wiser. I found these adorable cupcakes at SuperTarget, and they seemed just right—white and blue—for Our Lady. White hot cocoa was a great companion.

We sang Immaculate Mary together, read the day's Gospel, and talked about what the Immaculate Conception is. My kinder-girl told me that God wanted a perfect mother for His Son. Yes, I thought to myself! (Seeds are being planted =)

This morning, we woke up to school being cancelled for the day. Snow day! Hooray!!

After reading this, I feel a little more lenient in allowing hot chocolate "just because." Snow days seem especially appropriate.

We watched this movie today, too, covered in blankets with me working on some knitting.

Afterward, they wanted to play "Molly," so I was on my own for baking cookies. They, of course, have had no problem helping to eat them! I made them with these dark chocolate and mint morsels. Just the recipe on the back of the package—oh so delicious!!

With two days in a row off of school, I think it will be good to be back into our routine tomorrow (in other words, the squabbling is starting to increase =) But what a lovely little wintery break it was.

The Simple Woman's Daybook—Advent (and Blogiversary) Edition

This picture is a mural on the Visitation Church in Ain Karim on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which commemorates Mary's visit to her cousin Elizabeth and the Magnificat. It was sent to me in an e-mail, and I looked up the origin online ... I love the reminder of how the angels must have been so present to Mary throughout her life, how they are so present to us, too. It also reminds me of her journey to Bethlehem, which we recall this Advent.)

For today ... Monday, Dec. 7, 2009

Outside my window ... in the 20s with partly cloudy skies. The sun is just peaking out enough to cast some lovely natural light into my kitchen. After an unusually warm November, the winter jackets, hats, mittens and scarves are now part of our daily attire.

I am thinking ... about this article. I keep finding little reminders about the kind of Advent my heart is desiring, because I think it is the kind of Advent the Lord is desiring for me (and maybe you?), too.

I also am thinking about how amazing it is that it is my one-year blogiversary! Yay!!

One more thing I'm thinking about: what to get my 7- and 6-year-old daughters for Christmas. They have me stumped this year ... Any suggestions?

I am thankful for ... a blessed Advent, a nice weekend with my family, finally placing the Amazon order I've been working on for a week (LOL!), and finally finding a long corduroy skirt, which I've been searching for all fall!

From the kitchen ... since my oldest has Irish dance tonight, the dinner menu will be quick and easy. I'm also trying to decide on one or two Christmas cookies to bake this year. Perhaps something like Peppermint Bark or truffles, too ... Not too much, though, to maintain simplicity, as well as to maintain my waistline (if it's here, I will eat it!)

I am listening to ... this beautiful new Christmas song. Have you heard it, yet? While running errands Saturday morning, I heard it on the radio. Even though I reached the store to which I was going, I waited in my car until the song was over, because I just thought it is so poignant! (To listen, scroll down on the link, and click on the play button. The song is called How Many Kings. If it doesn't work, try this.) I also have been listening to the Advent playlist I created on iTunes. I will share it with you soon, if you'd like to know what's on it ...

I am reading ... The Christmas Promise, but it's due back to the library on Wednesday, and I can't renew it, since someone else has it on hold. Perhaps I should have added a copy of it to that Amazon order I just placed. Oh well! I've also been reading lots of magazines. I just love those Christmas issues! And I can't forget Destination Bethlehem and other Advent/Christmas books—old favorites and new ones alike.

I am hoping ... to get more prayer time in this week, which means I need to go to bed a bit earlier in order to wake up a bit earlier for that much-needed time with God.

I am creating ... a peaceful and festive home, meaningful times with family, and some hand-knitted Christmas gifts

Around the house ... it's clean, since we had another showing on Friday. Just a quick tidy before women's group tonight ... And I have to keep up with laundry this week!

One of my favorite things ... the richness of our Catholic traditions

A few plans for the rest of the week ...

+ Mass and a liturgical tea for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (no school for my older girls)

+ a few errands

+ doctor check-ups for three of my kids

+ liturgical tea for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

+ put up the Christmas tree

A picture-thought ...

A magnetic board in my kitchen has become the background for an Advent collage of sorts. So far, it includes the word prepare made out of foam stickers, our Advent calendar, our Advent paper chain, a piece of artwork from Good Shepherd, an Advent wreath on which my preschooler is coloring a candle each week, and a holy card of St. Lucy. As we get or make other things this season, I will add them to this board.

For more daybooks, visit here.

The Stockings Were Hung ...

... by the chimney with care,

in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there!

***

On Saturday night, in preparation for today's St. Nicholas Day, we made St. Nicholas Hot Cocoa and hung up all of our stockings by the fireplace. Our family tradition is to fill stockings instead of shoes for St. Nicholas Day ... It's the blending of my and my husband's childhood traditions, and it sort of helps "spread out" the gifts a bit, too. Our children typically receive their new ornament to hang on the Christmas tree, a little candy and a few small gifts (like pencils, holy cards and mini notebooks).

Since this feast day fell on a Sunday this year, it was very hard for the Trio to wait until after Mass to open their stockings, but they practiced their patience very well. While waiting, they enjoyed the hot cocoa, and after the big event, we feasted on some cinnamon rolls. We also read a new-to-us book about St. Nicholas.

***

God of joy and cheer,

we thank you for your servant,

the good bishop Nicholas.

In loving the poor,

he showed us your kindness;

in caring for your children,

he revealed your love.

Make us thoughtful

without need of reward

so that we, too, may be good

followers of Jesus.

Amen.

Pausing to Grasp

Our Holy Father said, Advent "invites us to pause in silence to grasp a presence."

He continued: "It is an invitation to understand that every event of the day is a gesture that God directs to us, sign of the care He has for each one of us. How many times God makes us perceive something of His love! To have, so to speak, an 'interior diary' of this love would be a beautiful and salutary task for our life! Advent invites and stimulates us to contemplate the Lord who is present. Should not the certainty of His presence help us to see the world with different eyes? Should it not help us to see our whole existence as a 'visit,' as a way in which He can come to us and be close to us, in each situation?"

—Pope Benedict XVI, First Vespers, Saturday, November 28, 2009

'Tis a Gift to Be Simple

A rush of gratitude came upon me, as I started realizing the lessons I am already learning this Advent. (And it's only day 4!)

My desire to keep this season simple and peaceful remains the same. But hopefully my heart and mind are finally starting to catch up with this overall goal ... I realized that I have been so focused on keeping Advent free from cluttered busyness, but it was all in the wrong context. Ultimately, I think I was trying to create a perfect atmosphere. And that attempt at perfection always seems to make things more complicated than they need to be.

God knew that the direction I was going was not really the direction He wanted me to be going. And since He knows me better than I know myself, He also knew that deep down I didn't want to be going in this direction either. Not that I was going in the wrong direction, but perhaps I was a little off track =)

So, He gave me a wake-up call in the form of a back-ordered Advent wreath. And I couldn't be more grateful. Now. It has taken me awhile to realize all of this, and there is a piece of me that still wants to hang on, but I am slowly letting go and letting Him direct my (and my family's) Advent.

Last night, I had it on my calendar to go to my parish's reconciliation service. But I knew that even though it would be a good thing to attend, the Lord wanted me home with my family. We read the first chapter of Destination Bethlehem, followed by two new books to us: Gingerbread Friends and An Orange for Frankie. I loved it. It was exactly what I was hoping Advent would be filled with. Time together. New stories. Everyone home more often than not.

For the rest of the night, I turned on some classical piano music, sipped tea, and started some decorating. I didn't put it all up. I don't know if I will yet. But I like how it's shaping up so far.

I had enough time to pray with the Magnificat and the Magnificat Advent Companion this morning with my coffee. It was a good way to start the day.

Tonight was a repeat of last night, continuing two of the three books we started. (The gingerbread book was the only one we actually finished the night before =)

Thank you, all, for your thoughtful comments, encouragement and suggestions. They meant so much to me and helped me a great deal. God bless you for your kindness, and may He continue to draw you closer to Himself this Advent.

Where's My Advent Wreath?

It's on backorder. That's where!

I just found this out minutes ago, and I don't know what to do. I know I was late in ordering it, but I had no idea it was on backorder until I called to inquire. The company has no idea when it will arrive.

So, I have to decide what to do ...

a) Run out and find something else. Tonight! And if I do this, should I go ahead and keep the one I ordered, which is the one I really want?

b) While waiting for it to arrive, try and salvage my old, make-shift Advent wreath with the pillars that don't quite glow anymore. This also includes finding greenery in my yard to decorate it a bit.

c) Wait and not really have a wreath until it arrives, whenever that is.

d) Open to other suggestions.

I am so disappointed that our Advent isn't starting out the way I planned. Maybe it's my fault, though, that I didn't actually execute all the plans and ideas that were floating around in my head on time. I just couldn't get past Thanksgiving. And bam! Now it's Advent, and I feel behind.

Of course I remember that I really don't want Advent to be stressful and filled with lots of activities to make me feel overwhelmed. But I didn't think that included the Advent wreath tradition!

Come, Lord Jesus. And use this as an opportunity for me to grow. Grow in my faith. Grow in simplicity and the ability to let go. Grow closer to You right where I am. Amen.