It is the first week of Advent, and the beginning of a new year in the Church. I am hoping to participate more in the liturgical year this year and share some of the rich traditions of the Church with the girls (as well as foster my own spiritual growth). So we are starting with the basics – an Advent wreath (which is still in the attic but will hopefully be ready for the 2nd Sunday of Advent) and a little cradle that can be filled with cotton balls to make Jesus’ manger cozy by doing acts of charity. These are things I did as a child and I have fond memories of them. My mom even gave me her Advent wreath & the cradle to get us started. And to help us count down the days, we have an Advent calendar that my mother-in-law sent us hanging on the front door.
We also plan to celebrate St. Nicholas’ Day Dec. 6th by combining one of JR’s childhood traditions (St. Nick gifts) with mine (stockings). So we will get something sweet in our stockings Saturday and read a story we have about the meaning of the candy cane. Because St. Nicholas’ Day is also Olivia’s birthday, we will head to Sea World for a day of fun in the sun after that. They have a special Christmas themed celebration this month. We will attend Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception Dec. 8th (a Holy Day of Obligation), and maybe do something simple like wear blue in honor of Mary. And one more feast we couldn’t miss out on is Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12th. We plan to take something festive to our bilingual playgroup (roses, maybe?) and feast on Mexican food for dinner. I have a book that tells the story of Juan Diego & La Virgen de Guadalupe that i brought back from Uruguay, but it is too advanced for the girls this year so I guess we’ll just look at the pictures.
We will have our little family Christmas on Gaudete Sunday (the pink and 3rd Sunday of Advent) so that we can celebrate together before we head to NE to be with our extended families. It is really a blessing that we get to see almost all our loved ones every Christmas and we always look forward to our annual visit. The girls are getting a wooden kitchen to share with a few cooking essentials – but don’t tell! By happy coincidence, our community Trail of Lights opens the night of our little family Christmas, so we will finish off our happy day that way. I will be curious to see what the weather brings. Last year we were all bundled up and the girls got awfully cold, but the year before we were in shorts & t-shirts!
Oh, and in the spirit of the new year, I’ve made a few resolutions already. One is to participate more in the liturgical year which I hope to share with y’all here as times goes by. And I’ve gotten out of some of my good prayer habits in recent years so I want to re-establish that foundation by making the time to pray everyday, even if it is brief and simple. Finally, I am hoping to put more emphasis on getting enough sleep and being active, which I think will go a long way to improving my disposition. So today I started attending a fitness class at JR’s gym at National Instruments – it was at 6:15AM!! And now that it is 10:30PM, I will respect my new bedtime and sign off – sweet dreams!
What are your plans for Advent, Christmas and beyond?
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