Advent Greetings

Hi there,

I've thought of this space again and again. Life races on and I just try to keep up (or slow down many times). We are here and well. Much of our time has been spent preparing for guests in our home and then entertaining those guests. We are trying our best to keep up on our lessons. Math and reading stories are the main focus this month.

Advent is here. We just enjoyed our third Sunday of Advent yesterday. Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means "rejoice" in Latin. Advent is meant to be more a solemn time of waiting and thoughtful preparation of our hearts for the coming of Jesus. So we have had very minimal decorations for the season. Since yesterday was Gaudete Sunday, a time of joyful anticipation of Christmas, we began to dig out more decorations for our home. We set up the tree and put on the lights. We placed a few Advent-themed ornaments on our tree as well as violet ribbon. Christmas Eve we will fully decorate the tree.

December 6th we opened gifts found in the kids' stockings in honor of the generosity of Saint Nicholas of Myra. December 9th we hosted our "Liturgical Cafe" in honor of Saint Juan Diego of Mexico. I didn't get pictures but we had a lovely afternoon reading the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, enjoying a themed snack, and doing some crafts. This last Saturday, the 12th, we enjoyed a wonderful evening with our parish family celebrating God's grace through the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The evening was mostly hosted by the Mexican families of our parish. It was so festive and alive! Yesterday we celebrated the martyr and saint of light, Lucy (or Lucia) in the Swedish tradition. Lucy is actually an Italian saint but the Swedes have a strong affinity for this saint for reasons that you can Google. :)

I know some of you may be uncomfortable with the strong flavor of Catholic Christianity in our lives. I wish I had the time to really unfold the historicity and authenticity of these feast days in the church. Alas, I cannot. Breakfast duty calls. But I do hope my loved ones can begin to understand that the great saints and heroes of the faith, including Mary herself, are not in any way a detraction from centrality of Jesus Christ. Jesus is King. For me, celebrating these heroes of the faith is a celebration of the tremendous grace of Christ across the globe, in history, and in each and every life that is willing and open to his love.

May the peace of Christ be with you all.

We've been reading daily picture books again this year. The kids put up a small picture pertaining to
each story on individual calendars. We've read so many great books. Old ones and new ones. Here are two favorites. 

This year's Advent "wreath."

I'm not sure why they chose to wear boots. We don't have a lick of snow. Lots and lots of rain!!