Welcome Fall with Michaelmas!

 

  

Sun dappling through leaves beginning to thin.

Honey-scent of fresh, ripe apples.

Thin mist sitting low in valleys.

Early morning chill on your cheeks and bare toes.

Speckling of leaves with shades of rusty orange and ruby.

Some of the reasons fall is my favorite season of the year.

Autumn arrived according to science on the autumnal equinox - Sept 22nd.  It arrives traditionally this Tuesday, September 29th, on the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, also known as Michaelmas.  Being a lover of "traditions" (the older the better), I do so love this feast day, especially!

Michaelmas has wonderful old traditions in many European countries.  Englad has a very rich history of traditions for the Feast of Saint Michael.  The link between the Celtic cultures of France and England is particularly fascinating.  Did you know both have churches of St Michael...both on mounts?  The famous Mont St. Michel in Normandy, France and the less well-known Saint Michael's Mount in Cornwall, England. 

As much as I'd like to be perfectly traditional and keep my celebration and decorating for the actual feast day, that isn't realistic for my family. (Perfection is the enemy of the good, remember?) Instead, I've found moving some of these celebrations to the nearest weekend allows us to enjoy them in a more relaxed manner. 

The beginning of our fall happened this weekend with decorations on the front porch and a feast of Pumpkin Chili and a batch of Blackberry-Orange Sangria.  Both these recipes were so good - and quite easy!  The pumpkin in the chili added a depth of flavor, without being "pumpkin-y".  I did omit the brown sugar in that recipe.  And the Blackberry-Orange Sangria could be cut in half (it makes nearly a GALLON) unless you are expecting a real crowd.  And, I think the next time I make it, I'll add some cinnamon sticks....maybe even some cloves.  

I plan to print out a pretty coloring page like this one or a simpler one like this for younger kids to enjoy on Michaelmas. 

Visit my Pinterest board with other ideas for Michaelmas.
  

Blessings of the season to you!

Music for Advent - 2016

Advent Season: Music for Advent

Well, the Christmas music has started on the local radio stations.  Since they'll stop playing it on December 26th (only the 2nd day of Christmas, y'all - not to be too much of a curmudgeon about it), we will enjoy it while it is around.

But I also like to play some Advent music, too!  Hard to find on the local radio stations, but if you do a search on Youtube for Advent music playlists, you'll find some.

Here's one I put together:

The day ahead and some feast days

Feast day of St John Cassian 
(about whom I am pretty ignorant)

And today is Leap Year!  Happy Birthday to all you Leap Year babies!  So, does poor John Cassian only get remembered every 4 years?

The day ahead should be a busy one.  Artemisia has her CC meeting today, but the boys are on Spring Break.  There is a large box that needs to be shipped to a homeschool friends in Canada.  I am meeting a young man about potentially teaching my Advanced Math seminar in next year's Challenge 3 class.  Then there is a baby shower and wedding to get ready for this weekend...and my Lively Literary reading group is meeting this Friday to discuss Euripides' The Bacchae, which I need to finish reading.  And Dear Neighbor and her family are coming over this Friday!  We are SO excited ... it has been far too long since we saw them.

And then there is the laundry.  I have, literally, piles of clean (at least it is CLEAN) laundry in my room waiting to be put away.  This is my Achilles heel.  Why is it so hard? I can wash it, dry it, and even fold it...but putting it away eludes me.

The flag of St. David of Wales

Did you know that tomorrow is St. David's Feast Day?  Well, it is!  We are having Welsh Rarebit for dinner (I've no idea if this is a truly Welsh dish or not, but it is the best I can do!)...and I am going to find some daffodils to put on the table.  Apparently, leeks are his personal symbol, so a leek soup might be good, too.






Any other ideas for celebrating St. David's day?

Nativity Carnival: Keeping Christmas -- Jan 3rd

Welcome to the Nativity Carnival: Keeping Christmas

Each week, Advent through Epiphany, a new "Mr Linky" will be posted for you to share your Nativity Season-related ideas and thoughts from your blog.  (Just copy the link to your post and paste it into the Mr Linky box below.) 

Also, please add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!


Today we are back to school.  Oh, it is so hard to get started...and I really hate that we must instead of enjoying the rest of our Christmas.  However, classes resume tomorrow and there is work that must be finished beforehand.

While I haven't removed any decorations, and I continue to keep the tree lit all day, it is time to start packing up some of the unneeded Christmas items....like the wrapping paper...and the Advent items (wreath, book, etc).  Packing up is not my favorite thing to do.   I'm not good at wrapping things up.

We started a big garage clean out project this weekend.  I really wanted it done, but it was one of those things that I just couldn't quite bring myself to start.  Erik looked at my Sunday afternoon and said, "Ok, let's get started."  And of course, once we began the work was easy and we've made great progress.  Took a load to a friend (Anglican priest) who accepts donations for garage sales (he keeps the proceeds to supplement their income).  Another load went to a consignment shop.  Hopefully, we'll get a little bit of money from that to help *our* income.

That is how our New Year started - and it seemed a good and fitting way to start a new year: cleaning out and giving away.

Friday is Epiphany!  We are going to celebrate Twelfth Night with a King Cake and our church's Epiphany Pageant on Friday.  Artemisia and Kalliope will be the cutest angels in the whole angel choir.  Am I biased?  Maybe.  Either that night or the next morning we'll do a house blessing (search my blog for a short service you can do with your family) and probably finish off the king cake.

So, how did your new year start?  And how are you continuing to celebrate Christmas despite school and work resuming?

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Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent -- Dec 28th

Welcome to the Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent

Each week, Advent through Epiphany, a new "Mr Linky" will be posted for you to share your Nativity Season-related ideas and thoughts from your blog.  (Just copy the link to your post and paste it into the Mr Linky box below.) 

Also, please add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!


We have been thoroughly enjoying a very relaxing Christmas season.  We've slept in, eaten plenty of leftovers, and enjoyed some games and movies.  There were a few traditions we've done without this year: some due to time, some to expenses, but regardless, the first four days of Christmas have been all that we needed.

I will admit one pang of guilt... we did not attend Christmas worship.  We'd so intended to!  However, some family commitments kept us long out of the house on Christmas Eve and by the time dinner was fixed, eaten and cleared, I was fairly wiped out and still looking at gifts to wrap and stockings to fill.  It makes me sad to say it, but I felt great relief when we made the family decision not to attend the midnight service.  As it was we were up until 1am.  (How thankful I am that my children are late sleepers, even on Christmas morning!  We were able to sleep until after 8.)

A blogging friend (whose blog has recently had a bit of attention after a long season of quiet...much understood quiet, but I've missed her!) sent a message out on Christmas Eve that I found so encouraging....it didn't assuage my guilt when I realized we were not going to attend worship, but as the season has rolled on, I've felt the graciousness of the words. . .

Kathleen Norris writes these lines for Christmas Eve and  I'd share it with my dear mother-friends who might be just as busy or more than me this Christmas Eve and tempted to disgruntled thoughts! She writes, 

"How is it possible to bridge the gap between our sorry reality and the glad, grateful recognition of the Incarnation as the mainstay of our faith? We might begin by acknowledging that if we have neglected the spiritual call of Advent for yet another year, and have allowed ourselves to become thoroughly frazzled by December 24, all is not lost. We are, in fact, in very good shape for Christmas.

It is precisely because we are weary, and poor in spirit, that God can touch us with hope. This is not an easy truth. It means that we accept our common lot, and take up our share of the cross. It means that we do not gloss over the evils we confront every day, both within ourselves and without. Our sacrifices may be great. But as the martyred archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero, once said, it is only the poor and hungry, those who know they need someone on their behalf, who can celebrate Christmas."

I was truly poor in spirit and failing in strength that evening.  And while I didn't make it to a worship service that night (and due to the juggling required for sharing facilities we did not have worship on Christmas day) . . .  I feel we have celebrated Christmas as a wonderful feast:  a feast of much needed togetherness.  But I do look forward to worship this weekend!

How have you been celebrating this Christmas season?  And what are your plans for the rest of the 12 days...how about Epiphany?

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 A Very Merry Christmas  ...

 ... from the Potter's Shed Gang ...

... with prayers for a prosperous, healthy 

and joy-filled 2012 ...

 ... and many years to come!

Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent -- Dec 18th

Welcome to the Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent

Each week, Advent through Epiphany, a new "Mr Linky" will be posted for you to share your Nativity Season-related ideas and thoughts from your blog.  (Just copy the link to your post and paste it into the Mr Linky box below.)  NOTE: next week's link will probably posted on Tuesday.

Also, please add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

My kitchen arrangement (hides the dishes in the sink) all decked out for
Advent (purple and silver additions).  I have Christmas additions ready to be added.

Christmas is only a week away!  I finally have all my gifts purchased, the house is modestly decorated, and I have purchased the ham for Christmas dinner, but that is about IT!

Faramir expressing his feelings about the frozen food section of Wal-Mart.
His face mirrors my feelings!

The tree is still sitting in three pieces waiting to be assembled, and I am PRAYING that all the lights work, because the entire metro area is completely OUT of lights.  Unless you want pink.  Or blue.

Our Saint Nicholas collection on the family room mantle.

Haven't done cards or even the photo to put on the cards...I'm afraid I'm going to have to do an "e-card" this year.  Which would be a step up from last year, but sadly won't be able to go to the many friends for whom we only have mailing addresses.  I keep tell myself that I do have until Jan 5th to get cards delivered, right?!?!

Found this cute little lantern for $5 at Lowe's.  Added the bow and jingle bells, then
stuffed the Christmas lights inside the lantern, too.   Sadly, no fresh pine garland here.

I still have friends' gifts to deliver (Fig Jam made from our fig tree), grocery shopping to do, and gifts to wrap.  And that doesn't include the fun stuff I want to do (go see lights, etc) or the cleaning we need to do for company.

Fresh pine garland - smells so good! We hung sweet little white lights in the garland
to begin with.  But 1/3 of the strand was out!  These were the ONLY white lights I could find.
They aren't wonderful, but they work!

But more importantly, my heart doesn't feel very prepared for Christmas which will be here regardless of my readiness, won't it?

The kitchen mantle: My crochet garland with traditional Swedish straw ornaments.
 I made one of these in white last year and love the way it looks on the tree. 

What was it the narrator of the "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" says?

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” 

And by all means it does.  Lord, help me live into that meaning this year!

If you are reading in a feed reader, please click through to the blog for the Mr. Linky posts! 

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So that others might enjoy the carnival, don't forget to add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

Nativity Carnival : Keeping Advent -- Dec 13th

Welcome to the Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent

Each Sunday, Advent through Epiphany, a new "Mr Linky" will be posted for you to share your Nativity Season-related ideas and thoughts from your blog.  (Just copy the link to your post and paste it into the Mr Linky box below.)

Also, please add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

 Feast of Saint Lucy Daybook

outside my window . . . robin's egg blue sky, with wisps of pink, but not from my window.  I'm actually sitting in a small local coffee shop.

listening to . . . Christmas music, a quiet conversation from a couple sitting nearby, rustling of paper from behind the counter.

wearing . . . dark tan sweater with bright red top under, brown "swishy" skirt, bright red knee socks and ankle boots.

so grateful for . . . my husband's much needed vacation!  He's not had one all year (he traveled with us to Arkansas, but worked each day while we played), and he's been working VERY LONG hours for quite a few months.

reading . . . Winter Pascha by Fr Thomas Hopko

thinking . . . about how behind I am on Christmas preparations this year.  My house is still half decorated (we can't find the rest of our lights!), I had to be out this morning (taking Athos to driver's ed), so no St. Lucia delivery by the girls, a good bit of shopping left to do, and still haven't even taken a photo for our Christmas card.

creating . . . made Artemisia a hat (crochet) and now working on a matching one for Kalliope.

around the house . . . the upstairs sitting area has most of our Christmas decorations laying about waiting to find their home.  I do have a lovely Saint Nicholas mantle and the Julbock has found his home on the half wall between the dining room and the family room.  I've got the nativity on the mantle and made a pretty crochet garland to hang the Swedish straw ornaments on (at the mantle).

from the kitchen . . . Maybe Saint Lucy's Saffron Bread today, or at least this week sometime.

real education in our home . . . I'm counting driver's ed as school.  The kid spends 6 hours in class for 5 days this week.  He's learning...that's school, right?

rhythm and beauty in our home . . . regardless of how behind I am, the Christmas decorations I have out do make the house look so lovely.  I just love it!

one of my favorite things . . . crochet garland - so easy, and they have a sweet old-fashionedness to them that I love.

recent milestones . . . Athos started DRIVER'S ED this week.  I am very conflicted about this, of course.  :)

the week ahead . . . bible study Christmas party last night (with awesome opera singers, decorating contests and good food), making Saint Lucy bread today, another Christmas party tomorrow, a special lunch celebration Thursday, and a trip to a historic plantation for their Christmas event on Saturday.

picture thoughts . . . (coming soon) - I needed to get this post up and haven't downloaded photos, yet.  :)

If you are reading in a feed reader, please click through to the blog for the Mr. Linky posts! 

For those submitting links: So that others might enjoy the carnival, don't forget to add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent -- Dec 4th

Welcome to the Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent

Each Sunday, Advent through Epiphany, a new "Mr Linky" will be posted for you to share your Nativity Season-related ideas and thoughts from your blog.  (Just copy the link to your post and paste it into the Mr Linky box below.)

Also, please add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

(My computer is dead and with it my pictures and plans for this post - just a power cord issue.  So, I'm stuck begging time on my son's computer.  I hope you don't mind a post of links!)


Artemisia said to me yesterday, "I wonder if the animals understood what was going on when Jesus was born in the stable."  What a sweet thought to contemplate.   What do you think?

While you think about that...how about some Advent music? 




Did you read about our Saint Nicholas feast yesterday?  Next week, the 13th, is Saint Lucia Day (and this one).  We'll be celebrating that, too.  Maybe both girls will get to deliver early morning goodies to their brothers and dad this year!

What are you doing to observe Advent this week?


If you are reading in a feed reader, please click through to the blog for the Mr. Linky posts! 

For those submitting links: So that others might enjoy the carnival, don't forget to add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

Virtual Advent Tour - Saint Nicholas

Welcome, Virtual Advent Tourists! 

What is your first memory of Santa Claus?  Was it in the mall at a "Santa's Workshop"?  Was it in a book or a movie?  Was it setting out cookies or digging through your stocking on Christmas morning?  I'm not sure what my earliest memory of Santa is, but my most clear one is the year Santa actually stopped in for a visit on Christmas Eve.

I must have been around 4 years old...maybe 5 or maybe 3.  I just remember being at a neighbor's home enjoying Christmas Even festivities when the adults began to make a big commotion about something.

"Did you hear that?"
"What could that be?"
"Oh, there's someone on the roof!"
"Could that be Santa Claus?"

Just as it began to dawn on me what they were saying, in the front door walks this huge man in a red outfit...Santa Claus!  I remember feeling a little apprehensive, but after some coaxing I approached him and shared with him what I hoped to get on Christmas.  I have no idea what I asked for!  (Mom, do you remember?)  The magic of the moment melted over me slowly.  It is one of the crystalline childhood memories...something you are certain you'll never forget.

After I had kids, we continued the Santa tradition, but adapted it a bit for our family.  We hoped to take a little bit of the "Santa" hype off of Christmas morning by celebrating Saint Nicholas' Day on December 6th.  This is not a custom that either my husband or I grew up with, but our kids have really come to enjoy it.


So what is our Saint Nicholas celebration like?


Following an old European custom we set out shoes on the night of December 5th to be filled with small gifts by the good Saint during the night.  In the morning, we enjoy a special feast day breakfast (the menu varies, but we ALWAYS have hot cocoa with a candy cane in it).  During the day, the kids and I often make gingerbread cookies.  This is the day the first of our real Christmas decorations come out (before that we ONLY have the Advent wreath and a few other Advent items): a small collection of "Santas" displayed together on our mantle.  Christmas "blooms" in our home with little bits of decorations coming out during the Advent season.

As we've grown into this "new" tradition, we've discovered that getting one or two smallish gifts early in the season really has helped relieve a bit of the "wait" for Christmas.   We also enjoy that by celebrating Saint Nicholas rather than just Santa Claus, we get to celebrate a REAL person's life.  And, most importantly, it provides a little separation between Santa and CHRISTmas.  It isn't Santamas, after all!


Would you like to celebrate Saint Nicholas or just learn more?


Saint Nicholas Day is coming up this week on Tuesday, December 6th.  It doesn't take much to start a new tradition...just do a little research and then gather up your family's shoes (and a few small items to tuck inside them)!


Here are some resources:
:-: The Saint Nicholas Center has a huge website with online stories, book recommendations, crafts, and a catalog.

:-: There are some lovely children's books about Saint Nicholas.  My favorites are:  Saint Nicholas by Ann Tompert and Santa's Favorite Story by Hisako Aoki.

Happy Saint Nicholas Day to you!

  If you enjoy what you read here, poke around my blog a little bit and you'll find lots of other posts about Advent from the past few years: 

Church Year Page

(Advent is up currently, I plan to add more during

this upcoming year.  You'll find links to several Advent

Carnivals from past years.)

Nativity Carnival 2011 

(note this one began a couple of weeks ago 

and will run through Epiphany, January 6th.)

Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent -- Nov 27th

Welcome to the Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent

Each Sunday, Advent through Epiphany, a new "Mr Linky" will be posted for you to share your Nativity Season-related ideas and thoughts from your blog.  (Just copy the link to your post and paste it into the Mr Linky box below.)

Also, please add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

The first Sunday of Advent, and a new liturgical year, is here!  It came in gray and slightly cool at our home...with a batch of cinnamon rolls to coax the kids from their beds and get them out the door in a pleasant mood.  It is always so hard to get up this first Sunday of Advent after the busy-ness of Thanksgiving.  And we only did a little Black Friday shopping!  (Hubby and I went to a few stores looking at rugs and curtains for our kitchen which desperately needs some noise absorbing textiles.  Didn't buy anything, but probably will this week.)

We said good-bye to our Thanksgiving company: my mom, step-dad, and grandmother on Saturday morning.  There were movies and playdates in the afternoon - and very tired kids last night.

This is the first Advent in a long time when we are not about to or have just recently gone through a major life change: in 2008 it was pending adoption travel, in 2009 it was a newly adopted baby, in 2010 a new home (and the flu)...and now...nothing.  Baby has been home for nearly 3 years...and we've been in our new home for a little over a year.  Wow - normalcy....will we know what to do with it?

If it is any indication, I actually have my Advent box emptied, the wreath assembled and some of my Advent books ready to be used as needed.   So, that bodes well!  You'd think someone who has lots of great ideas to share would be totally ready for Advent, right?   ** sigh **

I have managed to put together a menu plan.  Do you menu plan in advance?   I find it REALLY helpful!  Otherwise I wind up wandering around in my pantry, or worse the grocery store, trying to think of SOMETHING to have for dinner.  The trick, I think, is not being married to the menu plan, just dating it.  LOL!  Seriously, though, I just use it as a helpful tool...not at all written in stone.  You'll notice that I plan breakfast and lunches, too.  Since we are home all week together, I plan these meals for the kids.  Hubby and I tend to eat leftovers for our lunches rather than the "kid" food.

So, today, my contribution to the Nativity Carnival is my Menu plan for the Nativity Season.  If there are any recipes that you'd like me to share, just leave a comment!

If you are reading in a feed reader, please click through to the blog for the Mr. Linky posts!

For those submitting links: So that others might enjoy the carnival, don't forget to add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent -- Nov 20th

Welcome to the Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent

Each Sunday, Advent through Epiphany, a new "Mr Linky" will be posted for you to share your Nativity Season-related ideas and thoughts from your blog.  (Just copy the link to your post and paste it into the Mr Linky box below.)

Also, please add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

Christ the King Sunday, November 20th, 2011

Yesterday was Christ the King Sunday, also known as "Stir Up Sunday".

While I don't have any plans to make a Christmas Pudding, I thought perhaps a recipe that requires some good stirring, but could be made well ahead of Christmas might be in order.  So, I'd like to share with you a recipe for Spiced Pumpkin Bread.  I found this on Food.com, so I can take NO credit for it.  This also freezes up beautifully...and that is one thing I love to do this time of year, make easy sweet breads that can be frozen and then brought back out whenever we have company or I need to take a treat to share to a party, etc.  This would also make a nice baked good gift.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2 loaves.

3 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
3 lg eggs
1 can or pumpkin (16 oz)
3 c all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 c coarsely chopped nuts (recipe recommended walnuts, I've used pecans.  But I've also omitted these altogether.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour 2 9x5x3 loaf pans.  Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. (I didn't pull out my mixer for this, just used a spoon to mix energetically.)  Mix in eggs and pumpkin.  Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and baking powder into another large bowl.  Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions.  Mix in nuts, if desired.  Divide batter equally between two prepared pans. Bake until knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Transfer pans to racks and cool 10 minutes.  Using a knife, gently release bread from side of pan.  Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.


Some feast days coming up in the next couple of weeks:

:-: Saint Clement's feast (November 23rd) - stock up and feast on clementine oranges!  (I wonder if that is why they got this name?  Anyone know?)  He's also the patron saint of blacksmiths and metal workers.  It is the day before Thanksgiving, so I'll be polishing silver.

:-: Saint Andrew's feast (November 30th) - Andrew is a patron of many localities and countries (Scotland, Greece, diocese of Constantinople, Germany), so you have your pick of foods to choose from.  Since we have Scottish roots, we'll probably have something from this tradition.  Might also make some felt "thistles" to pin to our lapels.

:-: And Saint Nicholas Day is only 2 weeks away (Dec 6th)!  Will you be celebrating?  This is a special feast day in our home!


***And finally, I want to point you to a lovely and simple Jesse Tree resource.  I love that these readings are only enough for us to have to do a few nights a week to keep up.  With four children, there was always someone going somewhere...or something coming up that kept us from staying caught up with other Jesse Tree readings.***

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For those submitting links: So that others might enjoy the carnival, don't forget to add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent -- Nov 13th

Welcome to the Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent

Each Sunday, Advent through Epiphany, a new "Mr Linky" will be posted for you to share your Nativity Season-related ideas and thoughts from your blog.  (Just copy the link to your post and paste it into the Mr Linky box below.)

Also, please add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

Oh, my have I been grouchy this week.  Every day it seems I notice more and more Christmas decorations going up in grocery stores, department stores, and neighborhoods.  All I can think is, "We've still got eleven days before Thanksgiving, people!"  And in my book, even THAT is too early.  But two weeks before Christmas?  And some stores have been setting out holiday displays for nearly a month now!  It is hard to take.

Our Advent wreath from last year.  Very simple.  Glass taper holders on a cake stand with clear
and purple flat marbles and greenery.

However, did you know that some Christians are just about to begin their preparations for Christmas?  No?  Neither did I until recently.  But these Christians do it right...they actually FAST during Advent.  Imagine that...while the rest of the world "parties on" (with excesses of food, decorations, and activities), these Christians quietly prepare to receive the Incarnation, the Christ Child.  Who are these Christians?  The Eastern Orthodox.  Their Nativity Fast begins on Tuesday, November 15th.  Depending on the church (Greek, Russian, Antiochian, etc) some will fast very strictly (no meat, animal products, or oil) and others allow some animal products to varying degrees.  And even with these restrictions, practices vary based on personal abilities. (You Orthodox out there, please correct me if I get any of this wrong.)

Those of us in the west, particularly we Protestants, could learn a valuable lesson here.  I am finding more and more the truth in the vacuum theory.  Nature abhors a vacuum...and this is true in human nature as well.  When we remove something (fasting before feasting, in this case), our natural tendency is to fill it with something else and of course that would be more feasting!  Protestants (especially American Protestants), in their zeal to "de-Catholicize" their faith, have removed from their practices so many of the traditions of the Church that these vacuums are then filled with junk from the secular culture.  

Kalliope in the very dim light of our Advent devotions. 

God established His Church.  He led the Church Fathers to build a carefully balanced annual cycle of fasting and feasting, and we, in our modern attempts to "correct" those who've gone before, now have a very out-of-balance faith.  It makes you wonder how that has affected us spiritually. 

Advent offers us a chance to regain some of that balance.  I plan to take the time this year to prepare my heart and my home for the Christ Child.  How about you?

If you are reading in a feed reader, please click through to the blog for the Mr. Linky posts!

For those submitting links: So that others might enjoy the carnival, don't forget to add a link on your post back to this page, thanks!

Shrove Tuesday 2011

Welcome to Shrove Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras!  

We have a big, festive church pot luck tonight so who knows what we'll be enjoying for dinner....but it will be good!  We are getting ready for Lent in our home by spending some time the past few days discussing what we'll fast from for Lent.  Hubby and I both have some other Lenten plans.  For me just some focused reading and additional prayer time.

Here are some links to help you along this Lent:

:-: Starting off Lent with a Good Confession.  A great guide to self-examination (with or without a priest or spiritual mentor).  This makes for a good Ash Wednesday meditation or something to work on through out Lent.

:-: Reading through Lent with the Church Fathers - this is what I'll be reading through this Lent.  (Updated to add: Jessica has asked for anyone interested in reading through Dante's "Purgatory" for Lent.  I may ditch the Church Fathers, saving those for Easter or Pentecost - wouldn't that be appropriate, and join her in this.  I've been trying to read it on my own for a while now and got derailed with our move.  In addition there is a blog devoted entirely to this exact pursuit: Daily Dante.  They are looking for some lady bloggers to join them.  I'm a little intimidated to officially join them, but I will be reading and maybe commenting.)

:-: Family Fasting in Lent

:-: Focus, Spirit, Discipline: A Lenten Series

:-: Lots of great reading from the 2008 Anglican Lenten carnival: An Anglican Family Lent

:-: Jessica also has a link post up for Lent.  You can always count on great links from her!

:-: and one of my new favorite blogs, Like Mother, Like Daughter has a truly wonderful and encouraging post up for those of us , especially those with many children, needing some simple and gentle Lent guidance.  Lenten Preparations.


I pray you each have a blessed Shrove Tuesday and entry into Lent tomorrow on Ash Wednesday.

Welcome 2011!

In it came whether rung in wildly with gaiety and glee or welcomed quietly with gentleness and joy.  However you saw it come in, aren't you glad it is here?  Of course we should welcome everyday with a sense of newness and excitement, but a new year feels so clean, so unused, and, well, so new!

At our house, we'll clean the house a bit (I'm sure the kids will be over-joyed) and then make a trip to IKEA Charlotte to look at lighting and enjoy a Swedish Meatball lunch.  Then we'll come home to a dinner with black-eyed peas (cooked simply with Ro-Tel tomatoes and some bacon) and dessert of bread pudding - see the bottom of this post for the recipe.   It is a simple celebration for our family - in keeping with yesterday's post.

My planner is just about all prepared for the new year.   Fresh calendar pages (in Franklin Covey's pretty "Blooms").  New tabs (Avery has printable ones, if these aren't new, they are new to me!).  And some page protectors for frequently used pages.


Today is also the Feast of the Holy Name.  Being the 8th day after Jesus' birth, this is the day on which he'd have been circumcised and officially named - a great day of celebration for his mother and father.  Now, if you are on top of things, you might consider making initial-shaped cookies for your family (IHS for Jesus and your kids' initials).


Old-fashioned Bread Pudding from Southern Living, Nov 2001

1 16 oz day old French bread loaf, cubed
2 12 oz cans of evaporated milk
1 c water
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
1 large apple (Red Delicious recommended), grated
1 c raisins
1 1/2 c sugar
5 T vanilla extract
1/4 c butter, cut up and softened
and a batch of Bourbon Sauce (see below)

Combine first 3 ingredients; stir in eggs, blending well. Stir in pineapple and next 4 ingredients.  Stir in butter, blending well.  Pour mixture into a greased 13X9 inch baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 35- 45 minutes or until set.  Serve with Bourbon Sauce.

Bourbon Sauce
3 T butter
1 T all-purpose flour
1/2 c sugar
1 c whipping cream
2 T bourbon
1 T vanilla extract
1 tsp nutmeg

Melt butter in a small saucepan; whisk in flour, and cool 5 minutes.  Stir in sugar and whipping cream; cook 3 minutes.  Stir in bourbon, vanilla, nutmeg and simmer 5 minutes.


Happy New Year!

A limping celebration

The Twelve days of Christmas are here - in fact today is the 6th day, if you are keeping track - and my hopes for a full celebration are lying sick in bed coughing and sputtering like the rest of the family, yours truly included.  Yeah, this year, it's not happening.

A couple of weeks before Christmas I heard an announcer on a local Christian radio station proclaim about Christmas, "Well, in two weeks it is all over."  What?!?!  The driver in the car behind me must have worried as my van made a sudden veer toward and correction away from the roadside ditch.  Can you you hear me muttering, "It isn't all over - it has JUST BEGUN!"

What's the big deal you ask?  Am I just being a liturgical snob?  Well, maybe, but I sure hope not.  I really do think it matters.

When we celebrate the church year, we learn through story, image, and repetition not only the stories of our heritage, but the truths of our faith.  Take Advent, for example.  We keep Advent and we are reminded of preparing our hearts for the arrival of the King, Jesus.  Not only the remembrance of his first arrival, but the reminder of his future arrival - the Second Coming.  We are reminded to prepare our hearts like the wise virgins prepared their lamps.

But when He comes that second time, is that it?  Is it "all over" like the radio announcer thinks?  Of course not...it has just begun!  Keeping a full Christmas reminds us of this truth.  It won't end with the return of Christ, it will BEGIN.

Perhaps you've heard of the Advent Conspiracy campaign?   An even more important and counter-cultural campaign would be a Christmas Conspiracy.  Instead of celebrating for one day, we'd blow the world away by celebrating a full 12-Day Christmas season!  Can you imagine it:  Keeping a real preparatory Advent and then letting Christmas burst forth on the 25th...and burn bright for 12 whole days of delight and merriment!  Sharing our tables and homes with all those we can.  Give gifts from the heart to those we love and those we don't even know.  Serving our families and communities.   A celebration conspiracy!

Oh, I could get really carried away in the romance of that idea.

But this year our little Christmas is limping along.  The tree is still up.  And we are burning the Christmas lights all over the house each night.  It is still Christmas in our hearts at least.

And maybe that the most important thing of all.

The First Day of Christmas - 2010

On the first day of Christmas, we awoke to the soft, closeness of a snow-blanketed forest.  A delightful little Christmas gift, no? 

It is now nearly 3 in the afternoon and the snow has mostly stopped.  The road is visible and some snow is melting, but it is still so lovely and bright outside.  I'm tucked under a cozy comforter sipping chocolate-cherry hot cocoa (I'll share the recipe!) and nursing a flu.  Yes, the same one the boys had earlier.  Our dear little "E" (8 year old daughter) is also ill.  So, we will enjoy just looking at the snow.  The boys have been out, but only for a bit.

Not quite the way we expected the day after Christmas to be spent, but a quiet, lazy snowed-in day is nice.

How are my other east-coaster friends doing?  I think there are some of you who have quite a bit of snow on the ground.   White Christmas blessings to you all!

Merry Christmas!

Have a very merry Christmas today!  

Before the paling of the stars,

Before the winter morn,

Before the earliest cockcrow

Jesus Christ was born:

Born in a stable,

Cradled in a manger,

In the world His Hands had made

Born a Stranger.

Priest and King lay fast asleep

In Jerusalem,

Young and old lay fast asleep

In crowded Bethlehem:

Saint and Angel, Ox and Ass,

Kept a watch together,

Before the Christmas daybreak

In the winter weather.

Jesus on His Mother's breast

In the stable cold,

Spotless Lamb of God was He,

Shepherd of the Fold:

Let us kneel with Mary Maid,

With Joseph bent and hoary,

With Saint and Angel, Ox and Ass,

To hail the King of Glory.

C. Rosetti

26 August 1859

Christmas Eve 2010

May your Christmas Eve be filled with lovely delights and the warmth of family and friends. 

CHRISTMAS hath darkness

Brighter than the blazing noon,

Christmas hath a chillness

Warmer than the heat of June,

Christmas hath a beauty

Lovelier than the world can show:

For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,

Birds that sing and bells that ring;

Heaven hath answering music

For all Angels soon to sing:

Earth, put on your whitest

Bridal robe of spotless snow:

For Christmas bringeth Jesus,

Brought for us so low.

C. Rosetti