Tomorrow we light our fourth candle. We have been blessed this advent to have most evenings at home, so I feel like we have been able savor our time together. We are missing our daughter (Erin, 18yo) most nights as she is very busy and often at school. I am hoping that we can have her join us more frequently during this final stretch of advent.
Tonight, Saturday, is the first night of the "O" Antiphons.
We are enjoying learning about this lovely tradition.
All four candles will be lit tomorrow!
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe was
Monday. Is there anyone who does not absolutely love this day? So sweet. While I thought I might be done adding to our picture book collection, this one, added for this special day, arrived this week:
It's a pop up book! I just love it. I guess I bought it more for me than the kids.
We were also blessed to have a priest say mass especially for our little homeschool group. It was wonderful! Father sat down and talked to all the children about this special day and gifted each of them with a little book about their faith. James was also seriously excited as Father let him serve at mass (the age at this church is 10+).
At home, we enjoyed some Mexican Wedding Cakes as a treat in honor of this feast day.
To top the day off, hubby and kiddos went to Bethlehem. Yes, just down the street from us is a live nativity that is just awe inspiring. An amazing act of generosity is in each night of this performance. We have gone in years past (these pictures are from a few years ago), and it is always incredibly moving.
It's hard to tell in this picture, but that is an angel at the top of the building
announcing the birth of our savior to the shepherds.
Tuesday was, of course, another special day-
St. Lucia's Feast Day. Having no girl to wake everyone in the morning with special treats (well, I have one, but she would have not been happy to wake up early when she did not have to be to school until 1!), we don't have the traditional morning that some do. We did, however, endeavor (still not quite done) to
put up Christmas lights on our house. I had thought we would go look at lights in honor of this special day, but I think this was a good trade-off. We might have created a new tradition.
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| Can you see Paul up there? |
Wednesday was a
big day of preparation. As this is our only whole day home that I can see in the near future, I wanted to get as much
cleaning caught up on as possible. At one point I told the boys that they were complaining just like Big Anthony in
Merry Christmas, Strega Nona. Their response was was- "yah! why can't you just use your magic to get this done!". :) Well, if I had some, I'd probably have used it.
An early Christmas present arrived at my house this afternoon. It is a bit big for our little dwelling, but I love it! I have wanted a table to set up for the special feast days and seasonal displays.
Isn't it pretty?!
My husband's customer just happened to be giving it away! Since moving our bookshelf to another room, we have no surface to set our advent candles and Jesse tree on. Each night they get shuffled back and forth from kitchen counter to table and back. Now they have a home. :)
Thursday was ortho appointment day. There is nothing that makes my son grouchier than having wires tightened, but his mouth really truly needed help!
We also managed to
continue our advent purging and cleaning. It feels so good. Although... at the end of the day, just when I was ready to give myself a good pat on the back, someone (who shall remain nameless for the sake of this blog) tracked dog doo through the WHOLE HOUSE!!! Sigh. The upside is that hubby wiped down the entire kitchen floor while I spot cleaned the rest of the mess on the carpet. Grrrrrr. :)
Friday held a sweet morning of
babysitting my 4 week old grandson and having Spanish class. In the afternoon, I took my 13 yo clothes shopping. What do you do when what your 13yo wants most for Christmas is clothes? I cannot pick them out myself. Size and style would be impossible to guess. We had a great time, found some pretty good deals, and Paul is happy with our finds. I just hope he is happy on Christmas morning when he knows (mostly) what he is getting.
I am also holding tight to my cleaning and purging theme- some time is spent each day working on this. Today (
Saturday) was general cleaning and some clothes drawer purging.
Now for my
advent faux pas (I figure this is a violation of accepted norms!)-
So this is how it happened- for his birthday, Marky got tickets to go see his favorite football team play. All of his brother-in-laws, his dad, his brother (Paul), and a good family friend are going. Way back when is September (when tickets were given), Mark asked if he could get a mo-hawk for the occasion. Being the super fantastic mom that I am (insert wink), I said sure- do whatever you want in your hair! Then he got it done. I had an appointment for him to get it shaved even on Monday, the day after the game. I am thinking there is nothing that is going to make this even. I am going to have Christmas pictures with this!!! (insert capital letters and bold type!!) I am half laughing and half crying.
God bless you on this final week of advent!
*On my daughter's camera, I have pictures of James serving mass that I hope to get and add.
