Thursday, December 6 -- The Feast of St. Nicholas

Saint Nicholas of Myra^[a] (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343),^[3][4][b] also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of the ancient Greek city of Myra in Asia Minor (modern-day Demre, Turkey) during the time of the Roman Empire.^[7] He is revered by many Christians as a saint.^[8] Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker.^[c] Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among the faithful, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus ("Saint Nick") through Sinterklaas.

 
So, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

In the parochial schools here it is a very common practice for the children, on December 6, to put a shoe in hallway and sometime during the day the shoe is filled with goodies. 

This is what it looked like today.

 And then, at home, there was this

What a great way to enjoy that candy cane that was left in the shoe.

 

  

Wednesday, December 5

Today was a quiet, unproductive day.

It was my son's birthday so we kept Granddaughter #3 so he and my daughter in law could have the afternoon out.

Then we picked up the Bean, had some dinner and I am now bushed. 

I have to say I am having a wonderful Advent -- having done the shopping and decorating early, I am able to just enjoy the lights on the houses, the music in the stores and the television program.  Unfortunately, I am also enjoying a little too much candy as well. 

I took a break from making Christmas cards and made my son a birthday car and here it is--

Tuesday, December 4

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

This is one of my favorite hymns during Advent.  It is a bit haunting and a bit sad.  The emotions of Advent sort of run the gamut -- there is excitement in the anticipation of the birth of the baby Jesus and there is sadness knowing that Lent is just a few months away.  Of course, we all know the ending is a happy one but there is joy and sorrow all along the way.  

The quiet time of Advent gives us time to reflect on the season, what is to come and what it all means to us.  It is a bit overwhelming, in a way.

But, Advent doesn't have to be all quiet and thoughtful.  There can be fun times as well.  And a bit of silliness.  

Here is a good example of that silliness.

ok, a little dark but there IS an antler there

Randolph the red nosed Subaru

 my own reincar housed in my reincar stable

 !

I had promised the Bean a couple of years ago that I would transform our car into some seasonal creature -- if I could find the pieces.  Well, much to my husband's chagrin, I found the pieces so here we are.  We are a big hit in the school pick up line!

Monday, December 3

The weather is turning colder this week.  It is beginning to feel more winter-like.  The weather reporter even said something that sounded vaguely like "snow" but doubtful for us.

We had our first Advent Sunday supper last night and all was well.  Bean read the scripture and I was so proud of her, she only hesitated on two words.  She wasn't a fan of the candle though, for the first time she seemed leery of the fire.  I tried to find LED candles but somehow that doesn't seem right and all the reviews on the ones on the internet were not good.

We opened the advent calendar that Mary sent and enjoyed that and she opened the little advent calendar with drawers filled with candy.

It was a good evening except for one thing.

I got word yesterday afternoon that my younger cousin passed away the night before.  It wasn't unexpected and considering her plight, it was probably a blessing but it was still hard to get my head around it.  I hadn't seen her or spoken to her in years -- we drifted apart as so often happens after kids grow up and move on with their lives.  However, I still feel a loss.

Penny, me and Diana

RIP Penny Gail -- you will be missed.

First Sunday in Advent -- December 2

Today is the first Sunday in Advent.  We have a tradition in this house that there is the lighting of the candle(s), followed by a simple meal and reading of Bible scripture.

We also start opening our advent calendar that my friend Mary sends us.  She is so special and so thoughtful -- I just love that she does this every year.

All the decor is done, the shopping is finished, the meal is planned, the scripture set out.  I am excited.

The first candle is purple -- it is the candle of Hope to remind us that Jesus is coming.

The scripture we will read is Romans 15: 12-13.

The church will be beautifully decked out this morning and the message will be clear.  The message of hope. 

I just love advent.

Advent

Advent -- The arrival of a notable person, thing or event.

For Christians today is the beginning of the Advent season -- the 24 days before Christmas.  It is a quiet time, a time of hopeful anticipation.

When a person says "advent" the mental picture that comes to my mind is a night scene, a big, dark sky with lots of stars, a shepherd with his sheep -- it is quiet but there is a feeling in the air that "something" is going to happen.

I love the quiet reflection of the time, I love the feeling of growing anticipation and I love the feeling of gratitude that comes with knowing how blessed I am all because of that little baby in that hay.

Advent -- lighting the candles, building the creche, being thoughtful about how the birth of a little baby has such enormous impact on the whole world.

I love everything about it.

Bye Bye November!

Well, I missed October completely and now November is gone.  How can this be?  I simply don't know where the time is going. 

This week has flown by as I had a dentist appointment to finish my root canal re-do on Tuesday. 

I had little Emily on Wednesday for the day.  It was fun but she was so sleepy! She went with us to get Caroline from school but her Mom and Dad arrived at the school to pick her up so she didn't get to visit with Caroline.  Well, another time.

Yesterday I did a bunch of cleaning and getting packages off the porch.  I really hate that I can't go into stores (except Target) and find what I am looking for but it is so frustrating that I just succumbed to online shopping and it has all arrived and I am actually relieved.  I am taking a new approach to life -- it is called "don't make things harder than they have to be". 

I am joining Karen of Pom Pom Ponderings in a challenge to post everyday starting tomorrow.  It is in celebration of Advent.  I love Advent.  My favorite time of the year.  I love the quietness of the season, the time of reflection and gratitude.  I don't know what all I will have to say everyday for a whole month but we will see. 

Today -- well, let's see.  I am not sure what today holds yet.  I do know there is a Girl Scout meeting this evening and it is Friday! Hopefully it will be a good meeting and we can plan for our Christmas party coming up soon.

So, on that note, I am going to bid adieu to November by continuing to clean today, hopefully go buy some wrapping paper for gifts, maybe head to Target -- oh, I am so optimistic -- my knees need to loosen up before all that activity! Haha!

See you tomorrow!

Card Making

I have been making greeting cards lately and have been enjoying the process although the area around my table looks like a complete disaster.  No photos to document, however. 

I have been doing Christmas cards but had the occasion to make a birthday card for my daughter in law.  I am never going to be so skilled, or have enough supplies, to create these gorgeous, over the top cards I see on the internet but that is ok because part of my desire to make my own cards is to keep them simple.  I have a problem with commercial cards because they have too many words.  I often buy blank cards  for that very reason.

So, I broke from my Christmas card creating to do this --

I made the envelope to match and then learned that it is against post office rules to use heavily printed envelopes.  It was fortunate then that I saw the recipient in person and could just hand it to her.

I was pleased with the way it turned out.  I have been buying paper packs at Tuesday Morning and love how they all coordinate.  Makes it much easier.  Next up, along with the holiday cards, is my son's birthday.  I will have to go through my packs and see what I have that is masculine.  Or silly.  Silly usually works!

So, that is my latest creation.  I can't show the Christmas cards yet because they are going to a few people who visit here and that wouldn't be fun.

Tis the Season and All That Jazz

I always loved the Christmas season. I grew up in the South but our weather was always seasonal enough that we could enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas appropriately.

Then, I grew up and had children and suddenly Christmas became really stressful. Why?  I don't know.  I think there was always so much to do that I became overwhelmed easily.  That happens to me a lot.  But, instead of dialing back and repacing myself I forged ahead and suffered a huge burnout.

Then there were the years with sick and failing parents.  There were years that they were either sickly or hospitalized or not with us anymore and I would be lying if I said that didn't impact our holidays.  We were a small family and when things started happening, huge holes were left -- we didn't have a ton of brothers and sisters and kids to fill the void.  And the void just got bigger and I didn't care anymore.

Grandchildren came along and that helped but there were issues there as well and sometimes the holidays weren't nearly as much fun as I had hoped.

Last year we moved to a new house, promptly got the flu and bam, Christmas was on top of us and I was done.  I didn't even send cards.  I had a really bad case of the bah-humbugs.  I was actually glad when it was over and I could just sit down and try to get well -- that little bout of flu, while not severe, seemed to hang on a long time.

Fast forward to this year.  After last year I decided to rethink the whole thing and re-evaluate my expectations.  I think I have come to terms with decorating and shopping and over-doing.  I have two children, two in-law children and four grandchildren.  They are all difficult to buy for.  For a long time I gave my son and son in law socks as a gag gift.  That's how bad it is.  The girls are picky.  That's ok.  The children -- well, I don't like to compete with parents and Santa.  So, I just decided, without apology, that I am gifting them with money.  Problem solved.  Do I feel bad about it?  Absolutely not.  The kids are all big enough to want to shop and maybe they don't want to shop right then, maybe they will want something later.  Maybe they will hate it but for me, it works.

My decorating is done and the gifts are decided.  Food will be what the food always is so I feel, for the first time in a LONG time that I have a handle on it.

So, I went grocery shopping today.  It isn't my favorite chore (I don't have a favorite chore-- they are all chores).  But, I realized that I was singing to the music (Jingle Bell Rock) and I was looking at all the things that my mother used to buy (cordial cherries, specifically) and I felt like it was 1965 again, I was in HEB and I was in my happy place.  It was major deja vu and I felt so good and free and happy.  It was like the Christmas's of my youth.  I can still feel it.

So, if I get all down again, I guess all I have to do is go to the grocery store!

Have I Ever Told You About Autumn Joy?

We all have things happen in our lives that are unexplainable.  We all have things happen to us that get our attention and that we revisit in our thoughts trying to figure it out.

I recently had a similar "thing" happen to me.

My husband and I were at the neighborhood office supply store.  I am a bit mobility challenged these days -- more some days that others -- and this particular day I was sporting my cane.  I have a love/hate relationship with that thing but that is another post.

My husband was checking out and since I had been standing as much as I thought I could I excused myself and said I would meet him at the car.  As I approached the exit I sensed a person behind me. I glanced behind me and it was a rather tall, nicely dressed lady.  I apologized for being in the way and slow and she struck up a conversation.

We chatted about getting "old" which she clearly wasn't -- I would say early 40's but it was hard to tell, maybe younger.  It was a nice chat as she walked along with me to my car.  I assumed she was getting in the car next to mine as she walked with me all the way to the car.

As I turned to open my door and get in the car, she asked if she could pray for my knees.  It was then that I looked at her, REALLY looked at her.  She was tall, slender, dark complected with short hair.  She had a beautiful face and really beautiful eyes.  I am not one to look people in the eye, really, especially people I don't know but I couldn't help myself, her eyes were really pretty.

So, anyway, she asked if she could pray for my knees and I said sure, I could use all the help that I could get and she asked me my name.  I told her Melissa and she said "ok, Miss Melissa, I will pray for you".  I asked her her name and she looked at me, with the enthusiasm of a little child and said, with a big grin and a look of joy-- "my name is Autumn Joy".  I guess I can imagine somebody naming a child Autumn Joy -- not different than naming December babies things like Merry Carol and Noel.  However, it seemed almost contrived--like she just thought it up.

I thanked her and we parted ways -- I fully expected her to get in the car next to me but she didn't.  She turned around and walked back into the store.  It was then that it occurred to me that she didn't have a handbag, a name tag, any sort of identification linking her to the store.  It was just her. 

I wasn't afraid of her, I felt quite at peace talking to her, I didn't feel that the situation was odd until after it was over and I thought about it.

Who was this  person?  What was she doing?  Where did she come from?  I will probably never know -- I haven't been back to the store so I don't know if she is an employee there or not.  I have no clue.

So, thoughts?

Saturday 9

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Black Magic Woman

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: Black Magic Woman (1970)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune: Hear it here.

 

1) Black is this week's signature color because Friday, November 23, was "Black Friday," when retailers cut their prices and consumers flock to the stores. Did you score any "Black Friday" bargains?

No, I don't "do" black Friday.  I did go to Hobby Lobby to get antlers and a reindeer nose for my car but they were out.  So, I bought a box to store my paper cutting dies in and I had a 40% off coupon.

 

 

2) On busy shopping days,  carts often litter parking lots. After loading your items into your car, are you careful to return your shopping cart to the store or the designated cart receptacle?

 

We routinely park next to the cart return place so we always put it back.

3) Who on your gift list is hardest to buy for?

 

Everybody --that is why we give the gift that fits all tastes and sizes and almost everybody likes green.

4) Feasting and football are also popular Thanksgiving weekend pastimes. Do your Thursday-Sunday plans include enjoying leftovers or watching a game?

 

No leftovers this year because we ate away from home but football -always.  Big Texas A&M fans, here, Gig 'em, Aggies! Whoop!

5) Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is an annual event. It began in 1924 as a local event in New York. Today it's nationally televised. Did you watch it?

 

For the first time in my life I sat down and watched the whole thing through.
 
6) What did you give thanks for on Thanksgiving 2018?

 

My health, my family, their health, the weather, just life in general -- it is a blessing.

7) At the first Thanksgiving, there were no forks. Pilgrims ate with spoons and knives, and forks didn't become popular until the 18th century. Think about your Thanksgiving place setting. Did you have both a salad and a dinner fork?   

 

no

8) Pies are a popular Thanksgiving dessert. What kind of pie did you enjoy? Or did you have ice cream? Or did you skip dessert?

Pumpkin pie
 
9) This week's featured band, Santana, was named for its founder, Carlos Santana. He was born in Mexico. When at a Mexican restaurant, what do you usually order?

Last  night at Baha I had chicken tinga street tacos.  At our usual place, Mi Cocula, I have been getting a plate called La Condesa -- it is chicken with spinach and mushrooms in a creme sauce.  Very nice.

 

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!"