Friday, December 14

On the 14th day of Advent -- there is a Girl Scout Christmas party.  Our troop grew from 7 to 17 this year so this was no quiet little affair.  It was big and noisy and messy and these girls are so much fun.  With that I will share the photos of the evening.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the food which was abundant.

Our fearless leader -- pumped and ready for the shindig

The Bean Tree

Tasteful decor

Surprise gifts from our fearless leader

A quiet moment for two of our Brownies before the festivities begin

An unexpected, but welcome, guest

the gift table

The pottery projects from the trip to the pottery studio

A short meeting

bad lightening but more of the short meeting

lining up for food--and there was so much of it. 

chow line

Tuppy, our resident Elf, decided to show up for the event

Such a good group of little girls -- it is a privilege to be able to work with them

 

And here is our fearless leader after the fact

 After the food and the gift exchange the girls had voted to decorate cookies and watch a movie.  They were all pretty droopy by 8:30 but I think it was a good time for all.

Thursday, December 13

Today is the 13th day of Advent and I spent it helping get the Girl Scout Christmas party situated.  The party is tomorrow.

Our weather was supposed to be very dire and dismal today -- torrential rain, a chance of wintry mix and 50 mph winds.  We were instructed to take down all the Christmas decorations and batten down the hatches.

So far I have seen about 20 drops of rain, the wind blew about 15 minutes and there is no snow in sight. 

That is ok with me.

I haven't done any holiday baking yet but am giving some thought to those Welsh cookies.  I sort of miss those days of baking for the kids but nobody wants to eat all of that sort of stuff anymore so I just don't do much of it.  We will see, I might get around to it.

So, today was a nice, quiet day.  Thinking about all these little girls we are going to be partying with tomorrow -- they are sweet things and I will post some photos.  It should be a good time.

Wednesday, December 12

Today is the 12th day of Advent.  It is supposed to be a nice day that will usher in a cold front bringing us a lot of wind, apparently, and the chance for snow.

They are treating the roads.  That is a good thing because we have lots of roads here and they are all dangerous even when it is dry.  I am praying the weather folks are incorrect.

I am using a little book called "Jesus Calls" for my devotions right now.  I learned of this book after seeing daily screenshots of it on facebook, posted by a friend of a cousin.  They are very relatable devotions and I enjoy reading them.  I have the book on my kindle but I am thinking of buying the physical book -- and there are several more in the collection.

Today's devotion works into this week of faith.  "This is why you must live by faith, not by sight, trusting in My mysterious, majestic Presence."  "We live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7.  The message today starts "I am taking care of you."  How warm and comforting is that? When I read that I felt as if I was being wrapped in a big, minky blanket.  It goes on to say "Feel the warmth and security of being enveloped in my loving Presence.  Every detail of your life is under My control.  Moreover, everything fits into a pattern for good, to those who love me and are called according to My design and purpose."  Wow.

If you can acquire one of these books, either a physical book or an electronic book, it is a great start to the day.

Because I have changed my approach to Christmas this year I have a lot more time to enjoy some of the programming.  Last night I watched the Darci Lynn special.  Remember she was the little puppeteer from America's Got Talent.  She is only about 13 years old but she has a voice that, in my opinion, rivals other young singers like Brenda Lee.  The show was enjoyable and I loved hearing her sing "Mary Did You Know".

I can't find a clip of her so I will just include this --


 

Tuesday, December 11

Today is the 11th day of Advent and I will say it has been a challenging one.

I had a dental appointment for a minor procedure -- took 10 minutes.  But, I woke up with a sore throat.   After a couple of cups of warm tea it went away but I don't really have time to get sick.

I  my read my devotion and decided to get ready for my 10 a.m. appointment.  For some reason I decided to check the appointment time and I was a couple of hours too early.  That is when things started getting strange.

We went to the dentist and to lunch at our favorite restaurant.  Then we stopped by our other house to pick up our mail and we stopped at the cemetery to leave flowers on my parents grave.  We got home just in time to pick up the Bean.

It was then that I realized I had gone through the whole day thinking it was Wednesday.  Don't you hate it when that happens?

I wish I hadn't realized it because it threw me completely off.

And then there is the threat of snow.  In keeping with our theme of Faith this week -- I have faith that our weather man is wrong-- he usually is.  No snow -- please, no snow.

Monday, December 10

Today is the 10th day of Advent.  It is flying by which makes me sad because I am really having a good Advent.

What makes this Advent any different that any other?  I believe attitude.  Things are different for me this year and I am not sure why but my priorities are changing and I am taking a good, long look at my habits and seeing where some changes need to be made and I am making a plan to change them.  I am not looking long term, though, I am looking one day at a time.

The first thing that I have changed this year is shopping.  I decided that my gift giving would not require me to enter a mall, buy wrapping paper or find the scotch tape.  That decision has made me infinitely happy.

My husband and I do something a little different for each other and we have done this for a couple of years.  I buy what I want and he buys what he wants -- with a limit, of course -- and then we open each others gifts.  Silly?  Yep.  But it is fun and we usually buy online so we don't wrap, we just stick a bow on the shipping box.

I have multiple health "issues" -- they sort of all build on each other -- it is like skipping a rock across water and the ripple effect that occurs.   None of these issues are life threatening yet but could be when I get old.  Hahahahaha -- she laughs maniacally.

So, I was reviewing how I spend my time.  The majority of the time I am sitting with my computer on my lap.  I complain I have no time for exercise or devotions.  I am my own worst enemy.  So, I decided to make a mental list of the things I want to do that I feel like I don't have time for and this is what I did.

I let my computer battery die.

??? you say?  Well,when I get up I make a cup of tea and then plug the dead computer.  It takes a while for it to recharge so I take that time to read my devotional and start my day in prayer.

The devotional I am using is called "Jesus Calling".  It is a collection of dated, daily devotional readings.  I need to do more but this is a start.

The next issue is exercise.  My knees are bad which is in turn making my ankles bad.  I need to exercise.  I have a little peddler that I sit in a chair and "ride" so I after I got up this morning and read my devotion I limped upstairs to ride the "bike".  I am not even thinking about tomorrow, I accomplished it today and that was the goal.  Living one day at a time -- I understand it is a good thing to do.

I am reading a book by a favorite author, Jennifer Chiaverini, titled "Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker".  I am not enjoying it.  It is a lot of military history and I am finding that boring.  I won't give up on the book, it will be the last of my challenge for the year, I think.  I might manage to squeeze in another offering in the Made In Savannah series -- the new book #11 but they are easy reads.  I am also reading a book recommended by my granddaughter.  It is part of the I Survived series and is titled "I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967".  Yes, it is for ages 9-12 but I don't mind telling you it is well written and more than a little scary.  Not something I would have picked up at age 8.

A few months ago I tried "keto" with my daughter and managed to eliminate sweets from my diet.  I have a huge sugar craving -- maybe not a true addiction -- but a definite preference.  I decided to introduce a few cookies back into my day and bam! will power gone and the sugar taking control again.  I need to work on that so starting today I am fighting the urge to grab a handful of Hershey kisses as I walk by the kitchen.  Again, one day at a time.  See if I can get through today.  I bet I can!

Ok, my allotted computer time is up, my second cuppa is gone and now I am off to the kitchen to deal with dinner early.  That is another bear I need to wrestle -- food prep.  Let's see what I can come up with today!

Have a wonderful day!

Sunday, December 9

Today was the second Sunday in Advent.  It was a good day, the sun came out and everybody felt pretty good.

Here are a couple of pics of our Advent set up.

our wreath and our devotional book

closer picture of the book

building our creche -- I think we are a little out of order

For our devotion we use the Advent series of the Little Gospels.  It is part of three collections of devotions used by the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.  It is just a lovely little series.

Today's candle represented faith.  We talked about Mary and the Angel coming to visit to announce that she was going to have a baby.  We sort of decided that Mary must have had the most faith of anybody in the world -- I mean, think about it -- you wake up and there is an angel in your room -- one you can see -- and talk to and you are told you are going to have a baby that is going to be the most important person ever --- and you are 14 years old, well,  she must have had faith beyond measure.

It was a good day.

Saturday, December 8

Today is the 8th day of Advent.  It was a rainy cold day here in the Fort.  I ventured out for a little while but after about an hour I was ready to get home.

I got a little bit accomplished -- planned my dinner for tomorrow, wrapped some packages, went grocery shopping and watched some John Lennon videos on YouTube.

It is hard to believe it has been 38 years since he was killed.  He was just a year older than my daughter is right now and three  years younger than my son.  Time is so strange. 

Today was my cousin's burial.  I didn't go but I was there in spirit.  It is sad and what a gloomy day for the event. 

Tomorrow is the second Sunday in Advent.  I love lighting those candles. 

It is time to call it a day.  Have a good night and I will see you tomorrow.

Friday, December 7

It's the 7th day of Advent and what did the day hold?

One sick kid with a very runny nose

One dishwasher full of broken glass

One painful wrist -- am I having a stroke? No time for that

And a dismal, dreary, rainy, icky day.

Have a wonderful evening! I am having tea and a Christmas movie -- and some aspirin.

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!