Saturday, November 28, 2009

My Christmas Advent Lights are Up!

     It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That’s right, it’s Christmas Advent! I am proud to say I am the first person to get his Christmas Advent lights up in my neighborhood. A light snowfall last night here in the mountains really put me in the Christmas Advent spirit! I was humming Away in a Manger O Come, O Come, Emmanuel all afternoon while I worked. Especially with the new LED lights that use so little energy, I like to think of it as my little Christmas Advent gift to the neighborhood.

8 comments:

  1. Rick, I was walking my neighborhood last night and shaking my head at the eager beavers who have their Christmas, sorry Advent, decorations already on display. You are one of those people who make me feel guilty about being late with my Christmas, sorry Advent, decorations every year. ;-)

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  2. I love the stars, too! Twinkling just like your Christmas --ooops, Advent lights!

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  3.      Actually, Grandmère, there's a hint of defiance about it. Putting up lights on our house used to be a family tradition, but I hadn't been able to bring myself to do it for a couple years after my dad passed away. Late in the season last year, I finally was able to break through and put them up. This year, even with a new loss in my personal life, I am purposefully and defiantly choosing joy and light. It's not easy, but that's Advent. We wait in anticipation of joy just around the corner.

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  4. In our house Advent has always been bigger than Christmas. The Nativity comes out - when the girls were little we would move the figures a little bit closer to the crib each year, the girls had drawn various pictures of wood that made the backdrop, there are new animals joining each year - last year it was a buzzy bee.
    More lights lit every Sunday, the tree doesn't arrive until the 23rd December, is furtively decorated during the night and explodes in a final burst of light after "baby Jesus" has brought it together with the presents in the evening of Christmas Eve.

    Happy Advent everyone!

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  5.      I still do the Nativity set tradition with Mary & Joseph traveling down the hall, the three kings behind them, and baby Jesus put in the manger only after midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

         I was once asked, "Where do you keep baby Jesus until Christmas Eve?"

         Without missing a beat, I replied, "In the liquor cabinet, like all good Episcopalians." In my old house, it was simply the cabinet where I kept cooking sherry and maybe a bottle of wine, and it was high enough so little hands couldn't get to it. Now, of course, Jesus in the liquor cabinet until Christmas Eve is a funny tradition in my house.

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  6. I have a number of Nativities which I plan on putting out this week. I also keep my baby Jesus(es) in the liquor cabinet. I inherited a wonderfully carved Chinese bar from my mom and it has the right-sized drawers for such a special task.

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  7.      See?! I knew it was a sign of being a proper Anglican!

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