the countdown begins...

Today, in Atrium, I reviewed the Liturgical Calendar with the youngest children. Several boys were quite taken with this new puzzle. As I reflected on the things of the past year, I felt grateful and helpless. It seems that so much goes by in a year without my being able to take it all in. I try to sit and wonder about things, but there is also just the business of life that takes over. This church year has been a good one. The children have grown in their understanding of so much. And we have begun to integrate even more of our spiritual life into the whole of our family.

I want this Advent to be a prepared one. One in which we really sit at the manger with Mary and "wait" for Jesus to be born. The decorations have begun to be flung all around town, but we will wait. I will have daddy pull out our nativity scene...I wonder if I can get Jesus off of it until Christmas Eve? He is nailed down I think.... How will we prepare?

Soon we will listen to Advent music, not Christmas music. I'm on the search this week for local purchases of Advent music.
Our Christmas shopping is nearly finished. I have a few things to wrap and that will be completed this week. Besides my daily psalter, I'd like to encourage the children to take up something special for these four weeks. I'm pondering some kind of little Lent penances papers...or perhaps something even more creative that they can come up with. The children have asked if I could put together a senses oriented school room like we did before. We will also do the Jesse Tree again and perhaps I can finish the O Antiphons House...Much to do this week.