Advent, with photos

Advent has come and gone, and here it is Christmas, beautiful, holy Christmas.

But I want to pause and recall this Advent. Nothing glamorous or earth-shattering took place, but lots of learning, mostly by me by my two Tiny Teachers in the school of patience and surrender.

I love them so much.


Crowning Our Lord at Christ the King (not technically Advent, but getting us prepared for the upcoming season)


Crayons (sans wrapper) on a warmed plate -- watch them melt and swirl
A delightfully satisfying activity, even for the grown-ups! 
(And surprisingly easy clean-up;
just wash with warm soapy water!)


      Making wreaths
(How cute is he when he says 'wreath-ses' as the plural form? My little Gollum!)



Sweet Noah's Nativity scene. 
Our Lady in blue, St. Joseph with a beard, Baby Jesus in the manger with a crown




 Snuggling little little Isaiah in the hospital; 
Thank You, Merciful Father, for his quick recovery


 A phone call from his beloved Nana and his bandaged IV-ed hand.

 Chores Noah did during Advent, for loose change, which we put (rather, are putting) aside for chicks for a family in a developing country.

 Decorating the Jesse tree on the first Sunday of Advent


Gingerbread baking extravaganza on St. Nicholas Day 


A blurry action shot of two excited boys checking out what's in their boots on St. Nicholas Day 


 Decorating with cut boughs and candles




Utterly unrelated to Advent: I took a shot of my feet one day while Patrick and the kids were reading after dinner, because "that's what bloggers do, right?" and then realized three days later I was yet again wearing a jersey knit maxi skirt and mary-janes. Do you see why I don't take part in What I Wore on Sunday? (cough, homeschooling mom stereotypes, cough)



 The kids playing musical chairs;
Isaiah looks darling in my tam


 It is impossible to get a photo where one child isn't blurring up the picture with lots (and lots and lots) of movement. 
I love to see them playing together!

 We hosted a "Thank You, Nana" surprise party the last day of Noah's library preschool program. 
She has driven 40 minutes each way every week to babysit our little Isaiah, 
so I could take Noah to preschool. 
I wish I could do more to thank this amazingly generous woman.

St. Lucy Day

I wasn't crazy enough to put a wreath of lit candles on my head and wasn't crafty enough to make one out of felt, sweat and tears so I popped our Advent wreath on a silver serving tray.

Also, I don't own a white dress except for my wedding dress, so that's what I wore. Imagine how surprised Patrick and the children were to see me prancing around first thing in the morning with muffins on a tray and my wedding gown. You know, no bigs.

Furthermore, my wedding dress was being stored in my parents basement, so imagine the weird looks they gave me when I told them I needed it back by the 12th. (I had to explain why; I just couldn't bear having them try to to guess!)



The kids built a barn out of old diaper boxes that I had collapsed for recycling, conveniently right in front of the fridge. This happened three days before Christmas and made me laugh a little to think of all the gifts they were going to be given very soon from family -- cardboard still rules.


Oh yes and the love of my life turned 27. What a wonderful day to honour him with yet another tragically ugly cake. 
"At least it tastes good" should be cross-stitched on a pillow in my home; it is my mantra.


Now Christmas! Time to exhale after much busy-ness, and revel in the different kind of busy-ness that is Christmas. We prepare our home today to host one priest and two staff from Madonna House and then a few days later two friends from university days. Visiting, hosting, dining, and lots of basking. 

Perfect.

Comments

  1. ElenaDecember 26, 2012 at 8:19 PM

    I love the picture of you in the wedding dress. You look like someone out of Lord of the Rings (I mean a beautiful someone not a strange creature!). You really do look great in that photo and you must be pretty chuffed to be able to don your wedding attire after two babies. The shoe picture cracked me up as it is a blogger thing, isn't it? I took a photo of my shoe once but it just looked like an accident. And, I can fully commiserate with the cake baking except that mine don't always taste that great. You will be so happy that you took the time to document this Advent and it will be something that you return to again and again.
    p.s. I give your parents 5 years before they move to Ontario...

    ReplyDelete
  2. JacDecember 27, 2012 at 11:23 AM

    Wow, you really knocked it out of the park this Advent! I must remember to NOT show my kids this post... Can't have them getting any grand expectations for next year. We didn't even get our Jesse Tree ornaments painted this year. :P

    I second Elena's comment about fitting in your wedding dress. I'm half tempted to pull mine out and try it on, but 12 weeks pregnant mightn't be the best time.

    I love seeing pictures of your boys - MY nephews. Please post more and more, even if you don't have time to write a brilliant post to go with them. I just need my Craine Boy Cuteness fix from time to time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. sorchaDecember 28, 2012 at 12:51 AM

    I love this post. I just read it for the third time. Why can't your little family be my next door neighbours?

    ReplyDelete

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