Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Still In Christmas Mode

December 29, 2015

And we will be until January 6. Yes, we are those crazy traditional people who keep the 12 Days of Christmas. There is something really special about keeping Advent the time of preparation and slowly adding all the other things in as we approach the great feast day itself. We decided to get our tree on the fourth Sunday of Advent this year and I think that was a good call. It was a week before Christmas so the excitement was grand and I was ready to start preparing more intensely by then.

Christmas Morning was lovely. The last two years the gifts have been very intimate to my thinking. A real true family Christmas that only we could share in.

Now we’re just relaxing and enjoying the warm glow of the Christmas season. Eating treats, playing and talking together, and napping on a cold wintry afternoon that wasn’t good for much else. Soon enough the two out of town boys will pack up and head to their own homes. School will begin again and the whirl of ordinary time – spiritually and secularly – will begin again after Epiphany.

So I will enjoy these days for the coziness and warmth they bring while we have them. Time goes by fast enough – we need to enjoy the time we have now and not worry about what’s going to happen (for we don’t really know anyway do we) and not dwell on mistakes of the past which can make us sad and hopeless. No, let’s dwell in the present as much as we can and enjoy the season of Christmas.

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Christmas Throwback

December 17, 2015

There are many Christmases that stick in my mind as being memorable, but the one Christmas when I was 9 was one of the best.

That Christmas all I wanted was the Dawn Beauty Pageant – it was to me what the Daisy BB Gun was to Ralph Parker. I wished and hoped so hard that I would get it. The commercials on tv probably helped fuel that desire.

On Christmas morning, my brothers and I were up at the crack of dawn and around 6:30 we snuck out to the tree to see what Santa had left. And THERE IT WAS! All set up and ready to play with – that beloved Dawn Beauty Pageant!! I screamed my head off in excitement and I think my mom wanted to wring my head off for waking her up after probably only a few hours of sleep. Hehe – sorry Mom.

I played and played with that pageant all day long. I even received extra dolls and doll clothes as well. It was glorious! A few months later when we left for London, England (my dad was transferred), it went with me. It was one of my favorite gifts and toys I’d ever received. Just thinking of it makes me cry for two reasons: 1) my child’s wish came true and 2) I miss my dad so much at this time of year. He loved Christmas and was always so joyful it was hard not to catch his enthusiasm. He even decorated the tree putting his Santa ornament on at the very top as always.

So, today, I’m remembering that Christmas and also remembering my dad. Love you and miss you.

P.S. Sorry – you’ll have to google Dawn Beauty Pageant to see pictures of it. I was hoping to find some stock picture to add here, but I couldn’t.

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Advent Music Monday

December 7, 2015

That’s right – Advent – we’re not to Christmas Season yet. The Christmas season begins at Midnight at the juncture of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. If you do Advent you know that yesterday was the second Sunday and the second candle on the wreath has now been lit.

Let’s start the season off with O Come O Come Emmanuel because it is THE Advent hymn. It is like a prayer as well – a prayer uttered by the Israelites as they waited for the Messiah to come. It is a prayer uttered by Christians today as we wait for the Second Coming of Christ. And somehow, this year, maybe we’re praying it a little more deeply given the goings on of late.

O Come O Come Emmanuel was prayed as the O Antiphons in monasteries and convents with a Latin text as early as the 12th century. Whoever wrote it goes unnamed. A couple hundred years later the melody as we know it was added and in 1851 John Mason Neale translated the words from Latin to English.

The O Antiphons start December 17 and go through December 23. Each day we reflect on a different name of the Savior and also the patriarchs of the past – kind of like a mini geneaology if you will. So only one verse is sung and we add another each day. These also coincide with the fourth Sunday of Advent – the last week of preparation before Christmas when the excitement and anticipation of Christmas abounds.

The words here are the traditional ones I’ve always known, and the hymn is richer to me now than it ever was. Sing and pray with me now.

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.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,
An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall;
All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

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» 2015 » December » Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Still In Christmas Mode

December 29, 2015

Christmas Throwback

December 17, 2015

Advent Music Monday

December 7, 2015

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