I completed the table runner, and here is an impressionistic photo of it, rather wet and wrinkly from being washed.
It is the first day of Advent. You will be lighting a purple candle and singing “O Come O Come Emmanuel”. If you are observing Advent, that is. If you click on the link, you will find the most important advent hymn in English and in Latin. People have been singing this in Latin for nine centuries, but I mostly only hear it in the English translation of John M. Neale, who also cut it down to the five most familiar verses. Many churches sing this every Sunday in Advent, and many Christians meditate upon it throughout the season.
Advent is for preparing for Christmas spiritually. Even if you don’t observe it, you might benefit from this practice. Are there relationship issues that keep you from enjoying your family at the holidays? Do materialism and covetousness mar gift-giving for you? Do you wish you did more for charity or for your community, but find it hard to get past the natural selfishness that keeps you from it? Do you continue to measure yourself against magazine pictures that make you feel inadequate at this time of year?
I didn’t mean to pry. I’m just listing some of the things people include in their soul-searching at Advent.
At the very least, it is four weeks of peaceful contemplation, which we sorely need when surrounded by the madness of secular American Christmas.
I have to say that I rather enjoyed yesterday’s shopping expedition. People are still happy and bustling about cheerfully, and #2 son came with me. He’s a fun guy. He is not helpful on the subject of shoes, but he is fun. I followed knitsteel’s advice and bought silver (matte fabric, not metallic) pumps with a circular ornament nearly matching the buckle of the jacket.
But we were distracted in our grocery shopping. We did get fruits and vegetables and such, but we also bought German cookies and forgot cat food, because there was this general air of festivity that was more compatible with imported sweets than with cat food.
I had only a moment of “Eek! Get me out of here!” when walking into Target to pick up my prescription, and otherwise was able to enjoy the decorations and then actually go on to two more stores and the post office before packing it in. The happy calls of “Merry Christmas” and the holiday music were fun, and I was thankful that I only had a budgeted amount of money with me, because it would have been easy to disregard the fact that I have finished my Christmas shopping and get sucked into the jolly shopping melee.
Lots of people work very hard to create this phenomenon, of course, but for me it was a positive thing, indicating that I really have Overcome my Agoraphobia to a significant extent. I wasn’t even very bad about the wintry roads.
Not enough to make it up to the Thousand Villages market at the top of Mt. Sequoyah that afternoon, though. I had intended to take the boys up to finish their Christmas shopping, but that will have to wait for another day.
we should do more soul searching then just nearing Xmas shouldn’t we? Meditation and contemplation are often seen and ridiculed yet I would argue they are quite essential to wisdom…
you didn’t pry, dear. It is good to ask questions; this is what makes us freinds and not mere cyber voyers.
I have yet to feel any different, yule spirit wise. I am open, and not quite sure why I am strangely subdued (?). I am not “hum buggy” but not joyous, either. Hmmm.
Beautiful table runner
I wondered what Advent was all about, besides chocolate in paper windows. Is it a Catholic tradition, or a Protestant traditition that I never knew about?
See, shopping can be fun.
RYC: I would also be in a trance as soon as anyone starts talking shoes. It always amazes me how many women in the office can have these long discussions about their footwear, and incidently spend heaps of money on shoes that frankly I consider to be ugly. Gaudy colours and pointy just like a witch’s shoes.
I used to regularly go to the gym for aerobics and weight work between 25 and 30 but I got bored with it (as well as getting tired of seeing diet and exercise anorexic early middle-aged women and listening to their nastiness) This was at the time that aerobics first appeared on the scene in NZ and there were a lot of women and men who ended up exercise addicted – which is basically an addiction to the endorphins produced during vigorous exercise. Exercise addicts, like any other kind of addict, are unpleasant to be around. Boredom with the gym was one of the factors that sent me to dancing. In proper dance classes, especially if you are doing the dance exams, the brain gets as much exercise as the body. If you turn your brain off 1) you don’t learn the work and 2) at more advanced levels of dancing you could also quite seriously injure yourself because you need your brain co-ordinating your movements properly when you are doing splits, rolls, leaps and tumbles all in a 2 or 3 minute time span. I do have exercise tapes at home but when you are used to stretching , laughing and dancing with others there is not much fun in exercise tapes. Shame we can’t just transport ourselves (like Star Trek) to each other’s place and work through dance and exercise tapes – a couple of days at your place, a couple at mine…that would be more fun.
I’ve heard of that DVD. The mother of my young friend who is hitting the professional circuit next year mentioned importing it or a DVD something like it (The mother is also a friend who usually dances with us, she’s 47, but had an operation on her leg this year which meant that she could not be on stage this time) A couple of years ago we were doing a dance to ‘It’s Raining Men’ that included a couple of young guys (early to mid 20s) standing around posing for eye candy. She and I had a ball at the end of the dance crawling up to the nearest boy all feline-like (well at least as feline-like that two women in their 40s who would definitely not look good in catsuits, can actually crawl) and embarassing the poor boy something terrible. It was so much fun 🙂