It is the season….

Sorry I am not writing much. There is so much to do. There is cookie and stollen and hazelnut cake baking, and making straw stars, decorating the little tree, and repairing a doll, and making new outfits for her, and knitting socks for all and crocheting dishcloths for my children, and filling the wish lists, and writing cards, and…you get the drift. There are just not enough hours in the day.

It seems that there are not many people who know about advent. For as long as I can remember advent covers the 4 Sundays before Christmas.

Perhaps it is a “religious” thing, but I find it slows down the hectic activity and allows one to reflect on the real reason for Christmas. Every Sunday from the 1st of advent we light another candle until on the 4th of advent there are four candles blazing in a circle of fir that smells so wonderful. We take a break, eat some of the goodies, and talk about the coming of our savior.

On Christmas eve we always have the tradition of reading the Christmas story in Luke. The lights on the tree remind us that the light has come into this dark world. We sing some old-fashioned Christmas hymns and then check out the gifts that accumulated under the tree. We like giving good books to read. Sitting all curled up in a corner chair reading over the next few days is such a pleasure.

On Christmas day we have the traditional turkey that is already in the oven by 8AM. We eat at noon. I make a terrific stove-top dressing, and we’ll have squash, home-made cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, peas, and a salad, followed by a bit of spiked raspberry trifle.

Except for some bargain hunting or exchanging product, we don’t venture much into the world between Christmas and New Years. New years eve it is fun to watch the celebrations world-wide on TV. When we are still hours from count-down the new year has already advanced into Australia, China, Japan and is slowly moving our way. I usually do not last ’till midnight. This year we will try some wine in the evening that comes from a local winery that specializes in local fruit and maple sirop wines. They have won some international acclaim for their wines and I think it might be fitting way to toast the coming of the new year at about 9PM. Ha! I’ll be in bed by 9:30PM.

How do your days pass at this time of the year? I’d love to read some of your comments on that, or join our blog community in the right column and post about your Christmas adventures.

Have a beautiful Christmas season and a happy new year!

The images have originated on other sites. I collected them over several years because they reminded me of Christmas when I was little. I do not remember where I found them. I hope the owners will not mind me sharing them for the enjoyment of others on this blog. I still remember Christmas trees with real candles. Some day I hope to have a scanner so I can bring you images from my albums from way back when.