Six-Sentence Sunday

I was late, late, late again for my six sentences. One of these days I will learn to write these posts early so I can post them on the proper day!

First off, I want to share the Corpus Christi Carol by Hayley Westenra, since this is the First Sunday of Advent:

Now, here are my sentences:

1.) I could browse craft stores for hours... and I mean HOURS!

2.) St. Nicholas and St. Raphael are two of my more favourite saints - St. Raphael is the patron saint of those looking for spouses, and St. Nicholas is seriously the saint of EVERYTHING ELSE you need to pray for!

3.) We (meaning my little parish) are going to do a High Mass for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, so we are practicing our Gregorian Chant.

4.) I have a terrible weakness for M&M's.

5.) I just found out that the movie, "Water for Elephants", was adapted from a NaNo novel. Isn't that amazin'?!!

6.) I only have 4,000 words to go before I finish my 50,000 NaNo novel. HUZZAH!

That's all, aside from a very warm Happy First Day of Advent to all of you! I love the whole Advent Season, because we can start singing the anticipatory songs of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and "O Come, Divine Messiah" for Mass. It's a very preparatory time, very focused on sacrifice and anticipation of the birth of our dear little Jesus Christ. I adore the empty Nativity scene, which slowly becomes filled with oxen, sheep, a donkey, the shepherd, St. Joseph, our Lady, and finally the Babe Himself as the season advances. I love the Advent Wreath, with the lighting of the candles for each Sunday. I love the little crib that we set out, empty, ready to be filled with straws of sacrifice that all the little girls perform in order to present the Baby Jesus with a soft bed in which to lay. I love the Advent chains that we make, that count down the days until Christmas. I love the Advent calendars, the Christmas baking, all the decorating.

I just love Advent. For me, it's a much more joyous time than Lent. The focus of Advent is the coming of the Redeemer to earth, and He comes to us in the form of a little Baby. Who cannot love a baby? They are so soft, so dear, so precious. It is the time when the world makes ready for the Babe who came to save us from our sins.

Happy Advent! God bless!

Enjoy "Veni Emmanuel" as arranged by Anne Dudley

Since the Fish Eaters site has some of the best information on Advent Traditions, I've enclosed some links that you can follow to read more about Advent.

Fish Eaters: Advent Overview
Fish Eaters: Advent Wreath and Candles
Fish Eaters: Customs and Traditions of the Liturgical Year

Also, Amanda at Old Fashioned Girl has some good stuff to share about Advent as well. Enjoy!

Two Good Things

Hello, everyone!

I just love posting new entries. I like to post things that are fun, exciting, happy, or new. Today, I have two good things to post.

The first is this: I won in NaNoWriMo! Basically, that means I hit 50,000 words in a little less than thirty days. Isn't that fantastic? I got a certificate, too, a dowloadable certificate that I can print out, with my name and book title on there. It's pretty neat. I may end up getting myself one of the NaNo coffee cups. That would be fun, drinking out of a cup that sports the little Viking NaNoWriMo logo. Don't you think?

I am going to take a break from Badger for right now, and do revision on him a little later. I've completed his story, but I need to do the revision, and I can't do it right now. You wouldn't believe how much of yourself you pour into a story. I'm a little drained, emotionally, to revise his story at this moment, so I'm focusing instead on different magazines and online e-zines, to see if there are some out there I want to write and submit to. There's about six magazines/ e-zines I want to explore tonight.

My second good news is this: It's the first Sunday of Advent. That means it's about four weeks to Christmas.
I love, love, love Christmas. It's my absolute most favourite time of year. Advent is my favourite, favourite, favourite, favourite season, the preparation for the coming of the little Christ Child.

Contrary to what you might believe, we are actually not in the Christmas season yet, though the world tries to make you think we are. This is the time of preparation before Christmas, when we are readying our hearts for the coming of Our Lord. The actual season of Christmas doesn't start until the first Mass on Christmas Eve, and it goes on, liturgically, until January 14th, which is the Octave of January Sixth, the Feast of the Epiphany. Spiritually, the season of Christmas is celebrated until the Feast of Candlemas on February 2nd.

For the first Sunday of Advent, we set up the Advent wreath, with its three purple candles, one pink candle, and one white candle set in the middle of the wreath. We put out the empty stable with only the lowly donkey inside it. (Don't worry, we'll add the rest of the figures each Sunday, until Baby Jesus makes His dwelling there on Christmas Morning.) The manger that sits on the little stool in our living room is empty. There is no Christ Child in it, for He has yet to be born.

This first Sunday of Advent, it is tradition to bless the wreath and say a little prayer over the wreath. After the blessing, the first purple candle is lit, then the prayer for that Sunday is said. In our house, after we say that prayer, we sing two verses from "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and leave the candle lit throughout the Sunday dinner. During the rest of the week, we only sing one verse of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," and we blow the candle out before we eat. Each Sunday, a new candle is lit, until Christmas day, when we light the white Christ Candle. It's beautiful.

If you'd like to read more about Advent, here is a great site for you to browse. God bless!

The Fish Eaters: http://www.fisheaters.com/customsadvent1.html