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

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Thanksgiving is such a lovely time for my family. We always have a beautiful brown turkey, cut into separate piles of white meat and dark meat, thick whipped gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, vegetables, salad, and stuffing.

The best part is that we use fancy dishes, set the table quite elegantly, and have fun beverages to drink. Red wine is my preference, but highballs are lovely, too.
To top it off, Dad always listens to Nat 'King' Cole sing "O Holy Night". It is the first time before Christmas that we listen to Christmas songs. Me, before I get off tonight, I'm going to make sure I listen to Josh Groban sing "O Holy Night." That's my favourite version of the song, and my favourite singer, too. (If you want to listen to it, here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQWXfHzOKUU )

It's kind of interesting how we celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a United States/ Canadian holiday. In America, we celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thrusday of the month of November. In Canada, they celebrate it on the second Monday of October, which is the United States' Columbus Day.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated back in 1621. It was a feast shared between the Wampanoag Indians and the Plymouth colonists, after the colonists managed to survive the first grueling months of settlement and benefit from their corn harvest. Also, this Thanksgiving did not occur in November, the way it does now. The pilgrims' first Thanksgiving was celebrated in December, and it was a feast that lasted for three days, instead of just one.

Between the 1600's and 1800's, Thanksgiving was celebrated sporadically by different separate colonies and settlements. Thanksgiving wasn't officially made a holiday until 1863, during the Civil War. President Lincoln proclaimed that a national Thanksgiving Day be celebrated every year in November.

Here are several different links that you can follow, to read more about Thanksgiving. God bless, and happy Thanksgiving reading!

History.com
Answers.com
Holidays.net

NaNoWriMo... Day 19!

Wow, can you believe we're already 19 days into this thing? It's amazing how fast it's going. The really exciting bit is that my novel is almost done. I'm looking forward to the revision process. I think it's unjust that my inner editor is waiting until NOW to start being domineering!

How are all the rest of you doing? I know some people weren't able to do it this year, but I'm so glad you put the effort into trying. Sometimes, life gets complicated, and I'm only grateful that the story I chose to write was simmering forever in the stove top of my memory, just waiting to boil out. I don't think I would have come as far as I did if the story didn't beg itself to be written.

Happy NaNoing, for the next eleven days. Only eleven days, people. WE CAN DO IT!