While I had hoped to celebrate Stir-Up Sunday with great flare -- baking bread, making wishes, saying prayers, and pulling out all the Christmas fare -- due to the flu (yeah!) things just didn't happen as planned.  None-the-less, we all had a good time celebrating a small, early Christmas with my mother-in-law before she left to go back to Ohio. 

Jason did set up a ***fake*** Christmas tree.  I'm still sorta reeling over that one.  I consented under the agreement that I would get unlimited pine-scented candles through Epiphany.  And, I've consoled myself with the knowledge that the lights look much better when looking up through a fake tree than a real one (but that is just a strange fascination of mine that I've had since childhood).  We haven't decorated the tree yet, save for a couple cute beaded angel ornaments that my mother-in-law made for us; still, the tree has seen the first of the Christmas gifts (90% of which were for the kids -- just as they should be) and a quick and spirited unwrapping. 

Things are alot different this Christmas; and as I sit and put together an "Advent itinerary," I can't help but notice the difference.  The close friends that composed most of our social life in the Poconos have now been replaced by a block full of strangers and seemingly distant co-workers.  Still, I can know that I will have a husband home every weekend of the Christmas season to celebrate with me and the kids; and the block-full of strangers offers the much-needed and long-neglected challenge of being a light for Christ in the world -- that's something to be excited about.  I won't be looking out on acres of snow covered hills and pines this winter, but I will see my kids (if we can get over flus) playing with kids their own age out in the front yard as I did as a child.  The living room is smaller this year, but the presents will look more "abundant" that way.  Above all though, it will be more real than ever that I have with me at Christmas what matters most -- God, my husband, and my children.  What more could I possibly need or want.

So, with that in mind, I graciously welcome the new Advent season with all it's changes.  I ask the God who "knows my anxious thoughts" to change them into a new energy focused on discovering what really matters during the holidays.  I seek revelation, joy, peace. . . and all that other good stuff.

Let me be the first to wish all you, my family and friends, a blessed Advent season!