I've hardly caught my breath from thanksgiving travels (and I've not yet caught up with all the posts I wanted to do here, especially my annual "giving thanks" list) but we've already plunged into Advent and Christmas festivities. It seems like most of the things we traditionally do as a family, in terms of local celebrations, all got scheduled this past weekend! That meant our county's festival of the trees, where I captured this lovely photo, as well as the Christmas events at Old Economy (our nearby historic site) and the live nativity at the church down the street.
After all that, we went ahead and put up our Christmas tree and lights too. As much as I enjoyed it all, I'm hoping this coming weekend will feel much more relaxed! Before you know it, it will time to light the rose candle on our advent wreath...
I hope you're all finding time to rest, to breathe, to pray, to contemplate, in this busy season (yes, I've got papers to grade...)
We hear the Christmas angels, their great, glad tidings tell...Oh come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
3 comments:
Those sound like some great events! I love the angel picture. Do you happen to know if it's a Jim Shore sculpture? My mom is a big fan of his and has a couple of his sculptures, and they're very much in the same style. Anyway, glad you're getting to partake in some Christmas festivities! We still haven't decorated yet - maybe tonight. I'm hoping to get my Christmas cards sent out today or tomorrow. I carried on my Santa Lucia tradition on Saturday, and it didn't seem to matter that I could only find enough batteries to light two of my wreath's five candles; the effect was just as luminous.
Hey Erin! I don't know anything about the sculpture...I just saw it next to one of the decorated trees at the county festival and snapped a shot. It's really lovely, isn't it? I'll have to look into Jim Shore!
We've done the county festival three of the past four years and really love it. Local merchants decorate trees in different styles and for a small fee (which goes to helping youth programs in the county) you can view all the trees and wreaths, at least sixty of them. There's also a beautiful miniature train display. I think they auction the trees off as a fund-raiser too. Some of them are quite spectacular: this year there was one decorated with old pictures and postcards of scenic places and historic buildings in the area, and it was quite fascinating!
We've almost finished our Christmas letter though I'm struggling with the annual poem this year. I've got the idea and images, even snippets of the verse, but it's coming slowly!
Do you dress as St. Lucia? I'd love to see pictures!
We have something like that here, called the Festival of the Trees. I haven't been there in quite a while, but we used to go there every year in elementary school the day before Thanksgiving. It was pretty neat!
I've been dressing as Santa Lucia since fifth grade, when the American Girl series introduced me to the tradition and we decided it was time we gave our Swedish heritage a little nod. I'll have to see if there are any pictures floating about...
Looking forward to your Advent poem! :)
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