01 December 2019

Holiday Season is herrrrrrre...

Advent is upon us. But, what is Advent? Not unlike the season of Lent, Advent is a time of preparation. This year, for me, is worlds different than any other time I’ve celebrated Christmas – voluntarily...

Advent is upon us. But, what is Advent? Not unlike the season of Lent, Advent is a time of preparation. This year, for me, is worlds different than any other time I’ve celebrated Christmas – voluntarily or no. And anyone who knows me can tell you, I don’t really like Christmas. It is a difficult time for me because it reminds me of so much I’ve lost out on with my kids’ deaths and my brother being on the other side of the country and I can’t go visit him.

This year… will be my first Christmas as a Catholic. I was formally Adopted earlier this year, and now… Now I’ve got a whole Family to celebrate with. As well as an entire parish of people that are, by extension, family to me now.


A recent conversation I had with a close friend comes to my mind as I write this. This person, the entire tenure of our friendship thus far, has been determined to turn me into what we jokingly call a ‘Christmas Nerd.’

To be fair… I don’t hate Christmas. I just have a hard time with it. I cry a lot. I don’t like to cry. There’s a lot of different reasons, but the main one is I don’t like being emotional.

This year, it’s weird to say this, but babies grow up and they don’t remember their first Christmas from first-hand knowledge or memory. In a very real way, this is my first ACTUAL Christmas. I am 44 years old! How is this my first one? Because I am well and fully aware that my Beloved is in the same room with me, smiling at me and so happy that I’ve come to Him.

Recently, my friend and mentor recommended a book by St Alphonsus Liguori called The Incarnation, Birth, and Infancy of Jesus Christ. He, a mutual friend of ours, and I are reading this together for the Advent season. I’m only finishing up the first discourse, and already I feel like this book is taking literally everything I’ve ever been taught about Christmas and is flipping it, hard, on its ear.

That being said… I’m going to be doing a little something this year for Advent. Twice a week, I am going to be posting reflections about the readings. These posts will be done on Sundays and Wednesdays. Thanks to technology, I can pull up the readings here, read them, and write a reflection about them. Thankfully, too, I can schedule these posts to automatically pop up at the appointed dates, so I don’t have to physically be at my laptop – I mean, let’s be honest: I’ve had a blog for… three years? And it’s still disjointed and cluttered! I haven’t had the time, and when I do have downtime, I don’t think about my blog. I think about other things that need to be done, instead.

One day… One day…

Anyway.

I’m a pretty busy person with Church several times a week, teaching PSR (Kindergarteners and First Graders…), babysitting my great-nephew (who is an absolute blast to be around!), trying to finish my Capstone, trying to get my other obligations to not pile up on me in the interim… Plus trying to make time for my guitar and personal reading.

So, here goes. Happy first day of Advent, everyone. :) Thank you, in advance, for allowing me to take you on a rather special journey with me as we discover the true reason for Christmas.

I couldn't resist.  ;)


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