{"id":2323,"date":"2014-11-29T16:27:02","date_gmt":"2014-11-29T21:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=2323"},"modified":"2014-12-26T17:15:10","modified_gmt":"2014-12-26T22:15:10","slug":"well-hello-advent-we-meet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/11\/well-hello-advent-we-meet-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Well Hello, Advent. We Meet Again."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Someone reminded me it was Advent this Sunday. \u00a0Yikes.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t have to be that bad, and indeed it should not be, as Simcha reminds us.<\/a> \u00a0Here are our plans for 2014, thrown out there not as an example to emulate, but so that you can have that sordid Catholic reality-show experience without needing cable.<\/p>\n

1. The Great Advent vs. Christmas Debate<\/h2>\n

Left to my own devices, I\u2019d cover my house in a giant purple tarp and not come out until midnight on the 24th\/25th. \u00a0Which is why I have to be married, for my own safety.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, all around us, our good Christian neighbors are running their Christmas season from the day after Thanksgiving until dawn on December 26th. \u00a0The pressure gets to you. \u00a0It\u2019s hard to be purple when everyone else is red and green.<\/p>\n

Enter our solution: Convertible Decorations<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Sometime in early Advent, possibly as soon as the first Sunday, the spouse and children will haul out and set up the fake Christmas<\/del> Advent Tree. \u00a0Until the 24th, it gets just white lights and few things I\u2019ll mention below. \u00a0And then, magically on the 24th, we cover it with ornaments and turns into a Christmas Tree!<\/p>\n

These are great. \u00a0Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

To that end, a friend of mine brought home from her travels a Miffy (the bunny) Christmas tree decoration<\/a>. \u00a0If you squint and peer closely, you\u2019ll observe that it, too, is convertible. \u00a0It\u2019s Advent Rabbits, then they turn into Christmas Bunnies without having to press a button or turn the thing around or anything.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing what modern holiday technology can do these days.<\/p>\n

2. Parties.<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ll go to our neighbor\u2019s Christmas drop-in. \u00a0You can skip everything else all December, but neighbors matter. \u00a0 You go.<\/p>\n

Also the grown-ups will put in a presence at the company party. \u00a0Nothing says Advent like continued employment.<\/p>\n

Everything else is optional.<\/p>\n

3. Advent Calendars<\/h2>\n

We have this reusable Advent calendar<\/a> (it starts on December 1, I know!), and I like it very much. \u00a0I put it out, and the kids fight over<\/del> work out a system for who does each day. \u00a0This plus whatever random ornaments flow into the home provide our Advent Tree decorating experience for the month. \u00a0No Jesse Tree here. \u00a0We aren\u2019t that advanced.<\/p>\n

4. Advent Wreaths<\/h2>\n

I just don\u2019t even want to talk about it.<\/p>\n

5. Cards and Gifts and Stuff<\/h2>\n

We owe our kinsmen their 2013 ornament-exchange<\/strong> items. \u00a0We made them out of dough, and the dog ate them off the tree, where I had cleverly placed them until I found suitable packaging. \u00a0So this year I took #2 to the craft store and we bought Bakelite. \u00a0We\u2019ll see how that goes. \u00a0I am hopeful that we can get both 2013 and 2014 out the door before the three wise men come.<\/p>\n

I never send Christmas cards<\/strong>, because I\u2019m a bad person. \u00a0But I bought my daughters, who are crafty and sociable both, cardstock and stamps. \u00a0So if you are friends with them, you might get a card.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t buy my kids\u2019 Christmas presents<\/strong> until the last minute, because otherwise I\u2019ll keep finding things they love, and they\u2019ll end up spoiled or in debtors\u2019 prison or something.<\/p>\n

Yeah, no, I quit baking<\/strong>. \u00a0My kids make stuff though. \u00a0So does the grocery store.<\/p>\n

6. Music<\/h2>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we were one of those families that sang together? \u00a0Yes it would be.<\/p>\n

Instead, we are divided into several camps, like a tortured holiday Venn Diagram.<\/p>\n

Set A: Skilled Musicians.<\/strong> \u00a0Set composed of: Spouse, #1, #2, and the odd guest appearance by #4 because she is young but has obsessively precise pitch. \u00a0They will spend the next six weeks immersed in amazing classical choral settings. \u00a0Actually, the next 52 weeks, and then repeat. \u00a0It\u2019s what they do.<\/p>\n

Set B: People who sing Christmas Carols in the car<\/strong>, driving the other people in the car nuts. \u00a0Set composed of: Me, #2, #4, and sometimes #3.<\/p>\n

Set C: People who listen to my favorite Advent music<\/strong>. \u00a0Set composed of: Me.<\/p>\n

Here are some CD\u2019s I like<\/a>, not all of them strictly Advent-themed, but they work. The other one I really super extra like is Veni Emmanuel<\/em><\/a> from Classical Academic Press.<\/p>\n

FYI if you\u2019re geeky that way, CAP has some free printable Latin Advent calendars, too. \u00a0Go to their resources page and click on the \u201cLatin General\u201d option<\/a>. \u00a0I\u2019m geeky, but insufficiently organized, so I haven\u2019t used them yet.<\/p>\n

For your general holiday music edification, Katie O\u2019Keefe at the Beautiful Music Challenge has the tour of must-know hymns and carols, beginning here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you do nothing else for yourself in this life, memorize Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then take a solemn vow to never, ever, sing some other song to the tune of Picardy<\/a> during Mass. \u00a0Just no. \u00a0No.\u00a0I said NO! \u00a0Stop that! \u00a0Bad! Cut it out!<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone reminded me it was Advent this Sunday. \u00a0Yikes. But it doesn\u2019t have to be that bad, and indeed it should not be, as Simcha reminds us. \u00a0Here are our plans for 2014, thrown out there not as an example to emulate, but so that you can have that sordid Catholic reality-show experience without needing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,216,12,110,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-qa","category-its-all-catholic","category-liturgical-living","category-rant-o-rama","category-sacred-art-music"],"yoast_head":"\nWell Hello, Advent. We Meet Again.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Someone reminded me it was Advent this Sunday. \u00a0Yikes. 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