I can only Imagine - Catholic Version

This is a beautiful video on Adoration and the Real Presence. Watch it and share it!

A Little Advent Sewing 101

Chers Amis,

About seven years ago I made my biggest ever over-the- top purchase - a Bernina virtuosa 150. Over-the-top because I do not sew frequently, but at that time I was expecting #3, quilting quite a bit, making window treatments and recovering a couch. Also, I received a very generous gift from my equally frugal grandmother. I had been using a 1950's Singer that still had spunk but was growing lethargic. My husband had inherited it from his great-aunt, a dress designer with her own boutique on Palm Beach for 30 years. With i, she crafted finely tailored garments for the well-heeled and glamorous. It taught me how to sew. I made crib linens, quilts, curtains and little girl dresses. I still have it and will pass it on to my girls when they are ready. When the Singer declined, I splurged and I am so glad I did. Berninas last and are well made.

Alas, the beautiful machine's foot pedal had been quiet for a long time, so I decided to do a little Advent sewing this year. Nothing grand - I still have a queen-sized quilt I need to finish piecing - something simple that I could use - place mats. We use place mats for every meal and I have made several sets for my sloppy eaters. This time I wanted something liturgical that we could throw in the wash when the lemonade, milk or gravy spilled and puddled. Purple is a great choice because it can be used for both Advent and Lent - and it doesn't show stains :-) As you can see, these aren't fancy - or difficult, but I was pleased. Here are some simple directions in case you want to make your own set.

• I purchased @ 1.5 yds pre-quilted, double sided fabric at JoAnns. I loved that I didn't have to cut backing and batting and bind the whole project. Easy and fast.
• Using a ruler, marking pencil or a white colored pencil, draw cutting lines - 16.5 in x 11.25 in
• Cut using pinking shears if possible
• Edge the mats with a straight stitch to stop fraying.
• Add a decorative stitch in white or a contrasting color thread @ .5 inc from your edging.
• Clip loose threads and apply Fray Check along edges.
• Fini!

-- Marjorie

O Antiphons - Our Altoid Advent Revealed

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Chers Amis,

At the beginning of Advent I mentioned that we were planning a special craft using the many cinnamon Altoid tins we found sprinkled through the house. Et voila! Our O Antiphon shadow boxes. It took a bit longer than we expected as the girls have so enjoyed working on them, finding just the right background and symbols to include.

Here they are from the outside adorned with rhinestones (on my Advent sewing project) Aren't they adorable! Of all the crafts we have done this year this has definitely been their favorite. Part of the fun was searching the house (and yard) like the Borrowers, looking for found objects that could be used to illustrate their scene. A piece of lichen with a silk leaf became the burning bush, a draw pull, a candlestick holder, a toothpaste cap, a vase, etc. All the kids love the Look-Alike books, especially Look-Alikes Christmas: The More you Look, The More you See! The author/illustrator uses everyday objects to illustrate charming vignettes. Try your hand at making a shadow box. It is addictive! Here are some directions for using Altoid boxes for your own creation.

• Wash and dry Altoid boxes
• Carefully remove tops from boxes using a butter knife to gently bend the "latches" if necessary
• Spray paint box exteriors gold- interiors are optional and the paint seems to pool
  
• Punch two small holes in box to allow ribbon for hanging if using as an ornament
  
• Reassemble boxes (butter knife helps with tightening)
• Using Microsoft word draw a basic shape of a rectangle with rounded corners
• Format auto shape so it measures 3.33 x 2 in.
• Cut and paste text for each O Antiphon into the shape.
• Format shape for "Colors and Lines" and pick outline size/color
• Cut out text boxes and past on inside lid of the Altoid box
• Cut a background measuring 3.33 x 2 in for the shadow box. We used images from the web, old Christmas cards, magazines and workbooks
  
• Make small shadow box opposite each reading using found objects and a glue gun
  
• Decorate outside cover with symbols/fruits for each Antiphon
• Add glitter glue, trim, rhinestones etc.
• Let dry!
• String with ribbon and display

Have fun!

-- Marjorie

PS -This is my first year really paying attention to these beautiful liturgical gems and they have added richness and depth to our Advent celebrations. Jenn at O Night Divine has a fabulous piece on the history, music, meaning, and symbolism that you must see and Katherine has a wonderful Parade of O Antiphon houses.

The Feast of Santa Lucia

Chers Amis,

Today is the Memorial of St. Lucy. I love this day as I have fond memories of dressing up in a hand-smoked white dress in second grade, wearing a crown of LIT candles, and delivering sweet rolls to my second grade class. (Try that in a public school now! HA!) We also lived in a town of the same name for several years so it almost feels like our "native" saint's day. I had great plans to celebrate Santa Lucia today which have been put on hold until this weekend. (Wednesdays are our co-op morning and the girls are singing a Christmas concert at a retirement home tonight. Today is a blur!) Besides, I think the feast of St. Lucy is best feted on a Saturday morning when we can make a special morning treat to surprise Daddy. Until then, I am dreaming of a steaming pot of coffee and these delicious rolls. Wouldn't you love to wake up to that!

-- Marjorie

PS - Remember to pray for all those with eye ailments today (and always). We have family problems with macular degeneration so St. Lucy is close to our hearts. Eat carrots too.

SWEDISH CARDAMOM ROLLS
For dough
1 1/4 cups warm water (105°F.)
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
two 1/4-ounce packages active dry yeast (5 tablespoons total)
3 large eggs beaten lightly
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup powdered nonfat dry milk
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons cardamom seeds, ground in a mortar with a pestle, or in an electric spice/coffee grinder
an egg wash made by beating 1 large egg with 2 tablespoons water

Make dough:
In a large bowl combine water, butter, and sugar. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand 5 minutes, or until foamy. Stir in eggs, salt and dry milk until combined. With a wooden spoon stir in 5 sups flour, 1 cup at a time, and stir mixture until a dough is formed.

On a floured surface, knead dough about 10 minutes, adding enough of the remaining 1 cup flour to make dough smooth and elastic. Put dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat, and let rise, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and on floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll into a 15- by 20-inch rectangle. Spread butter over dough and sprinkle with granulated sugar, cinnamon and cardamom.

With a long side facing you, roll up dough jelly-roll fashion and cut crosswise into approximately 1 1/2-inch-thick slices with a cut side down. Working with 1 slice at a time gently twist opposite ends of slice around twice to form a figure eight. Crimp ends together. Arrange rolls, a swirled side up, on a buttered baking sheet about 2 inches apart and let rise in a warm place until increased 1 1/2 times in bulk, about 1 hour.

While rolls are rising, preheat oven to 350F.

Brush tops of rolls with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake rolls in middle of oven until tops are pale golden, about 25 minutes.
Publish
Makes about 15 rolls.
Gourmet
You Asked For It; The Jenny Lind Cafe, Stockholm WI
December 1996

Let there be Light!

Chers Amis,

Once, many, many an August ago, some friends and I made an adventurous 3-week camping tour of the Isle of Corsica. Driving along the craggy coast, there was but a short gray stone barrier to keep the car from plunging down to the sea. (Which nearly happened on a road with NO barrier once.) But what a view! One summer's eve as the sun set and the darkness swallowed the road, tiny lights appeared ahead. Villagers had lined the wall with thousands and thousands of candles and luminarias - one every few feet - for mile upon mile. That breathtaking image of the string of lights has stayed with me. This year as I put together our Advent/Christmas reading and came across The Christmas Path: A Legend of the Luminarias by Sue Wright. It is nicely illustrated book that tells of how the innkeeper and his wife gather every lamp and lantern thy can to light the path to the Christ child. On the last page there is a button the reader can push to light up the luminarias much like the Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle.

Putting the two images together, I decided to try to make our own luminous path leading us to the Christmas stable. To that end, we began saving all our tin cans and, with at least one can a day grace a notre chien, our pantry now abounds in empty silver shells awaiting decoration. Outside in the frigid December air, a line of gold luminarias has started winding around our deck - very slowly, one by one. If you haven't tried your hand at making luninaria before, it is easy and the result is much nicer than my photo.
So far I have just used basic holiday shapes - holly, ornaments, a tree, snowflakes etc. The easiest way to add the design is to draw or trace it on a piece of paper, tape it around the can and use a hammer and nail to pound holes through the pattern. Last nite I found this site . It has a lovely collection of Christian theme patterns for creating Chrismon tree ornaments and other Christian hobby projects. It would be a great source for lap book elements. I copied several different crosses - including a papal cross - a chalice, butterfly, ChiRho, TriCircle and a Fleur de lis. As you can see from the photo, we have a pile of cans waiting to be decorated, spray painted gold, and lit. It may not be as stunning as that dusk drive en Corse, but it should illuminate our Advent journey nicely. Try it, its fun!

-- Marjorie





PS - This beautiful picture of is Dusk on mountain sea coast (photo #fran1352) photos by photographer Jef Maion" from his collection.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Moms

The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough
By Robert Burns

Chers Amis,

Even our best laid plans can go awry. So it was with our First Sunday of Advent. Scarlett and Caddie, enrobed in scarlet and white, sang at our parish Songs and Lessons in Advent program after the 8:30 mass. Humming with Advent glee, we all came home to Stir up our hearts by working on various goodies, crafts and devotions. This was to be followed by a delicious Sunday dinner of lamb with rosemary and garlic, a good bottle of red wine and the blessing/lighting of our Advent wreath. The first half of the day went well, dh puttered around in the garage and arranged poisettas in a hanging planter, contemplating how and with what to best paint the white one purple. I happily worked in my kitchen and pantry. (Both are still-lifes of projects in tin half-finished and gift baskets yet-to-be-arranged. I call the look "Joyful Holiday Chaos" or "Recycling 101 meets St. Nicholas." It is very festive but disorganized.) While dh and the girls went bike riding through the neighborhood with our pooch, Pippin and I started stirring up our Orange Mini Bundt Cakes . Suddenly the bike riders returned with urgent news, Scarlett had doubled over with abdominal pain and could hardly walk. Exit all Advent plans. Poor Scarlett spent the evening on the couch while I nervously debated whether to take her to the ER or wait it out. Luckily one of my dear sisters is a pediatrician (I love you, Soo-Soo!) and she determined that it was probably not appendicitis. I carried my little Scarlett up to bed and she fell fast asleep for the whole night. It must have been terrible gas, for she woke up her perky self, all blond curls and blue eyes. No signs of illness. Whew! Tonight we will light the candle and say the prayers, cut the cake, and hug each other even more tightly. Talk about Stir it up Sunday!

-- Marjorie

PS - I had never seen the source of the expression, "The best laid plans of mice and men" until today. What fun to read the poem with a thick Scottish accent. Click on the poem and you will see that there are hyperlinks from many of the difficult vocabulary words (like thole and craneuch) to definitions in English, French, Spanish and German. Neat!

Open the Doors: The Gates of Jerusalem

Chers Amis,

This morning we started our Advent journey by opening the doors to Jerusalem. This afternoon was book club so our study was fairly light, but we did a few activities. The girls and I read and discussed one of the oldest Advent prayers, Psalm 24. "Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter." (7)
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The side notes to this passage said that Psalm 24 was written to accompany "a ceremony of the entry of God (invisibly enthroned upon the ark) followed by the people, into the temple." We imagined what the procession must have looked like as the Israelites followed the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple. What pageantry!

The Psalm also questions who can stand in His holy place, "The clean of hand and pure of heart who are not devoted to idols, who have not sworn falsely." (3-4) This lead to a good discussion of purity of intention, what it means to be clean of hand and the importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, especially during Advent.

Pippin colored Palm Sunday coloring page of Jesus entering Jerusalem through a gate like a King and made a model of the city walls and a gate with his favorite manipulatives - Legos.

Caddie, who loves using a dictionary, had to find the perfect definition of a portal and we all took a virtual tour of the various gates of Jerusalem at Gates of the Old City and The Gates of Jerusalem It was short and sweet and interesting. I like that in a lesson!

Its Advent, Charlie Brown

Chers Amis,

I can be a bit of a Scrooge - or a Charlie Brown around the holidays. I am not materialistic by nature and sometimes it seems Lucy Van Pelt is right when she says, "Look, Charlie, let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know." It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the barrage of circulars and advertisements, weighed down by society's Sally Brown attitude of,"All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share." To quote Snoopy after kissing Lucy[sticking his tongue out], "BLAHHHH!" Humbug.

But this year I am not humbuggy. I am in the spirit and excited about Advent, so full of expectation and promise. Why? In large part because I started preparing early this year, focusing on the true meaning of the season. Is all my shopping done? Have I mailed a single Christmas card? Have I decorated the house? No, no and no. But what I have done, made a few fun gifts, shopped online, bought fabric for next week's place mat project, scrounged the house for tins and empty cans for ornaments and luminaries, reserved books on St. Nicholas, and selected tags from the parish Giving Tree , I have done with an attitude of love. Love and peace with imperfection and the half-finished.

So often in the past I have gotten caught up in doing everything 100% and have felt like a failure when, of course, I couldn't meet my own expectations. Does this sound familiar? Blessings to all the ladies at O Night Divine, the 4RealLearning Forums and in the various Loveliness Fairs. Not only for your ideas and inspirations, but for your humor, for sharing when things didn't work out, for being human and humble and real. Isn't that what this season is all about? Even our Lord came to us as such - human, humble and real. Lucy and Sally's Christmas may be showy and bright and worthy of Martha Stewart, but I'm more comfortable in the stable. It's warm and true - and only a few weeks away.

-- Marjorie


PS - Leonie had this quote by Fr. Andrew Greeley on her Loveliness of Advent post and it really spoke to me:

"It might be easy to run away to a monastery, away from the commercialization, the hectic hustle, the demanding family responsibilities of Christmas-time. Then we would have a holy Christmas. But we would forget the lesson of the Incarnation, of the enfleshing of God—the lesson that we who are followers of Jesus do not run from the secular; rather we try to transform it. It is our mission to make holy the secular aspects of Christmas just as the early Christians baptized the Christmas tree. And we do this by being holy people—kind, patient, generous, loving, laughing people—no matter how maddening is the Christmas rush…"

Loveliness of Advent

Chers Amis,

Advent approaches. Anticipation builds as we journey towards the manger. Jenn at Family in Feast and Feria is hosting The Loveliness of Advent. Please take a moment in your crazy "The holidays are upon us!" day to sample some of the ideas she has gathered. Pick one, trim it, try it, make it your own and enrich your own experience of this holy season.

-- Marjorie

PS - Then bookmark Jenn's site. She is a treasure!

Fling open every door! An Altoid Advent

Chers Amis,

Advent starts this Sunday and it is time to "fling open every door" and prepare our hearts for our King's Christmas arrival. This is the theme for our Advent - Open the Doors! It comes from a little booklet by the same title that a friend gave me last year (oop). It is a series of daily Advent devotions for the Church's youngest members. Each day there is a little meditation on opening some door in joyous expectation of the Christmas season. Opening your hearts, mailbox, oven, church, home, nursery, the inn, etc. It is very simple and leads to natural rabbit trails. With this theme in mind, I wanted to find a craft that focused on opening doors beyond the typical Advent calendars that we have made in the past. I also wanted to do something lasting that would use materials at hand. Hmm. Caddie and I found the perfect solution at Stamp Camp of all places, while doing a Google image search on St. Gertrude the Great! They suggest making a miniature shrine
inside an Altoid tin using their vintage stamps of saints. My dh loves cinnamon Altoids so the girls were on a mission to find as many tins as they could. We are up to 7 and dh has a tin half full - that would make 8! We decided that we do not have enough to make a full Advent calender - that will have to wait until next year. But, it would work well with either the Sundays in Advent, the O Antiphons, or characters/locations from the Nativity story. We will spray the outside of the boxes gold and purple and the girls will make a tiny shadow box inside and place a bible verse, description, quote or design on the left hand side. I will poke two holes in the top and thread gold ribbon through so they can be hung. It should be a new twist on our theme of opening the doors for Advent. Now it's off to find some spray paint. Check back next week as I hope to post pictures of our creations. Si ca marche. If it works :-)

-- Marjorie

PS - Thanks St. Gertrude!

O Night Divine - Advent approaches

Chers Amis,

Advent is just around the corner, over there, behind the turkey. See? If the Loveliness Fair has whetted your holiday spirit, you must visit
O Night Divine: A blog devoted to the celebration of Christmas - and Advent! The creativity displayed is so inspiring. Don't miss Alice's Advent blocks. Fantastic. I am so glad they just opened a Michaels 5 min from the house. For more ideas Catholic Culture is a liturgical treasure box year round. Remember, the holidays are just a pumpkin pie or two away!

-- Marjorie