ADVENT

So, again, here we are at another Liturgical year. For us Catholics it is a new beginning. We all are familiar with the 12 month calendar. When Julius Caesar became Pontifex Maximus, he reformed the Roman calendar so that the 12 months were based on Earth’s revolutions around the Sun. It was a solar calendar, as we have today. The church has its own calendar based on special feasts of the year as well as ordinary times and in a few days Advent arrives, the start of the new year.

Advent, in the Christian church calendar, the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas and also of preparation for the Second Coming of Christ.

In my home it is traditional to have an advent wreath where the family can gather once a day for prayer and thanksgiving.

The wreath holds the four Advent candles. The candles represent Jesus coming as the light in darkness. As a Christian tradition, the wreath holds the four Advent candles. One candle is lit each Sunday until all four candles are lit. As Christmas draws nearer, each candle brings a little more light into the darkness. Sometimes a white candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to symbolize that Jesus is with us. This can be referred to as the “Christ candle.”

The fourth candle is purple and represents: Love

The Angel Candle

Every Sunday a new candle is lit as well as the previous ones.

Our first snow of the season arrived the last day of November. We were so excited. The first day of December we awoke to six inches of snow with more coming down.

First snow wasn’t the only excitement we enjoyed. From Monday to Wednesday there was a road construction crew here improving my driveway. Four huge machines shook the ground. I wondered if my house, which is already on stilts, was going to head on down the hill.

For three days I walked in and out of here as I needed to keep my truck parked at the end of my drive.

My driveway was nothing but a logging road punched in here when trees were cleared for construction of my house.