O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Some ways that we are preparing in the first week of Advent:

*Finishing shopping for Christmas presents (3 left!) and ship the last few
*Lighting the advent wreath each night. This nativity advent wreath was a gift from my friend Heather last year.
*Packing away all the regular books and "strewing" the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany books
*Requesting as many books as possible from MacBeth's Fall, Winter and Christmas Opinions
*Singing Veni, Veni Emmanuel accompanied by me on the piano after lighting the wreath. I'm hoping we'll learn all the O Anitphons by the time they arrive
*Celebrating St. Nicholas' feast day--clogs out the night before!
*Daily Mass on Wednesday with an Advent lunch and reflection after at the post chapel
*Celebrating a soon-to-be-born (with any more complications very soon) and much prayed for and anticipated new baby boy expected by a dear friend
*Continuing to pray for our deployed and deploying friends and their families and friends...the Talbots, the Manrys, the LaTerzas, Fr. Albertson, Fr. Hubbs, and Fr. Wood and his family
*No red poinsettias this year since the major supplier is also a major donor to Planned Parenthood. Tomorrow we're planting some paper white narcissus in our bulb container gardens that we started last week.