The Edited And Focused Advent

Well the fourth candle of Advent is lit.  Christmas will be here in two days.  Most presents have been wrapped while a few remain in a Fedex warehouse somewhere hopefully to be delivered no later than Christmas Eve.  The big chores are marked off the list as copious amounts of sweets have been baked and consumed in the process of hanging the stockings on the chimney with care. 

As I reflect on these past few weeks I can't help but be thankful for the peace and quiet it brought.  We sorely needed an uneventful Advent and it was given to us on a silver platter.

It was an edited Advent. The noise-makers- blogs, social media, tv, radio and various other temples of din - were tempered. We edited the decorating (not necessarily by choice) as some of our trinkets and beloved Christmas collections never made it out of the box.  We didn't make a gingerbread house.  We didn't put up the Jesse Tree. We didn't have friends over for the usual Christmas break party. We wrapped presents early, in fact, we did a lot of things early including wrapping up school ahead of schedule.

It was also a focused Advent.  There was daily Mass, the Holy Hour(s), Consecration and many prayerful moments dotting each day.  It was heavenly.  It was heavenly quiet.  And I don't mean that our household was completely hushed.  The kids made the usual racket and argued about the most inconsequential things.  But there was no other competing noise which actually made it all the more bearable and curiously funny.  It is the natural noise of my life - children at play, children at work, children bickering LOL.

I am greatly anticipating Christmas, aren't you? For me the promise has already been fulfilled. I have already been given the greatest gift. I just had to tune in to the important things so I can hear and see again through the edited, focused lens of silence.  May these last few hours of Advent bring you rest and peace.

O Rex gentium, et desideratus earum, lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum: veni, et salva hominem, quem de limo formasti.
O King of the gentiles and their desired One, the cornerstone that makes both one: come, and deliver man, whom you formed out of the dust of the earth.

Two more days.

out to see the lights

my favorite Christmas present from last year handcrafted by the girl

what remains of the chore list, the girl added the last one- it's the most important :-)