Advent So Far

Cranberry-Nut Bread:  One large, three small.

It has been a trying Advent.  Kathleen's one job takes about 60 hours per week.  My three jobs (Only two now.  I resigned my rental housing job last week.  Now I only work at Bass Pro Shops and and as a substitute teacher.) have kept me super busy, too.  Nevertheless, I have been able to get the boys and Kathleen to read through the Gospel of Luke with me; a chapter a day for 24 days, then the next morning is Christmas. 

I've managed to do some baking.  I donated three of my fruitcakes to the parish bake sale.  Tonight when I came home from work I baked four loaves of cranberry-nut bread.  (I'll probably give them to the people I work with at Bass Pro Shops.) It reminded me of when Cyndi and I used to bake a loaf for every family at Holy Trinity Cathedral.  It was so hard.  We both worked (I for AT&T. She for BAVC) but would be up all night long on Christmas Eve to get all the loaves baked and wrapped.  But it was so much fun to give them away after the Divine Liturgy on Nativity.
Somehow, I have to find time to take the boys to get a Christmas tree and we still have to grind and stuff the Christmas sausage.  Gosh.  There is so much to do.  I'm glad I don't have to do Christmas shopping. Presents bought at shops are the worst part of Christmas.

So, if I don't want boughten presents what do I want for Christmas?  To see my children wiping away tears at Confession.  To marry Kathleen so I can approach the chalice again. To cook for lots of people and make them happy.  To see Alastair Sims as Scrooge again. 

A Mouse in the Garden

I took out the last tomato vine and composted it.  Actually, I took the opportunity to turn the compost, something I haven't done in a couple of months.  In one bin I found a giant ant colony.  In the other was a mouse nest.  The mouse was little brown and afraid.  I didn't kill it.  I don't think it's hurting anything. All that is growing in the garden now is garlic and onions.

It seems that St. Nicholas visited my boys and Kathleen's kids early this morning for there were chocolate coins found in shoes.

A Christmas Gift List for Women Who Buy Presents for Men

One of my more popular posts (Like the Fall of Constantinople and Egg Nog it gets millions and millions of page views.) is the Christmas list for the man who has everything.  So, I'm going to make another Christmas list. If it is popular as last year's I'll probably make it an annual event.

10.  What is that sound, you ask?  It's the sound of majesty!  When your man wakes you up in the morning by playing these beautiful bagpipes you'll feel like Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral Castle. 

9. Remember that time you and your man got lost while taking the tour at MGM Studios, and how you walked in the wrong door and got to see George Cukor berating Angela Landsbury for stealing every scene she was in?  Well, did you notice the chair?  Your man did, and he wants a director's chair just like that one, but made of leather.

8. Your man looks Irish but he is very in-touch with his Native American ancestors. His mother's mother's mother was a Cherokee so you just know he would cherish these Trail of Tears bookends.

7.  He's never ridden a bull.   He's never been on a cattle drive.  He's never worked on a ranch.  But he has a cowboy hat and he likes to eat at Harris's and Alexander's.  So get him what he really needs:  A steer horn chair. Just think of the hours of enjoyment!

6. When he joined the church you thought it was just another phase, like fly fishing or pasta making.  But now, decades after they let him in he's been elected to be parish warden.  He has the broom for sweeping up after services.  He has a plunger and a wrench for fixing the toilets.  Now all he needs is this gorgeous churchwarden pipe.

5.  His tools were given to him by his dad and he can tell you all about the many things he's built or maintained with those tools.  But they are all in a pillow case in the corner of the garage.  Give him a worthy home for those tools.  Give him a leather tool roll.

4. He was Colonel Potter's favorite author and he'll be your man's favorite author, too. Just as soon as you give him a a copy of one of Zane Grey's books.

3. He hunts. He cooks.  He camps.  He likes to play with fire.  Bring all his hobbies together with this wonderful memory-making dutch oven and tri-pod.

2.  He's wanted them ever since he saw Grease when he was a kid.  Get him what he always wanted but was too practical to buy for himself:  Fuzzy dice!!!

1.  The Leg Lamp. 

An Advent Wreath Service for the Domestic Church

We Orthodox (I still call myself Orthodox even though I am unable to commune for the past few years; a situation that will be rectified before this time next year) don't do as much during the Nativity Fast (In the west it is called Advent) as we do during Great Lent.  Pretty much, all we do is,  beginning on November 15, abstain from wine, oil, meat, fish, dairy, and sex.  Positively we give more secret alms and there are the two services on the two Sundays preceding the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord Jesus Christ According to the Flesh. (In the west it is called Christmas).  Oh, there is also the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple but other than that there isn't much that is different about this time of year; very unlike Great Lent in the Spring which is totally jam packed with stuff.

So, what can a person do to get the most out this time of year.  Well, if you have little children there are many books you can read to them.  My children are not little anymore so