The Lord shall come

O come, Thou Wisdom, from on high,
and order all things far and nigh;
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! O Israel,
to thee shall come Emmanuel!

O come, o come, Thou Lord of might,
who to thy tribes on Sinai's height
in ancient times did give the law,
in cloud, and majesty, and awe.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heav'nly home,
make safe the way that leads on high,
that we no more have cause to sigh.

O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
and cheer us by thy drawing nigh;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night
and death's dark shadow put to flight.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Gaude! Gaude!
Emmanuel,
nascetur pro te Israel!



While we await Christ's coming in the season of Advent, we reflect on many of the words you hear playing in these songs. We also pray for our hearts to prepare to receive Him, lowly, lying in a manger, simple, poor, yet clothed with the richness of a KING! Our King! This is a very special time of waiting, hoping, praying, and hopefully someday making many traditions together with young children (like a Jesse Tree, Advent Calendar and helping them to remember their charity in all things by laying a piece of hay on the small pile that baby Jesus will lie in...the more love we share the softer His manger!)...

Of course while we wait, we also know a GREAT feast will be upon us soon too. So we prepare for Christmas, but try not to celebrate yet :) Together we make a great team. There is lots of work to do on the outside and inside of the house to prepare for Christ's coming! How symbolic of the work necessary to prepare our hearts too.

Gary put much hard work into this year's lights display (something he hasn't been able to do in three years!) He has been doing this since he was very young and really enjoys it. He has fond memories of helping his Dad do their lights display-which is also beautiful-and still gets displayed every year! Gary makes it look very easy. (All I had to do was the hold the ladder :) )










And the result is magical! I am so proud of him. We were blessed to win a town contest. First prize was $300 to Publix. Yay!!




He even incorporated our projector this year. He had a movie of Santa unpacking gifts and eating cookies that projected through the front window. And if you tune your radio station to Gary's local station...you could hear Santa's bells and his "Ho ho ho" and even a playlist of wonderful Christmas music.







While I couldn't do much to help on the outside I really enjoyed decorating our home inside. Last year at this time we were getting ready for our wedding and then on our honeymoon. Our first Christmas together has already been so special.



Our homemade advent wreath...



Our Christmas table



where we can enjoy delicious meals like this (half-eaten) homemade mac-n-cheese!



Gary's family has a neat tradition of having two trees...usually one with colored lights and one with white lights. We found this one in the garage. We forgot we had it (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and it's neat that we have both too.



The Holy Family (a wedding gift from Mom and Dad Spenik) and a delicious bowl of winter nuts!



Holly and bows!





A beautiful wedding gift from Alex and Mary. Our first Nativity Scene :)





And finally, our tree. We found one quite affordable at Lowe's. It was so nice to finally be able to use so many of the decorations we had found previous years but never had the chance to see together in our home until this year!

Our First Catholic Traditions

Gary and I want so much to establish traditions in our home so that we can continue to learn our faith and teach it to our children through meaningful ritual. We want our home to be a place where Catholicism is lived out each day, "dissolving the boundaries between parish and home," where reminders and celebrations give life to the faith that we will teach them. These traditions and physical actions remind us of our beliefs, encourage us in our weakness and strengthen our resolve to humbly serve God! We are reading through and trying to implement suggestions from The Catholic Home: Celebrations and Traditions for Holidays, Feast Days, and Every Day by Meredith Gould.

Today, Palm Sunday, we celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. As we receive palms at Mass we recall when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted him with waving palm branches, and covered his path with palm branches. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the ministry of Jesus, he begins his journey to the cross. It also marks the beginning of Holy Week, a time when we reflect on this journey to the cross, prepare to make the journey with Him, and await the JOY of the Resurrection. Since this in the holiest time of the entire year, the "Solemnity of all solemnities" we want to ready ourselves by physically reminding ourselves and our families of this time by marking it with traditions (an effort we hope to make at each Holiday)!

We spent the day with my two lovely sisters-in-law and cousin, Mandy. Gary and I hosted an afternoon of dying Easter eggs in preparation for Holy Week.





Of course Gianna, my adorable niece,(Katie's daughter), made the day bright and cheery with her smile. She was practicing waving too!


Today is also a day to cover all holy statues, icons and pictures, as a way to prepare to empty ourselves and our homes, fast from these beautiful images and prepare to meet them anew in the Resurrection, which we joyfully anticipate on Easter Sunday (in just one week). I was blessed to be able to spend some wonderful time with Melissa, who grew up with many of these holy traditions. We both bought purple fabric at Joann's and here are some shots of my fabric being put to great use as Lent is now over and Holy Week begins! Thanks, Melissa! :)



Perhaps next year, we will try some of Melissa's suggestions: dying plain fabric purple (instead of buying it) and dying kidney beans purple to visualize the small sacrifices we have made throughout our Lenten journey. (Interesting how many times the word "dying" has come up in this post! Lent is a constant reminder that we must "die to self" and rise with Christ.)

From what I've read so far, dying Easter eggs is supposed to remind us that eggs are a symbol of new life, as we find in the Resurrection. Also, it's interesting that at the Jewish Passover Seder, a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water symbolizes the festival sacrifice offered at the Temple in Jerusalem. Meredith Gould reminds me that the early Christians died the eggs red: respresenting the blood of Christ. The Pagans saw the eggs as a sign of fertility and propserity.

Traditions I'm shooting for next year: braiding palms, making hot cross buns, and having a traditional Seder meal.

This is an EXCEPTIONALLY SPECIAL year for us as I have been asked to sponsor April, a lovely woman preparing for Baptism and Full Communion with the Catholic Church. At the Easter Vigil, April will be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit in Confirmation and then receive Holy Communion! I am honored that she has invited me to journey with her as her sponsor and Godparent and I am learning from her every day! She was actually brought to Ave Maria because of Publix (she transferred from a Publix in Sarasota after finishing school). She had no idea that by bringing her here, God would call her Home to Holy Mother Church within a year of moving here. His plans are so far above ours!

Let him turn to the LORD for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. ~Issaiah 555:7-9

Jesus, I love you. Permit me never to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love you always and then, do with me as you will.