“Christmas is really for the children,” wrote our friend Steve Turner in a poem that’s meant to get you thinking about how we celebrate our Christian holidays: Christmas is really for the children. Especially for children who like animals, stables, stars and babies wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then there are wise men, kings in fine […]
CHRISTMAS EVE: The First Noel
Christmas wouldn’t be the same at our house without a Bûche de Noël — that luscious chocolate sponge cake rolled with cream and decorated with chocolate icing to look like a log. Half the fun is making the garnish: tiny, realistic mushrooms piped from meringue and dusted with cinnamon. For me, it’s a nod to the […]
ADVENT 4, CELEBRATING LIGHT: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Here He Comes! Advent anticipation moved up a notch this week with the start of the “Golden Nights of Advent,” the octave leading up to Christmas Eve. Beginning the evening of December 17, religious communities in monasteries and convents all over the world sing one of the beautiful “O Antiphons” before and after the Magnificat during […]
ADVENT 3, PROCLAIMING JOY: “Joy to the World!”
From where I lay on the third floor under the eaves, I could hear the piano. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” My aunt was visiting, and she thundered away without thinking of the children above, who were meant to be sleeping. Dum – dum – dah-dum … dah-dum – dum – dum! […]
ADVENT 2, EXPECTING A SAVIOR: “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”
Our daughter is pregnant with her first child, and we are beyond excited! Abby’s into her eighth month and she’s all baby and promise – down to the glow that never seems to leave her. The other day she pulled my hand to her stomach just in time for me to feel a foot kick […]
ADVENT 1, YEARNING FOR PEACE – “O Holy Night”
If Saturday Night Live has the pulse of America, then all that’s needed to solve those painful, contentious, holiday family dinners is Adele’s new song, “Hello.” In the skit, Thanksgiving table conversation degenerates nearly to the point of blows – only to be saved when the little girl plays the song and everyone stops arguing […]
