Advent

After a few years of letting the job market overwhelm the Christmas season, I’ve decided to make sure our family celebrates Christmas this year, even if only in little ways.  First step is an advent calendar, to help us remember our blessings and the sense of anticipation that fills December.  I decided to make a calendar, based on one that Lisa S. found.  I love paper, so I used this as an excuse to take home some beautiful origami papers from a local art shop, and then I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to keep them out of Nathaniel’s mouth.  Katherine helped (primarily by squishing papers and dropping the papers within Nathaniel’s reach, though both occurred by accident).  Given that our house is small, I don’t want to put holes in 400-year-old walls, electricity here is 220 volts (yes, I can plug my washing machine into every outlet in the house, but yes, it is extremely scary for cord-loving children), and we have a newly mobile and very accident-prone baby, our decorations will be pretty minimal.  So I’m making the most of my little calendar, which is high up and uses existing nails.  We also have a child-proof nativity scene that will go on the shelf below, though currently all of the little figures are tucked into the advent cones, awaiting discovery by Katherine later in the month.  For the moment, she’s just enamoured with the barn 🙂

And now it’s time to start cooking: I’ve been refraining from buying nuts most of the rest of the year, given how expensive they are over here, but now it’s time to dig in.  Katherine’s only recently shown us that she can chew, rather than just inhale, and she loves nuts, so she will get to join in.  Spiced nuts, nutty cookies, and nut-filled scones will be filling the house in short order, plus lots of great clementines and other fruits.  I’ve started Katherine on Christmas carols, and she’s very happy with all of the new songs in our house.  I read the Christmas story for the first time this morning, and, though she has no idea what a birthday is, she’s quite taken with the idea of a baby sleeping in a barn.  Tomorrow night is Oxford’s big winter celebration, with the lighting of the town (lots of lights are already strung downtown) and singing groups tucked into the major museums, libraries, and prominent town buildings.  The church with which we’ve loosely associated ourselves also has a number of wonderful kid-friendly programs and celebrations over the course of the month.  So we have lots of opportunities to get Christmas-ready!  Sydney will be gone for a good chunk of the month, but I think I can sing carols, read stories, and eat goodies without him.  Katherine has volunteered to help.

Erin