Advent begins today. No one minds advent anymore. I don’t have a distinct memory of it except of lighting one purple candle and anticipating the joyful pink one, which meant gifts are just around the corner. Still I didn’t really know what Advent was for except that it meant preparing. Preparing for that eve when presents were opened, along with sweet jamon and castanas. I had to google Advent. Latin “adventus” or “coming.” But the days before Christmas have always been a blur. Forget wreaths and purple candles. There are just too many other things to do. I strive hard but there is the endless temptation to give in to Christmas trimmings. I don’t want to be hosting Christmas dinner and have guests over without my house transform to green, red and white. I need that delightful checkered tablecloth that matches with my table napkins, the ones with the embroidered green trees. Oh don’t forget my red towels, with trees stitched too. And I want all my reds and greens living, so I want pine leaves and cypress, poinsettias, and that Douglas fir tree from Oregon. Because truly, Christmas necessitates the scent of pine. And then there’s the host of parties. Once a year, we remember all those mates we once had, playmates, classmates, workmates and do not forget family unless you want Caribou wishing you prick your finger and die. And so here goes lunches and get-togethers, and there goes my money too. Please, we talk about the same old, every year and it’s the ghost of Christmas past. And then, do I have to go to a bazaar? I have been effective at dodging that somehow, now that I have vowed to make all my gifts handmade or grown. So my godchildren will have to contend with knits and no knacks. And my friends and family- the farm’s harvest. The coffee beans and bees have been good to us this year and so I have enough to perk up and sweeten my friends till next Christmas. It is tough to consciously imbibe Christmas tidings of goodwill, grueling to even take on Advent . Waiting is not what I am good at. I will try harder this year. So tonight, hubby, 2 daughters and everyone in my household (did they have a choice), read a verse, lit a candle, and sang the Advent song. I hope that makes up for forgetfulness, and that I, hubby, 2 daughters and a household, lit a spark and remembered for a couple minutes, the joy the comes with anticipation. Especially for something so bright. Without the fancy Christmas lights or rudolf.
*And oh, I can teach you how to make a wreath. You should do it every year. Scents of pine waft in your nose while your hands are busy making a halo of flowers. I use a circular floral foam (soaked in water), poke it with cypress leaves and then alternate that with pine, adding little leaves of eucalyptus and rosemary. I then add plain cones and teeny hypericum berries, and then top with pinches of purple limoniums. You can get all these flowers in the flower market. The wreath will last you all four weeks.
Adventus begins today. The light of the world is coming to birth. And I don’t want to miss it this year.
The Girl and the Grail 