The Good News and the Bad News

The good news is that today is the first Sunday of Advent. The season of Advent is a time of great joy and anticipation, as we prepare our souls for the birth of Our Lord on Christmas day. My husband and I returned from our oldest son's house in Upstate NY tonight, and when we got home we lit one of the purple candles on our Advent wreath. I made this large Advent wreath in 1999, the same year that we purchased our church-sized Nativity set. At this wonderful time of year, as we begin our preparations for the Christmas season, we love to adorn our home with garlands and wreaths and poinsettias and lights--and of course, to set up our beautiful Nativity and put up a sparkling Christmas tree so full of ornaments that there isn't an empty branch to be found; but we always feel particularly joyful when we light our Advent wreath. The tall votive candles stay lit continuously for a week (or just shy of that), and each Sunday we replace and re-light the ones that have gone out and then light up a new one while reciting special Advent prayers.

It's Advent, and the Christmas season is almost upon us. That's the good news.

The bad news is that this afternoon, we had to say good-bye to our two precious baby granddaughters, after spending a wonderful week and a half with them and their dear parents. We already miss these girls so much! Look at them: aren't they just the most adorable little creatures you've ever laid eyes on?

The twins hanging out on their "tummy time" mat.

But Christmas is only weeks away, and we'll be seeing them the day after. So there's some more good news.