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S'Nami Boh

This is the hymn that is sung in Byzantine Churches for the Christmas Eve Liturgy.  Though the tenor of this video doesn't do Fr. Joseph's deep, resonating bass justice, it is a beautiful hymn, which brings Christmas home to my heart just hearing it.

Christ is born! Glorify Him!!

....

Cookies

Nothing happens at the Black's but the Two Little Girls know about it.  Especially in the kitchen.

If you pull out baking bowls or flour or sugar (particularly sugar) or vanilla, you will soon hear the familiar (sometimes dreaded) sound of their little wooden high-chairs *scroooooonkeeeeenkskenrrnenssk* scraping across the dining room, squeaking slowly (but steadily) into the kitchen, and up to the counter, right in front of your workspace.

"I'm just gonna see what's in this loodle bowl here," they say. 

Oh Christmas Tree

Christmas trees are a serious business here at the in-law's.  The sagas of tree-getting are many and varied (and hilarious).  There was the year that Dad brought home 4 trees. Yeah--four.  Because they were all that the lot had left.  They were so lonely, I guess. 

Then there was the year that they got a 16-some foot tree, since in their old house they had cathedral ceilings.  And the year they lived 30 minutes from any hardware stores and broke three different tree stands trying to hold up a large-ish tree, which means three trips to and from town to get a new stand. 


There was the year they got a fabulous deal on a tree that was supposed to have gone to a large company for their rather large foyer, but the tree somehow never made it there.  So dad brought that one home.  Seriously--this tree was 10 feet in diameter at the bottom.  It was totally ginormous.  


That was the Christmas Taylor and I had started dating.  


That was also the year the Christmas tree nearly fell on me... [story for another time]

Warning

Posing for self-portraits in a pretty handmade Christmas dress leave husbands irresponsible for their actions:

Christmas to Me

To me, Christmas is a time of creativity.  It always has been.  From my earliest memories, Momma was always cooking, baking, gifting, sewing, painting, and decorating.  She loved the holidays. 

Momma's nativity sets, for example, took countless hours of hard, detailed work from start to finish.  She even poured the ceramics herself, and had them fired.  Then there was the basecoat (which we kiddies got to help with--how hard can it be to paint something all one color? (turns out it's rather tricky, to get it not-lumpy and goopy)), which was sealed, then the antiquing, sealing, colored antiquing, more sealing, and finally, the painted details, which Momma mostly did.  

It was just stunning to see her finished sets arranged just so at the parish holiday bazaar.  I wonder how many of her sets are scattered through our home town--how many lovely pieces of Love and talent and dedication adorn the homes of our friends at Christmastime.  

And still, nothing puts me more in a Christmas mood than getting my full box of paints and paint brushes out and, stroke by stroke, bringing clay or ceramic pieces to life.  

My Christmas Dress

My very own Christmas dress.  A good friend sent me a pattern she thought I would like, and I finally cut it out last week.  I started sewing Friday evening and hand-stitched the hem yesterday afternoon, watching Wall-E with my Sweet P'Taylor...  

I remember Christmas dresses when I was a little girl.  Sometimes we would buy them; sometimes, Momma would make them.  On Christmas Eve we would all open one present from under the tree before going to the children's mass as a family.  Momma would often suggest a particular gift for us to open, and I remember once I received a pair of brand new, shiny black, heeled shoes.  I felt so grown up and beautiful walking into Church that night.  Rustling dress, new shoes, warm winter coat.  I sat up straight because I felt like such a lady.  I paid extra close attention because I was so grown-up.

Snow Day

Kris Kringle has been working on some ornaments this month.  Each one stitched by hand.  Each one emerging slowly from pattern pieces and teeny tiny stitches.  Each making an appearance on sometime close to Sunday morning.  A labor of love, though, no matter when they are finished.

They tell a story of a snowy afternoon... coming home from the library.

Wrapped in a warm wool coat..

Three gray buttons keep the cold out.

There's a note in my pocket from someone special..

filled with love.. 

As I passed out of the city, I think I saw a polar bear watching me..

Happy Weekend

I really need one this week.. hope yours is wonder-full!

Do Not Be Afraid, Mary

The first time I visited Taylor's family was during Advent, just after Thanksgiving.  Raised Roman Catholic, I was used to starting advent sometime in December, but Byzantine advent starts two weeks earlier.  The colors, instead of purple and rose (a red-headed Jesuit once emphatically told me it was not pink), are a somber, but still lively red--the color of fasting.

The fast moves through Thanksgiving (Byzantines always make room for feasts!) and the last days of November, entering December with the triumphant feast of Holy Father Nicholas.  As December 25 approaches, everything about the liturgy tingles with anticipation--the melodies, the antiphons, the psalms, the Gospel, and the singing!

In fact, the intensity of the singing in Taylor's house sometimes causes a chuckle during the second and third weeks of advent, when the prokimemon is proclaimed: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have won God's favor.  You will conceive from the Spirit and bear God's son."  Do not be afraid, visitors, we sing this loud because we are very excited for Christmas to come... It's a wonderful way to prepare for the feast. 

For Unto Us a Child is Born!

My sweet husband and I spent a lovely evening together attending the Handel and Haydn Society's annual performance of Handel's Messiah.  It was beautiful.

Every year, Taylor's family attends a Seattle performance of Messiah in Benaroya Hall and we have been lucky enough to have an organization like the Handel and Haydn society to facilitate our continuing the tradition.  Before I met T's family I'd only ever head parts of the performance in movies or on the radio occasionally.

It's an amazing piece of music.  I confess that I don't like everything about it--the florid arias throughout can sometimes seem a bit much to my taste... but there are certain parts, phrases of a few notes or whole pieces that thrill me every time.  The soprano this year was one of the best we've heard, and the clear, smooth note of her voice rang out high and bright like crystal "Come unto Him all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest."

Christmastime

Our little home is getting ready.. we're all getting excited.

I'm so glad to see my favorite ornaments, too.

Hope

The first year Taylor and I were in Boston, he worked a lot on the weekends at a church in Belmont.  He was gone all day on Sundays and often a good deal on Saturdays.  So I had a lot of time on my hands.  I filled the hours with crafting, mostly, and I made an Advent Calendar for us.

I had grown up with a felt calendar which my grandmother had made for our family.  It was so exciting to take turns every day pulling each new ornament out of its numbered pocket and finding the perfect spot to snap it on the tree.  Each ornament had its own explanation, which we read from the little booklet disguised as a present under the felt tree.  It was so perfect for children.

Tradition

to Annie
from K.K.

It's not the same when I type it out.  If you want the full effect of the memory those words have for me when I think of them, they have to be in Momma's handwriting, scrawled in pencil on a Christmas gift tag, attached to an evidently hurriedly-wrapped present found on my pillow in the morning.

Kris Kringle presents were just one of the traditions Momma kept during Advent.  I recall, over the years, we did many things through the Catholic grade school we all attended.  Mostly it was a Jesse tree, which we'd color and cut and paste and decorate at school the last week of November and bring home to keep track on throughout December. There were also the paper chains--do you remember those? Each day's paper link had something helpful to do on it.  But it was our domestic church traditions that are most important to me.

Like those Kris Kringle presents.  Now, I could be romanticizing my past, but I seem to recall we got the best KK presents on the coldest, windiest days of the year, when we were most reluctant to get out of bed.  One morning (probably during Kindergarten), I remember waking up and, looking around, perceiving that it was not in fact Christmas yet, I immediately pulled the covers over my head to go back to sleep.  [Sometimes, I still wish I could do that.]

But, there were still those presents that Kris Kringle (who wrote just like Momma...) left for us as the anticipation grew. They were always rather small presents, nothing too elaborate.  Sometimes it was just a candy or treat wrapped up for us. On Sundays, there was a family gift--something we could all share and enjoy.  Sometimes it was a box of tasty Christmas chocolates, or delicious cookies.  Sometimes it was a beautiful Christmas book, which we would read as a family later that night.

In the evenings on the four Sundays of Advent, Momma would gather us around the dining room table which was always laid, quite simply, with the advent wreath and candles.  It was a gigantic wreath.  I have faint memories of it going with the (artificial) Christmas tree we had for years, but I can't be sure.  All I remember was that it was pokey and big and very green and huge. And it was the very first Christmas decoration we got out every year.  There was a white, 5-candle holder that fit nicely inside it, holding our purple and pink candles.  Momma always had a white candle for the middle, to light on Christmas eve.

So we would all stand around the table, holding hands, all the lights turned off except the candles.  The first week, Vivian lit the candle. The next week, I got to light two.  Bethany lit three the next week (she got to light the pink candle! Pink because the third Sunday means we're almost there. Christ is almost here!) and Summer lit four the Sunday before Christmas.  On Christmas Eve we'd come home from church and Ray would light all five candles (five, Vivian and I thought, that's a whole lot of candles. I wish I could light that many).

And, holding hands, we would sing. [No, not the song from the Grinch] :)  We sang an ancient hymn, blending our voices in the soft glow of candle light, letting the still, silent darkness wrap our melody round with holy waiting.  O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!  And ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.

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

This seems to be the season for remembering traditions.  This is time of year when families gather and spend time together, close inside against the cold.  History emerges from dusty attic boxes; it comes to light at the bottom of a hot cocoa mug.  Tradition and historicity cannot be ignored during the holiday season, as they can much of the rest of the year.  But I say it is a blessing that we cannot hide it.

We can't ignore our past stories. We should seek to understand them and pass them on.  Maybe if they make sense, we'll feel more inclined to hold on to them.  I know I will keep mine close, especially as my family grows, and I have my own little ones to tell stories to.

Craftiness

Remember that list I wrote out last year for all the projects I was working on?  Should I decipher the code? Do you want to know how the gifts turned out?

:)

Good.

1.  4 of these
nursing covers ordered by Mum for some of her friends at church. Complete with matching bags

2.  5 of these

Calendars (via Shutterfly!) for T's family.

3.  5 of these

Irish cable-knit hats for T and his brothers. I actually  made 6, with one green one for Conrad, but I didn't get a picture of him in it (Nina--wanna do me the favor?). I made T's orange one in November, to see how the pattern turned out.

4.  5 of these

Purses for all the girls in T's family! Nina really liked the pink/jean one I made a while back, so I gave her that one. I made a red one for Mum, a green one for Abby, and "mini" purses (I shrunk the pattern a bit) for Lydia and Caellainne. They've been big hits, so far as I know :)  

5.  3 of these  
Lace-knit cowls for some women I know. Let's just say this project didn't make the holiday deadline. I have only gotten half way on the first one. Maybe lace knitting isn't my thing..

6.  1 set of these:  Partner mittens for our good friends in PA.  *aHEM* I still haven't gotten a picture of them in use (Paul?).  BC colors, of course :)

7.  1 of these

scarf for the office "Yankee Swap"

8.  mail this

my favorite Christmas CD (Holly Cole, of course) for our best friends!  Andrew really likes Diana Krall's voice and I told his wife: "If he likes Diana, he'll LOVE Holly."  No complaints so far ;)

9.  Order these 

family picture prints (taken by Mandy) for my Daddy and siblings. I know you haven't received them yet.. but they've been ordered!

10.  2 of these

was going to do hats for two little girls I know... didn't make the holiday deadline either.  They're flower hats, though, so I suppose there's always Easter :)

And want to know what else I did? 

I made Giulia a purse for her birthday

I made T a yoga mat bag for Christmas

...and a pair of hand warmers for New Years/Spring 2010

I made stars for two nativity sets that didn't have them

and (while I had the clay out) I made some magnets

and an ornament for a good friend :)

I finished Bethany's long-awaited mei tai (remember those?)

I made Lorna's Christmas stocking

and some ornaments for Christmas at Daddy's house

I also made 4 "bitty bags"

to go with the purses I made for T's family

WHEW!  No wonder I haven't done anything crafty since I got back to Boston.

Oh Christmas

Christmas Eve was a busy day.  This year, Viv and I learned, in a very hands-on way, how hard Momma worked to make Christmas each year for us.  I know she was there with us this year, helping to make our Christmas wonderful too.

She'd spend hours and hours for weeks before Christmas baking and prepping and decorating and shopping.  We'd easily have 10 different kinds of cookies, several flavors of biscotti, various other homemade cakes and candies, and all manner of candy from the store (yes, it was very easy to gain weight over the holidays at Momma's house) :)  It was glorious!

Every time she'd go out shopping (all through the year, probably), she'd be thinking about Christmas. She'd pick out "something here" "something there" and little tiskets and taskets for our Christmas piles and baskets.  For several years, I helped her wrap presents on Christmas Eve.  She would make the Kringle, and I would wrap--and wrap and wrap, curling ribbon, labeling gift tags, sticking bows on--for hours. The present pile would grow in heaps around me--on the floor, on chairs, on the table--and on my parents bed seemed to remain an un-shrinking pile of more presents to wrap.  Of course, I never wrapped any of my own presents. Viv did that :)

Momma would always oversee the decorating (which, in many ways, was an ongoing process throughout December), telling us where to put each nativity set, and reminding us where certain decorations always went (the twangy Jingle Bell music box always hung between the kitchen and the living room; the Santa music box on the wall next to the mirror).

Dinner on Christmas Eve was either all-you-can-eat fried shrimp or (in the "good ol' days") hamburgers while driving around the neighborhood viewing Christmas lights.  I remember talking to Momma when I was older, noting that so many families had big Christmas Eve dinners, rivaling Thanksgiving Feasts.  She told me she was always too tired to make a "big fancy dinner" on Christmas eve. Last year our Byzantine Holy Supper was definitely a collaborative effort.  It was great, but it was a lot of work!

And then at night, after dinner, even when we were old enough to help her with presents and last minute details, she'd send us to bed long before she went herself. She would stay up, cleaning the kitchen, or wrapping the few gifts she had to find herself in her closet, or putting the finishing touches on the last of the cookies she was baking for us to eat the next day.

So naturally, this Christmas Eve, Viv and I had our hands full. We had done some shopping the day before, for stocking-stuffers.  I couldn't find ornaments I liked (Momma got us each an ornament every year), so I painted some ceramic trinkets from the "leftovers" in the ceramic cupboard.  I sealed them on Christmas Eve, ready to be hung on the stockings. I was even doing some sewing that morning, finishing a gift for Taylor... Momma was looking over my shoulder, I'm sure.

Christmas Eve Mass with Bethany + kids in the evening.

It was so cute to see Michael and Rachel dressed up as a Ram and a Ewe (respectively)--cotton ball t-shirts, of course!  Then Daddy, Viv, T and I came home or Christmas dinner.  I had initially thought (ambitiously) that we could do another Holy Supper.  But (surprise?) when we got home, I was too tired!  I asked everyone if they minded just a shrimp dinner :) and they said it was alright. So that's what we did.  I think we even watched a movie while eating.  Momma was probably chuckling at us :)

I had Viv wrap the stocking presents for Taylor, Daddy, and me.  I had T wrap Viv's stocking presents.  I made the Kringle. Viv cleaned up the kitchen and baked Crispy Chocolate Chip cookies for Daddy.  Daddy looked through the closet for more presents we could wrap.. presents Momma had bought earlier in the year, intending them for various people at Christmas.  Even there, she was with us.

I think Taylor went to bed first (he was still recovering from law school finals!), and Daddy went to bed next, once he was convinced there were no more presents in the closet, and once he had sampled the cookies Viv and I were working on :)

I sent Viv to bed around 2, after we had stuffed the stockings together and the kitchen was mostly clean. I stuffed Taylor's and Vivian's stocking. She stuffed Daddy's and mine.  I had to stay up for just a bit longer for the Kringle.

The house was quiet.

Christmas was ready.

I thought of Momma, laying out all our Santa presents in our respective piles (sometimes we would even pick out which chair we wanted our presents left on, informing her of our choices) :)

I thought of Momma, gingerly placing the baked Kringle on pretty platters on the pretty table, draped with a clean Christmas tablecloth, with the Winter Tea set ready for Christmas morning breakfast.  I thought of her going from room to room, checking on her sleeping children and children-in-law, blessing us as she went.

As I turned out the lights in the kitchen and walked through the softly glowing dining room, past the luminous (if Tiny) Christmas Tree, I whispered my prayers of Thanks for a wonderful evening spent in a House filled with Love.

As I climbed in to bed and snuggled up to my husband, I thought of Momma and Daddy, and how nothing in my life would be as Good as it is if it weren't for the deep Love they shared with each other and the Love and Grace they accepted from Christ throughout the years of their marriage, and even now.  And I'm sure I fell asleep with Momma all around me, around her family, and her desert house, as she whispered her own prayers and blessings for us early on Christmas morning.

Christmastime is Here

Welcome to Boston

We're happy to have you with us, Viv :)

Early

T and I had our own little Christmas this Saturday. I know it's early, but our suitcases are already stuffed with presents we're bringing for other people, so we had to open the ones we had here now.  And if this mini-Christmas is any indication of big-Christmas, this year will be grand.

We had breakfast with the Vollebregts--two of our great friends from undergrad, and it was great to catch up with them! Their flights got in one at night and one in the morning, so Jake crashed at our place and we picked Jess up the next morning. A delightful visit with great friends!

After cleaning up the breakfast dishes, T drove me down to our favorite spot in Brookline Village so I could get some yarn (for the giving tree at St. Clement's) and he could get some oh-so-tasty coffee from KooKoo.  As we were walking into the stores, though, we noticed a "POTTERY SALE" sign on one of the shops. So we stopped in and I found this cute little jewelry holder, which T got me as an early Christmas present. I love it :) It's just perfect for my "pretties." And the purpley glaze in the well at the bottom adds a lovely touch!

When we got home, I made a quick lunch and sat down to knit a scarf. I hope it keeps someone nice and warm (via the giving tree and the Little Brothers of St. Francis). I used a bulky green wool and just knit knit knit the whole skein.

In the afternoon, T went to meet with some of his fellow law students, to commiserate? defy? discuss? anticipate? the impending last final of their first 1L semester (which is today--GOOD LUCK TAYLOR!!).  While he was doing that, I was making the house ready for our Christmas Date.

I cleaned up the living room, set the table, lit some candles, and arranged the presents we had on a table.  I tidied the bedroom, and made the bed.  I warmed up some leftovers for dinner (there's nothing better than a free date night where you also don't have to cook) and put the special Kris Kringle present (for the 6th Sunday of Advent) out with the other presents.

So Taylor came home and we had cabbage soup with bread for an appetizer. Then we had re-heated chicken pieces with baby bok choy and cous cous with tomatoes.  For dessert, we had leftover chocolate cake (but we didn't eat it, we were too full).

After eating we sat down to open presents. Taylor got me two FABULOUS pairs of new flats. I love them! There's a black/darn brown/deep purpley pair (y'know--the color that goes with pretty much everything), and he also got me a very fun pair of reddish-maroony shoes with a big bow on the toe.  They make me happy :)

We opened the Kris Kringle presents that T's Mum (so generously) sent us for each week. She gave Taylor a new Tolkien collection he didn't have yet (Tales from the Perilous Realm), which is a very nice edition of some of our favorite stories and poems! Great illustrations, too. For me, I got a collapsible salad spinner I've had my eye on for a while. Space is precious in a one-bedroom condo in Boston, and I loves me my salads--so this little contraption should be well-loved :)

My brother's family sent us our gifts here in Boston, so we also opened those.  In addition to some fun scrapbooking materials :) they sent us a book on Tolkien and Lewis, and a wall-quotation (that you can stick to your wall so that it looks painted on):

May the hair on your toes never fall off. 

How appropriate :)

We read Tales from the Perilous Realm to each other, and spent a very cozy evening together.  As we headed to bed, the snow started to fall...  All night the wind blew and more snow fell (through the screens on our windows, actually--we had a couple inches in one window sill! (between the inside window and the stomr window)), and in the morning, when we opened the curtains, we has frosted window panes.  Very beautiful, actually :)

And on my walk to the office today, it would seem the remaining students had a lot of fun with the fresh snow.  Or.. it could have been the Jesuits?! This hill is right outside the back door of their residence :)

 Happy Snow, Boston.  Thanks for snowing before we left--a White mini-Christmas--and stopping in time for us to leave!

Can't wait to go to CA. Just a few more hours!

A Night Before Christmas

We had some friends over for dinner last night, a night before Christmas, and one more chance to spend some quality time with awesome people.  I made fig and olive roast chicken, apple sausage stuffing, and a spinach salad.  For dessert, I made a quick "dump and stir" chocolate cake, which was a big hit with the ice cream Kendra brought!  

We did, of course, have plenty of fine and tasty beverages, which we shared and sampled throughout the night.  

I have to admit, I've been very happy with the new arrangement of our living room--it lends itself much better to mingling and socializing without cutting off groups of people.  And because we have the table out of the kitchen now (a smaller butcher block prep cart in its place), there's even room for the inevitable friends who always seem to congregate in the kitchen :) Obviously, they think that's "where it's at." 

Finally, after much catching-up, conversation, and general good cheer, we settled down to play paper charades.  Anyone interested in the rules?  My sides hurt again from laughing so hard! What a great game for a fun group of friends :) 

Enjoy the pictures, folks!

A Night Before Christmas

Rich

In his Christmas letter this year, Fr. Joseph (the priest who married us) wrote some beautiful prose about the season which, for me this year, really hits home, in a deep way.

"Memories are rich, especially at this time of year, and thinking back on past Christmases and holidays, of the beauty of the Church and its Liturgy, of the love and warmth of family life, we learn to cherish these memories, which enrich our celebration even in this Holy season, adding an aura of warmth and love.  How lucky we are to have the glow of the Birth of our Savior to celebrate."

Christ is born! Glorify Him!