Have you ever made a snowman? When I was growing up our snow was the perfect ‘snowman snow’ : wet and good for packing.

I hope you will enjoy this story as much as I did….

I hope you will enjoy this story as much as I did….

Sick of sitting in front of the television every single night? Grab a thermos of coffee/tea or hot chocolate and head out to one of the many light displays around your city. Many neighbourhoods are getting into the Christmas spirit by ‘lighting up the night’ and you don’t have to pay a thing for this entertainment.

Year’s ago I saved an idea I once saw on Pinterest. I was so attracted to this old fashioned looking, framed Christmas tree but since I always seemed to be busy with my weekly routines/work I never made the time for it.

Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind.

The Shepherd’s Candle is the third candle which is pink or rose. It represents Gaudette Sunday and the joy that the birth of Christ brought to the world. Traditionally, on Gaudette Sunday one takes a break from Advent fasting to experience the joy of the day.

Lockdown. It has been ten months with the disease swirling around us and we have felt fairly safe. It started just as the pretty new buds appeared on the trees and soon enough summer would bring brilliant green grasses to walk through with a friend at arm’s length.

A professor gave a balloon to every student, who had to inflate it, write their name on it and throw it in the hallway.

Once a week we’ve decided to lift our spirits by getting in the car and driving out to see the light displays.

I’m thinking of joining “Crafters Anonymous” ha ha. I think this is partly due to the fact that we are normally travelling so much and now we are grounded. In fact, we just got the difficult news that our province is in complete lockdown because our Covid numbers are through the roof.

Usually, in our ‘neck o’ the woods’ by the time December rolls around the temperature hovers around -14 and stays there.

I believe this wonderful poem was originally written by Allan Peterson and called “Myth of the Marriage Box”.

Our son was around 8 years old. And he was just starting to question if there was really a Santa Claus.

There’s something about this ‘lockdown’ time that is making me feel like doing Christmas crafts.

Last night Terry and I made yummy hot chocolate/coffee combos, poured them in our thermos’ and drove down to Whyte Avenue to see “Light Up The Night On Whyte”.

This month I have the honour of once again being a part of the Woman of Substance Podcast.

We stand or sit apart now and it still might not be enough to stop this lion that is Covid. Numbers in Alberta are now the worst in Canada and it’s scary. It always was but now it is even more real somehow.

Happy Advent!

One of my favourite ‘Advent Journey’ books is called ‘Donkey Bells’ . It was written by Catherine Doherty, the foundress of Madonna House. Terry and I have become very close to our friends at Madonna House which resides at the Marian Centre downtown. But you can find Madonna Houses all over the world.

In 27 days it will be Christmas. Tomorrow, November 29th is the first day of Advent already!