Tuesday 16th December - Christmas Preparations and The O Antiphons

Our Christmas Tree is out, but not up.

We've a fair way to go yet. The two green storage bags of decorations are down ready, plus sundry other bags and boxes, condensed from what seemed like hundreds to just four.

Compared to years gone by, when we used to cut the top off the real tree to fit into the corner, this is a tiddly little one, and artificial at that, but so much easier to manage. 

I don't know why we never had a problem with the cats, even when they were kittens. Maybe we had already convinced them that 'NO!' was an absolute and non-negotiable command... 

We didn't that a problem the first Christmas once our children had grown from babies to toddlers. We just stuck the Christmas tree on a little table inside the playpen, and childproofed the bottom 2-3 feet of the house. Plus the 'look don't touch' rule was already established from visits to shops. 

One child was left-handed, and the other right-handed; I don't know whether it was me or BB who had the bright idea of arranging it so they held hands in such a way that the left-handed one used their left hand to hold the other's right hand; 'now, hold hands please, look after each other,' we'd say, and for some reason that was very effective and stopping them from touching everything on the shelves.   

.....

It's been a marathon effort, or so it seems; but 50 cards made it to the post today, and four parcels are wrapped and almost ready to go. The next batch of cards are all to be hand delivered locally later this week, or maybe early next week. 

The Notebook and stitching swaps will not make it in time for Christmas, but he, it's always good to have something to brighten up the 'in between' days after Christmas and before New Year.

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The O Antiphons; I blog these almost every Christmas; it's a part of my Advent and I'm always a bit annoyed with myself if I forget the start date which is actually 17th December, or tomorrow.

You can read a fuller description here. There are 7 Antiphons, or short prayers, traditionally used at the evening service using words taken from the Bible. They are thought to originate from Italy in about the 6th Century.

It occurred to me that if I wait to share today's Antiphon until tomorrow, you might not read this until the next day, so here is tomorrow's antiphon today.   

O Antiphon for 17th December;

Wikipedia