Why not, make an Advent Wreath !!

You'll need:

Four candles

Floral foam

Green boughs, ivy, berries or whatever kind of greenery you want.

Decorations as you like.

The first thing to do is to cut the floral foam to fit the shallow bowl, platter or dish you're going to use to create the wreath.( Don't use anything flat).

Immerse the floral foam in water and leave it for a fews hours until it is wet all through.

Place the foam in a dish, or a serving platter. I repeat, something that is not flat, that has a bit of a rim..because during the month you'll want to be adding water to keep the branches fresh.

Stick the candles into the foam: two by two in the center, in a circle , one in each corner if it's square or rectanguler or in a straight line or however you want.

Fill in around the candles and the sides of the foam with the greenery to give a certain form to the weath.

Then decorate with: ribbons, berries, pine cones, little christmas decorations....minitures candy canes..whatever you like.

And remember, for each of the four Sundays before Christmas, light a candle: one for the first Sunday, two for the second Sunday , continuing until the forth Sunday, when all the candles will be lit.

Remember too, as you light the candles, to prepare your heart and home to joyously welcome the LOVE , HOPE and PEACE brought to earth on that first Christmas Eve.

Advent

"O come ,O come Emmanuel... "

is a beautiful hymn that hearlds in the Advent Season.

Tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent, time to light your first advent candle.

Advent comes from the latin word"adventus" meaning, "coming",

expectant waiting.

I don't remember doing much to observe Advent when I was a child at home..

In the States, Christmas trees and decorations go up so quickly in December, they seem to over shadow, the Advent time of preparation for the Nativity.

I happened to be in a fall unit when I was in BVS, and still in New Windsor in December; and it was there that I made my first Advent wreath. One of our young leaders had spent a few years as a volunteer in Germany, and she introduced us to the wreath.

The Advent wreath is a Germanic tradition. The form, round, of the wreath

evokes the sun and announces its return. The Christains took up this tradition giving another significance to it. That of waiting for the return of Jesus, not only his Nativity at Christmas, but his second coming, too.

For four Sundays prior to Christmas a candle is lit.

The tradition is to use purple candles, but I never knew this and started making the wreathes with red candles....and now that I do know, I still use red candles because I think they're so much more festive!

Making a wreath has long become a tradition for me.

I love finding the branches, washing and drying them , and making them into wreathes...I've kind of run out of ideas as far as decorating them goes, but each year's is a bit different.

Observing advent , is a perfect way to preparer for Christmas, to remind ourselves, our kids and grandkids of its true meaning.

I received a lovely Christmas card one year. It showed two little angels kneeling beside the manger, one is saying to the other,

" His name is Jesus, He is the reason for the season".

In all the hustle and bustle of the moment, let's not forget the little angels' words!

Here's wishing you all a very Happy, Meaningful Advent;

Happy Thanksgiving

Thou hast given us so much to us, dear Lord,
Give one thing more.....a grateful heart.
George Herbert

Our table is set; together with friends we'll be
remembering this most wonderful of holidays.
We wish you were all close enough that we could add a place for you , too!
Have a Wonderful, Blessed, Day!!
HAPPY THANKGIVING!!

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Memory is the treasure of all things and their guardian.

Cicero

The old wooden bridge over the mill race . The picture was taken many years ago probably by Uncle Dick Simpson.

Grandma and Grandpa Oliver Hoke's family farmhouse. Again, it's an old picture, probably taken by Uncle Dick

This pictures was taken by my sis , Molly, in 1968 or there abouts,

looking from 421 west waverly towards the old red barn at farm.

I've posted these pictures to go along with this lovely old song that came
floating through my mind last night as I was lying awake in bed, thinking about Thanksgiving.

"Over the River and Through the Woods"

Over the river and through the woods,
To grandmother's house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
Through the white and drifted snow, O!
Over the river and through the woods,
Oh how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes, and bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the woods,
To have a first-rate play;
Oh hear the bells ring, 'Ting-a-ling-ling!'
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day, Hey!
Over the river and through the woods,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground, like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day, Hey!

Over the river and through the woods,
And straight through the barnyard gate,
We seem to go extremely slow.
It is so hard to wait!
Over the river and through the woods,
Now grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!"

I don't know if anyone besides me remembers this song. I sure hope so!

My folks use to sing it when we were kids. Of course I couldn't remember all the words, so I went looking for them.

Today, if someone were to write a song about Thanksgiving it would be more like:

"Over the river and mountains high,

To grandmother's house we fly"

But the song I remember was written by Lydia Maria Child in the year 1844 to celebrate her childhood memories of visiting her grandfather's house. It originally appeared as a poem, in Flowers for Children, Volume 2.

Lydia Maria Child was a novelist, journalist, and teacher, and wrote exstensively about the need to eliminate slavery. (I learned all this and much more that I'm not going to post, while looking for the complete lyrics to the song.)

I'm just curious to know if it's still remembered and sung?

It has such a lilting , pretty melodie and fun words.

Well, I'll stop for today and continue another time.

I do have wonderful memories though of Thanksgiving, those of my childhood and those we celebrated here in Morocco with our own family. Even if it is not a holiday in Morocco, we always made it a very important one in our home, we've always had so much to be thankful for.

I just received these pictures of Enzo and my sis in law , Mara's, kitty, so
I'm sharing.

The kitty's name is "Azur".

Our morning moon

Morning moon

I opened the shutter this morning and there in the sky , high over the Kesbah, was the moon!

I remember 40 years ago seeing the moon in the Moroccan sky in the morning and being fascinated by it.

I don't ever remember as a child in Indiana seeing the moon in the sky in the morning...you who are still there, must let me know if this does happen. At any rate , this am. , I ran down the hall to the living room, grabbed my camera and took this picture.

Of course Mr. Moon ( or madame "la LUNE," if you're French) is looking a bit less magnificent than last night when he/she was brilliantly shinning through thin clouds, surrounded by a large, round, soft, difusing halo of light.

But then who, could shine so brightly all night long and still be beeming in the morning??!!

Have a great day everyone!

Little Friends

Corinne and her kidders: Alexandre, Marion and Capucine.
A lovely smile from Marion

I called her and she looked up for this nice snap.

Three little Benoists

Capucine and Alexandre

The three of us.

Meet my little friends that were here on visit the first week of November.. they used to live in Agadir, but moved back to France about two years ago. Agadir is like that, a very welcoming, growing city which is "home" temporarily to many young families.

Alexandre 7, and Capucine 5, have a very special place in my heart because they were my "grand kidders" before I had grand kids of my own. We had a wonderful time together with their Mom, Corinne and new little sis Marion, 16 months old. They're dear friends.

The day after the rain

The aleo vera and plam tree shimmering and shining in the sun.

Our Kitty Poushka, happy to nap in the warm rays!!

An Atlantic full of mud!!

See the brownish-red color of the ocean?

It's almost the same color as the roof of hotel.

The Oued Souss full and running

The sun is out again today, but I've some pretty good proof of the amount of rain that fell. The Oued Souss which has been dry as a BONE for years was full and running when we came home from our friends' yesterday...I only got this one snap as we were crossing the bridge, but the muddy water is easy to make out!

Also today the ocean water is more brown than blue in color..if you look closley you can see the fine line of BLUE water next to the sky line, that's where the mud has not yet arrived. If all the rivers in the atlas foothills near us ran as much as the Oued Souss did, it's plain to see why the Atlantic is now the color it is..

Ok, all for today!

It's Raining cats and dogs!!

Our palm trees getting a deserving warm shower!!

There are beautiful bouganvillia on the outside..

but they've just become a blurr of purple!!

Beautiful big drops of rain on our windows...Just try and look out. It's impossible!!!

What a wonderful way for us to start the month of November, it's raining cats and dogs. Our little den was slightly flooded when we got up this am., and the streets are probably going to look like mini venice canals, but we're still happy with the rain. Everything will be soo clean and fresh afterwards, and this rain will add extra color and warmth to our pointsettas who will soon be blooming!

This weather makes me feel real "wintery"..last night I made two pumpkin pies, hmmmm, with fresh pumpkin, of course. We're invited for lunch today and I'm taking them with me..By now most of our friends like PUMPKIN PIE.

All for now, hope all is well wherever you are. Enjoy OUR RAINY DAY!!!!