Advent

How My Family Prepares for Christmas

December 17, 2019






A blessed day to you all!

Now that Christmas is fastly approaching, my family is deep in Christmas preparations!

To be frank, I never thought about blogging about this - I thought it rather boring. But my bloggy buddy MovieCritic encouraged me to write this post, so here goes!

Rorate Mass, Advent 2018
Copyright: Catherine Hawthorn

1st-2nd Week of Advent

For Advent, we have a hand-made Advent calendar that my great-aunts made. Our Advent Calendar is kind of a blend between a traditional Advent calendar and a Jesse Tree. The base is a felt Christmas tree and each day, there is a felt ornament that goes on it. Corresponding to those are slips of paper with Bible readings and prayers, but not in strict time order like a Jesse Tree is. We've had to make some minor notations to these - the original was made with the King James Bible, and 3/4s of the family uses the Douay-Rheims. Most of the time, that isn't too much of a problem, but there are some that the verse numbers don't correspond. Nothing like reading a Bible verse about trial and tribulation and then find that the paper was about joy.....

We used to do an Advent Wreath as well, but we kinda fell out of that because....no one remembered about it. And candles kept disappearing. And we couldn't agree on the proper readings to go with the wreath either....

Oh, and a lot of the times, the outside Christmas decorations will also be set up. We have a light-up Santa Sleigh that my grandparents gave us, and a Shepherd's crook with lights over it. There are a few other light up things we may put out, as well as some outdoor lights around the windows. HOWEVER, these are not turned ON until much later in the month. This way, we take advantage of softer ground and slightly warmer temperatures....

For the first two weeks of Advent, this is typically how far we go. Unless you are me, who completes half of her Christmas shopping in November, and typically finishes about this time.


This picture was taken several years ago, but this is what our big Christmas tree typically looks like. 
Copyright: Catherine Hawthorn

3rd Week of Advent

This is when the Christmas preparations really begin to happen.

The first thing that comes on is the Christmas music. We tend to have a bit of argument about that every year, because Tyler (the Protestant brother) likes to listen to Christmas music after Thanksgiving, and the rest of us don't want to listen to it until much later. We make up for it after Christmas Day - after all, the end of the liturgical season for Christmas/Epiphany is Feb 2.

The Christmas decorations also come down from the attic at this time. We start with the house decorations, which include 2-3 creches. These latter things are either set up and covered until Christmas, or the empty creche will stand until closer to Christmas. 2 sets are complete with shepherds and animals. The third one is one that came as a partial and that we added to it as years went on. It's pretty close to complete now, just missing a couple more shepherds and it could use another sheep or two.

The Jesus Gift box will also come down. It's a small cardboard box wrapped in old Christmas paper with a slit in it. It is sealed shut, and thus it will remain. Slips of paper will then be set out, and any sacrifices that we make for Jesus will be written down and placed in the box. Only the person and Jesus know about it :).

When we were younger, we used to pair this tradition with straw for the Creche. Our first creche set (the partial one I mentioned) had no straw in it when we bought it from my church. One year, I decided to remedy that by taking some straw from an old archery target we had. We've kept that straw ever since.

Christmas shopping typically happens during this week. Our living room will also be shifted to accommodate the big Christmas Tree!

Christmas cookies!!
Copyright: Catherine Hawthorn


4th Week of Advent

Depending on when Christmas falls, our trees usually goes up right before the 4th Sunday of Advent. The big tree is a 50 years old artificial tree that reaches our ceiling. Leveling the pole is the biggest headache of the year, and then lifting the sagging branches is not much better. That is Mom's department though.

I am in charge of the little artificial tree, which typically resides in our family office. That one isn't as old, and it's about 3 ft high.
Several years ago, we discovered that we had too many ornaments for the big tree. So we sorted a lot of the non-breakable ornaments out and placed them on this little tree.

This week is also when the BAKING happens!

Traditionally, we always make Cinnamon Twist bread. Lately, each of us kids has made a batch, which is 2 loaves. Freezing it allows us to have bread through Christmas and New Years.

I will then also make my Christmas Cookies. I typically make between 2-5 kinds of cookies. Gingerbread cookies are always made. Other kinds could be sugar cookies, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies, and Italian Fig cookies.

As all glorious chaos is going on, we also have present wrapping happening, and of course, the last minute Christmas shopping as we discover that the online gifts are NOT coming in time....LOL.

And that brings us to Christmas Eve!

My mother and Tyler will go to their Christmas Eve service first, while the Catholics of the house will typically sleep. Unless I happen to be baking, which I typically am on Christmas Eve.
And then before the rest of us go to Midnight Mass, I will typically lay out the stockings and make sure most of the presents are under the tree.

Mom will then make the final preparations as we're travelling up.

And then comes the big Nativity day, which starts with Mass, a few hours of sleep, then opening stockings and unwrapping gifts. Followed then by a month of rejoice, cookie eating, and watching the snow fall outside.

Goodness, I'd better stop rambling or else we'll still be here when Christmas comes! How does your family prepare for Christmas? 

Old-fashionably yours,

Catherine

Advent

What "Christmas Music" Can I Listen to in Advent?

December 10, 2019





Hello all!

Our society celebrates "the Christmas season" from the end of Thanksgiving until Christmas Day. Christmas decorations are going up and of course, shopping.

But for some of us, it can get a little awkward especially in the beginning of the season as Christmas music, which is increasingly becoming more and more secular as time goes on, is played on the stereos.

I personally do not participate in the full "secular" Christmas season. I did as a child. But as I grow more in my Faith, I now celebrate Advent, which is the liturgical preparation for Christmas. Part of that, and the most obvious, is that I refuse to listen to Christmas music until the 4th week of Advent.

But does that mean that I only listen to 6 versions of "O Come O Come Emmanuel"?

(Well, I do have 6 covers of O Come O Come Emmanuel in my Advent playlist, but that is neither here nor there. There are much more Advent hymns that exist, and for anyone who wants recommendations on Advent music, feel free to contact me.)

The answer is no!

When I initially developed my Advent playlist two years ago, I thought that it could only be made of hymns. What secular music would be appropriate as most was celebrating Christmas before it was even here?

It wasn't until I was developing my Christmas playlists that I found several songs that were either appropriate for winter or spoke to the longing and preparation that makes up the Advent season.


And today, I'm going to share what those songs are! For the sake of convenience, I've only included "mainstream" music hits. I've not put up any Christmas Pop songs either, most of which I find have a lustful undertone that I find offensive.



"Silver Bells" - The line "Soon it will be Christmas Day" is what started my search for secular Christmas music appropriate for Advent. If there was one, there had to be more?


"Sleigh Ride" - This is more of a winter carol than a Christmas one, but since snow often falls in Advent, I don't see much problem with it.


"I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas" - This is one of my "radio favorites" that I listened to growing up. I highly recommend looking up the backstory of this song :)


"It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas" - Another traditional radio favorite, this song speaks of society preparing for Christmas.


"I'll be Home for Christmas" - A wartime song, it speaks of the longing to be home for Christmas.


"Jingle Bells" - This is more of a winter carol than a Christmas one, but since snow often falls in Advent, I don't see much problem with it.


"You're A Mean One, Mister Grinch" - This is only if you like the Grinch or not. I personally do :)


"Let it Snow" - This is more of a winter carol than a Christmas one, but since snow often falls in Advent, I don't see much problem with it.


"Winter Wonderland" - This is more of a winter carol than a Christmas one, but since snow often falls in Advent, I don't see much problem with it.


"White Christmas" - The longing tone is definitely present especially in "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas".


"Jingle Bell Rock" - This is more of a winter carol than a Christmas one, falling in similar vein to the traditional "Jingle Bells".


"Santa Claus is Coming to Town" - Since this song speaks of Santa's preparations, I view it as appropriate for Advent (if you believe in Santa, of course).


"Santa's Gonna Come in a Pickup" - similar vein to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" except it's a humorous banter between Alvin and the Chipmunks and country music star Alan Jackson.


"Deck the Halls" - This is more appropriate closer to Christmas (I would say closer to end of the Third Week of Advent). It's one of my favorite carols to sing to as I'm decorating the house for Christmas.


"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" - This is more appropriate closer to Christmas (I would say closer to end of the Third Week of Advent). Christmas wishes are already being passed along...


I'm sure that there are a few obscure ones out there that didn't make this list, but that should give you an idea of what music to search up if you're looking for a little shot of Christmas to get you through Advent :)

If you celebrate Advent, how do you celebrate it? When do you start listening to Christmas music? 

Old-fashionably yours,

Catherine


crochet

The Veil of Black

December 07, 2019





A blessed day to you, dear reader! 

Some of you may remember that I mentioned that I had a black lace veil that I made recently....with many promises to show you the process once it was completed. I'm happy to say that (as of a couple of months ago) this has been done and I now can show it to you! 



I started with making the large motifs for the bottom edge. I fell in love with the Irish Rose motif in the design process; but when I made the first one, I discovered that they were a lot bigger and poofier than it looked in the book. So they were relegated to the bottom edge with these nice leaf motifs. 




The next step was to redesign the "body" section of the veil - which required making a new style of motif. The stem portion of these motifs was in the same book I got the rest of the motifs from, but the flowers came from an online pattern - they are primroses. The leaves were free-handed, but based on the bigger leaves that I made earlier. 





Above is the fully designed veil. It is a half-circle veil, with rose, leaf, and primrose motifs. I'm using a jigsaw of cardboard pieces in order to keep everything flat - a method that caused a lot of grief later. The size is quite large - I had designed it to reach my waist to cover all of my hair - and the width is a lot longer than I had originally intended. 



The next step was to make the "ground" which connects all the motifs. I decided to do a plain ground of chain stitches, making a sort of diamond pattern. It was more free-hand than following the pattern, much to my chagrin. Thumbtacks did most of the holding, which caused grief in and of itself - the points being almost too short for any decent use. 




The extra difficulty too was that, because of lack of space, there was no way that I could keep the work flat. I'm using a table here, and I'm working my way up - a terrible strategy. It was also super difficult to keep everything stretched which made for some really wonky looking sections. 



The ground is now complete, and you can still see the motifs clearly! As you can see, I'm also starting to edge it with a "wheel" edge. Because of the dramatic motifs on the bottom edge, I didn't want a really big edge. 







Once this edge was done, it was time to try it on for the first time. The first thing I noticed was that it was super stretchy and that it sagged down on my head. So, I spent several hours trying to starch the finished veil in order for it to stand up a little better.

As these pictures show, it's still a little on the stretchy side, so more starching is in order in the future. One thing that I did not take into account was just how much "ground" separated the motifs. Much more of the detail was on laying on the front.




The length actually also made it conducive to being a fancy shawl too :) 

All in all, it's not bad for a first try at veil-making. Though I will say, that I think I'm going to re-try it and make it....smaller. Or at least not so wide. And maybe find some bigger motifs. 

Or, with my luck, someone will buy me a black lace veil. 

Have you ever tried making a veil/mantilla, or done any lace crochet? 

Old-fashionably yours, 

Catherine

My Photos

Operation Vintage Makeover: All the Photos!!

October 30, 2019





Hello everyone!!

Because the Reveal Video was published yesterday, I can now share all those photos that I intended to put into a post, but just never got around to it. These will also give close-up photos of some of the stuff in the room that you could glimpse in the video.

Enjoy!!







I have to shove all this in that bottom drawer of the sewing cabinet??

My Bookshelves: 




Closet Repair:








Didn't fit. Time to get the drill out....






Adding in the Switchplates: 





Drat, forgot to rotate this one. 




Polishing and moving furniture: 






Decor Pieces: 













Curtain Making: 




Hmmm, that bobbin tension is obviously off....


Tried felling for the first time....I quite like it actually....





Final polishing: 


Clean v. Dirty. Wow, what a difference Murphy's Oil Soap makes....




Yeesh. Those brass handles were tarnished a lot more than I thought they were. 


And now Operation Vintage Makeover is officially behind me.....I shall have to find some other big project to work on....


Old-fashionably yours, 

Catherine 



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