welcome winter on the fourth sunday of advent

tea and stollen at 10:03 in the morning when the sun was at it's most southern point . . 

after which we went with chanda in search of a tree in the neighborhood and found one on seventh avenue. it was a concolor fir, one of our favorites as it has soft needles and a light bark. we were surprised to find one! chanda even talked the tree salesperson down a little in price . . good negotiating!

sawing off the tip before putting it in the stand . . 

time for a pluto inspection . . 

it's late now and i'm very tired. i just finished going over three lists and consolidated them for what needs to be done tomorrow and tuesday. we missed a solstice celebration at a local garden that we had considered going to, and i also missed a zoom get together with knitting friends and bayron handknits that was at 4 pm. there was just so much to do today. (i've missed the knitting get together for the past three months . . well, here's hoping for january.) anyway . . 

happy solstice . . 

and happy fourth sunday of advent.

snow day and the third sunday of advent

we were out early for a walk in the snow . .

zuzu enjoyed watching the snow whirl by . . 

the view from the living room window . . 

breakfast with chanda .  .

talking on the phone with morgan . .  

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this evening we welcomed the third sunday of advent . . 

the first light of advent is the light of stones,

light that lives in seashells, in crystals and in bones.

the second light of advent is the light of plants,

plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.

the third light of advent is the light of beasts,

light of hope that shines in the greatest and the least.

and we sang:

people look east the time is near,

of the crowning of the year,

make your house fair as you are able,

trim the hearth and set the table -

people look east and sing today!

love the guest is on the way.

furrows be glad though earth is bare,

one more seed is planted there,

give up your strength the seed to nourish,

that in course the flower may flourish -

people look east and sing today!

love the guest is on the way.

birds though ye long have ceased to build,

guard the nest that must be filled,

even in the hour when wings are frozen,

he for fledgeling time has chosen -

people look east and sing today!

love the bird is on the way.

it's very cold now, too . . when chanda returned from visiting friends she said everything was frozen outside; sidewalks and streets were icy and chunks of snow were falling from the trees. 

and there is much to catch you up on with korrina's new job! today was her sixth day of work. of course there is much to catch up on with everything . . i will try as these next days fly by . . (here's yesterday morning).

sunday, december 7th

delicious chocolates for st. nicholas day . . 

greg and i took a walk in the late afternoon to a coffee shop we had never been to before . . 

nutcrackers along the way at the local dry cleaner and tailor shop . . 

we shared a pot of creamy hot and sweet cardamom coffee. i didn't think we would drink it all . . but we did . . and i worked on my knitting (a joji locatelli pattern from her mystery shawl knit-a-long).

we stopped on the way home for kitty litter and cat food . .

and to admire st. anthony's creche . . i sent photos to my sister who had attended a special creche festival at her church where she had included a pretty white one of our grandmother's (mom's mom):

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at home we had dinner with chanda and lit our wood advent wreath for the second sunday of advent . .

and played a round of bananagrams . . happy st. nicholas day, and happy advent.

fourth sunday of advent

 
on our way to visit kendall and aurélien this morning, morgan and i passed this frozen water bottle . . !

their sweet christmas tree underneath which we sneaked a few gifts!

morgan brought three books from london for him, and i had picked up a book titled flow and a yellow taxi cab car.

we chatted and drank hojicha tea with slices of apple and delicious cheese from saturday's green market. kendall shared her thoughts about several schools she had visited for aurélien to attend next year. applications are due in january.

reading the paddington bear book . . 

some of their tree decorations . . 

back at home i had a cup of bellocq's christmas tea with stollen . . 

and chanda fixed the lights on the tree.

and trimmed some of the lower branches.

our fourth sunday of advent meal . . (faicco's chicken sausage with einkorn penne pasta and sautéed kale and fresh spinach from our favorite farm at the green market).

cleaning up afterwards . . (while i spoke with korrina on the phone. she had run several errands in the cold weather today and was happy to be home again, relaxing with dinner and hot tea . . and wash the cat.)

decorating the tree . . 

pluto kept an eye on things . . of course.

hot chocolate . .

and caroling . .

the fourth light of advent is the light of you and i,

the light of love, of thought, to give and understand.

we also sang good king wenceslas, people look east, and children go, where i send thee.

people look east, the time is near,

of the crowning of the year. 

make your house fair as you are able,

trim the hearth and set the table.

people look east and sing today,

love the guest is on the way . . 

angels announce to man and beast,

he, who cometh from the east!

set every peak and valley humming,

with the word the lord is coming.

people look east and sing today,

love the lord is on the way.