Advent is upon us and I'm unprepared
I forgot to buy a wreath and candles and I cannot find the box with the nativity playset in it, so today's homily about advent being about preparation was apt. This will be the third year in a row where we didn't have an advent wreath for the first Sunday of Advent. (Last year I rigged up a psuedo wreath with some napkin rings and it was pretty much as terrible as that sounds.)
I did get an Advent calendar for Pippa though and by get I mean downloaded on the iPad. And now the iPad needs to get taken in for possible repairs so it's unavailable. Sigh.
Advent is supposed to be like a mini-Lent: less severe, and shorter, but still penitential. So I would like to take up one mini-fasting, one mini-alms and one mini-prayer.
Mini-Fasting: Except Sundays, no beverages but water, milk, unsweetened tea and coffee. (ie no pop, no milkshakes, no juice, no alcohol)
Mini-Alms: Make note every time would otherwise buy special beverage. Donate that extra money on Christmas. (Haven't picked recipient yet.)
Mini-Prayer: The St. Andrew Christmas novena. (It says you're supposed to say this 15 times a day. This seems very strange and random to me. 15 isn't a special number in Catholicism. So I'm just saying it one time per day.)
We've switched over to the Alma Redemptoris Mater at bedtime and Pippa is NOT happy about this. "Wait! We have to sing to Our Lady!" she says when we turn off the light. We have tried to explain that we're now in Advent and we sing a different song to Our Lady now, but she hasn't gotten it yet.
I need to sit down and hammer out ASL baby sign for this to get her on board.
Alma Redemptoris Mater,
Loving mother of the redeemer
LOVE JESUS MOTHER
quae pervia caeli porta manes,
who is the gate of heaven
YOU SKY DOOR
et stella maris,
and star of the sea
SEA STAR
succurre cadenti
provide succor
HELP US
Surgere qui curat, populo:
to the people who have fallen but are rising up
FALL DOWN PEOPLE, UP
tu quae genuisti,
you gave birth
PREGNANT YOU
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem
to the wonderment of nature, to your own creator
ALL WONDERFUL, MAKE YOU GOD NOW BABY,
Virgo prius ac posterius,
Virgin before and after
BEFORE VIRGIN, AFTER VIRGIN
Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave,
the one who was hailed by Gabriel
YOU ANGEL SAY HELLO YOU
peccatorum miserere.
have mercy on sinners
HAVE-MERCY-ON-us
(Disclaimer: this is not even pretending to be real, adult ASL. It is only halfway pretending to be ASL baby talk for a hearing toddler. Its focus is mostly on fun or simple signs [WONDERFUL, ANGEL], signs we know well [BABY, SKY, LOVE], and otherwise useful signs [HELP, MAKE, BEFORE/AFTER]. Thus I sometimes avoid more accurate signs in favor of signs that are simpler, more fun, already known, or more useful. I'm completely open and appreciative of suggestions to improve it.)
This is Pippa's current favorite ASL rhyme:
UNDER SKY, STARS
UNDER STARS, TREE
UNDER TREE, BLANKET
UNDER BLANKET (continuing movement, hiding face with hands), (reveal face) ME!
---
I don't want to go to bed because I've been having nightmares lately. Which is counterproductive because I know you're more likely to have nightmares if you're stressed and overtired. The worst part is that they aren't obviously fake nightmares like being attacked by an axe murderer or whatever. They're all just plausible enough that I often even ask my husband if what happened was real or just a dream. For example, dreaming that we were being evicted, or dreaming that I had a loan that I didn't know about and that it had gone delinquent (which in the dream had worse consequences than I think would actually occur in real life).
Sometimes they're more weird though. The weirdest one of the recent batch was a dream where my husband collapsed and was breathing but unconscious. My cell phone had no service so I couldn't call 911. We were in a public building, a maze-like one like a school or hospital, and I kept trying to get help but no one would help me. They kept telling me I was in the wrong place, blocking an entrance etc and didn't seem to care that I was dragging around a comatose dude. I'm guessing this was residual anxiety/frustration about dealing with social systems that prioritize correctness over mercy. "You should know this already and if you don't it's your fault and I can't help you."
I did get an Advent calendar for Pippa though and by get I mean downloaded on the iPad. And now the iPad needs to get taken in for possible repairs so it's unavailable. Sigh.
Advent is supposed to be like a mini-Lent: less severe, and shorter, but still penitential. So I would like to take up one mini-fasting, one mini-alms and one mini-prayer.
Mini-Fasting: Except Sundays, no beverages but water, milk, unsweetened tea and coffee. (ie no pop, no milkshakes, no juice, no alcohol)
Mini-Alms: Make note every time would otherwise buy special beverage. Donate that extra money on Christmas. (Haven't picked recipient yet.)
Mini-Prayer: The St. Andrew Christmas novena. (It says you're supposed to say this 15 times a day. This seems very strange and random to me. 15 isn't a special number in Catholicism. So I'm just saying it one time per day.)
We've switched over to the Alma Redemptoris Mater at bedtime and Pippa is NOT happy about this. "Wait! We have to sing to Our Lady!" she says when we turn off the light. We have tried to explain that we're now in Advent and we sing a different song to Our Lady now, but she hasn't gotten it yet.
I need to sit down and hammer out ASL baby sign for this to get her on board.
Alma Redemptoris Mater,
Loving mother of the redeemer
LOVE JESUS MOTHER
quae pervia caeli porta manes,
who is the gate of heaven
YOU SKY DOOR
et stella maris,
and star of the sea
SEA STAR
succurre cadenti
provide succor
HELP US
Surgere qui curat, populo:
to the people who have fallen but are rising up
FALL DOWN PEOPLE, UP
tu quae genuisti,
you gave birth
PREGNANT YOU
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem
to the wonderment of nature, to your own creator
ALL WONDERFUL, MAKE YOU GOD NOW BABY,
Virgo prius ac posterius,
Virgin before and after
BEFORE VIRGIN, AFTER VIRGIN
Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave,
the one who was hailed by Gabriel
YOU ANGEL SAY HELLO YOU
peccatorum miserere.
have mercy on sinners
HAVE-MERCY-ON-us
(Disclaimer: this is not even pretending to be real, adult ASL. It is only halfway pretending to be ASL baby talk for a hearing toddler. Its focus is mostly on fun or simple signs [WONDERFUL, ANGEL], signs we know well [BABY, SKY, LOVE], and otherwise useful signs [HELP, MAKE, BEFORE/AFTER]. Thus I sometimes avoid more accurate signs in favor of signs that are simpler, more fun, already known, or more useful. I'm completely open and appreciative of suggestions to improve it.)
This is Pippa's current favorite ASL rhyme:
UNDER SKY, STARS
UNDER STARS, TREE
UNDER TREE, BLANKET
UNDER BLANKET (continuing movement, hiding face with hands), (reveal face) ME!
---
I don't want to go to bed because I've been having nightmares lately. Which is counterproductive because I know you're more likely to have nightmares if you're stressed and overtired. The worst part is that they aren't obviously fake nightmares like being attacked by an axe murderer or whatever. They're all just plausible enough that I often even ask my husband if what happened was real or just a dream. For example, dreaming that we were being evicted, or dreaming that I had a loan that I didn't know about and that it had gone delinquent (which in the dream had worse consequences than I think would actually occur in real life).
Sometimes they're more weird though. The weirdest one of the recent batch was a dream where my husband collapsed and was breathing but unconscious. My cell phone had no service so I couldn't call 911. We were in a public building, a maze-like one like a school or hospital, and I kept trying to get help but no one would help me. They kept telling me I was in the wrong place, blocking an entrance etc and didn't seem to care that I was dragging around a comatose dude. I'm guessing this was residual anxiety/frustration about dealing with social systems that prioritize correctness over mercy. "You should know this already and if you don't it's your fault and I can't help you."