Merry Christmas!

Our soup days are nearly over and part of me is relieved, looking forward to filling and fulfilling food, but part of me dreads every night feeling....satisfied. We are so, so blessed here.

It has been a good advent.

Today we bake springerles and make cranberry sauce. Tomorrow we (hopefully) ice skate in the day and get all dressed for dinner at the same place we always enjoy on Christmas Eve with Grandma Carol. Christmas morning will be filled with wonder the way it always is. The Abbey Mass will resound glorious Gregorian awe in it's small, humble chapel and we'll kiss the Infant lying there in a manger. My time in the kitchen on Christmas day this year will be spent on turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes instead of our usual Christmas dinner as I've been desperately craving the pilgrim meal since Thanksgiving day. And so we break tradition, just this once.

The ritual begins....but before I go I'll leave you with a few soul inspiring links. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Excerpt of One Thousand Gifts....from the book so many of us are waiting for

Wonderous Love....proof that you don't need many words to say it all

Merry Christmas....not just a picture. I wait for her posts and finally, yesterday!

And Now She is Seven....the innocent and humble save us, the stained and proud....isn't she the story of Christmas?