First Sunday in Advent . . .

Jeremiah 33:14-16
33:14 The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

33:15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

33:16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."

The year continues it's mad spiral towards it's end. We are into the last few weeks of 2012 already. All our New Year's resolutions either happened or are now long forgotten. Sometimes, it seems like the year consists of Christmas/New Year's/Christmas, etc. with everyone in between getting lost in the busy shuffle of life.

I find it sad that Christmas items went on the store shelves before Thanksgiving turkeys were in the store. It takes away from the anticipation as we drag out the preparation of the holiday with early-bird sales.

When I was growing up, the week after Thanksgiving gave way to the beginning thoughts of Christmas. I would thrill at every little aspect of the holiday that would slowly come into play. We never put gifts under the tree because the Christmas tree didn't go up until a few days before Christmas. We had the gift of anticipation! I would go to Midnight Mass with my mother and when we came home, the house had changed! We were still hearing Christmas Carols in our head while we witnessed the coming of the Christ Child as gifts were now under the tree. I never knew how my mother accomplished this but no matter how close I kept to her side, the presents and lit tree always happened.