And so it begins

The waiting and watching, the quietest time of the year. At least that's what it should be, in our crazy world it sometimes becomes the complete opposite of that. I try every year to have at least calm and quiet Advent Sundays. We start with lighting the candle(s) at breakfast and some nice quiet Christmas music, my favorite CD is called "Celtic Harp: The Christmas Rose", and we played it this morning. And we usually have some nice treat in the late afternoon, today it will be mulled cider and cranberry orange bread.

Yesterday we brought the Christmas decorations down from the attic and I noticed that some of them are beginning to show their age. We gave most of our stuff away last year, including the big tree. With 8 cats in the house it would be way too stressful and dangerous to have it out (a few of them are obsessed with anything stringy). This year I hung all my Christmas wall hangings, our advent calendar, filled with chocolates, and I decorated the smallest of our remaining two trees with shatterproof ornaments. I also did a little decorating in the kitchen.

I wish you all a lovely first advent week.