One of the things I love most about the liturgical year is that our new year begins a month before the secular calendar turns over. It is fitting that our year ends in November with the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls, and a month of remembering the dead and looking toward the end times, and then begins again in celebration of the Incarnation -- the coming of the Light of the World.

(It is a happy accident that the Thursday before the beginning of the new liturgical year is usually Thanksgiving -- what better way to start the cycle over than by looking back at the past year with gratitude?)

This year we will be spending Christmas with my family in Massachusetts, but I am enjoying decorating the apartment for Advent. I set up my advent wreath on the seasons table, and surrounded it with a few pine cones and other things Daniel and I have collected outside.

I am planning to set out Daniel's shoes for St. Nicholas on the 6th, and bake my annual ginger snaps, probably for St. Lucy's Day on the 13th.

I have a few gifts to finish knitting, and a few more to purchase.

My husband has papers and finals looming in the next couple of weeks, so my goal is to keep things as relaxed and low-key around here as possible, before we get to really celebrate Christmas with my family!