The Twelve Days of Christmas

Christmas is not only a day but twelve and we must leave our decorations till the 6 of January - the Epiphany of the Lord - even if to put things easier many countries make the liturgical celebrations of Epiphany on the next Sunday. 

Do you know the song called the Twelve Days of Christmas ? And if you know it, do you know its meaning ?

And its meaning.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” celebrates the official Christmas season which starts liturgically on Christmas Day and ends twelve days later on the Feast of the Epiphany.
 “My true love” refers to God, “me” is the individual Catholic. 
The “twelve lords a leaping” are the twelve basic beliefs of the Catholic Church as outlined in the Apostles Creed. 
The “eleven pipers piping” are the eleven Apostles who remained faithful after the treachery of Judas. 
The “ten ladies dancing” are the Ten Commandments. 
The “nine drummers drumming” are the nine choirs of angels which in those days of class distinction were thought important. 
The “eight maids a milking” are the Eight Beatitudes. 
The “seven swans a swimming” are the Seven Sacraments.
The “six geese a laying” are the Six Commandments of the Church or the six days of creation. 
The “five golden rings” are the first five books of the Old Testament called the Torah which are generally considered the most sacred and important of all the Old Testament. 
The “four calling birds” are the Four Gospels. 
The “three French hens” are the Three Persons in God or the three gifts of the Wise Men. 
The “two turtle doves” represent the two natures in Jesus: human and divine or the two Testaments, Old and New. 
The “partridge” is the piece de resistance, Jesus himself, and the “pear tree” is the Cross.

http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=dedestaca&id=3465

Happy Winter !

Today is Winter Solstice day.

Happy Winter !

Christmassying all day

Saturday and a big opportunity to do all things Christmas.

Time to put some extra decorations, to tidy the house and to go shopping all the way singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

But if you  prefer just to listen and not to see the cartoon, here it is:

Such happy day ! Thanks God !
Now hurry up and begin the party: Christmassying all day !

Past Christmases

So here we go, in the middle of December, with the house decorated for Christmas, lists done and being checked, plans made and shopping done and being done.

Presents not all wrapped but being done.
That's a nice time of the  year.

I look back in time and see how Christmas is always a blessed time and how it's such fun to get things ready for the big day.

All pictures in this post are from Christmases past and I hope that soon I will post some of the preparations of this one.

This picture above is from a year when all the girls were younger and we even had a baby (who now is a teen), that's why we have this amount of presents - and not all of them were in this picture !

The food work is always an important part but, of course, it is in every home and also are the tables.

We can never forget the Christmas Pudding, a MUST in my home.

Just in case some of you don't know it and are wondering why it is in flames, I must tell you that you pour some brandy and light a match on it. It's always a big moment and we hope that it produce some nice and big flames. In this picture my husband very proud of the accomplishment.

As for today I leave you with the Nativity - which this year is already set, as always since the First of December - but this years pictures deserve another post.

Bye for now.

12 December - Our Lady of Guadalupe

December is rich on Marian celebrations and rightly so because in this month of the birth of our Saviour it's fair to honour His Holy Mother too - and we will never honour more than He does, so all we do will never be too much.

After the 8 December, the day of the Immaculate, the day when I was Baptized, we have today the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

You can read about Her here  and it's well worth reading !

Let it snow

Such a pity it doesn't snow here. But never mind, I keep hoping.

Christmas from other times

As Christmas day approaches I catch myself looking for nice images and that feels so good.
Either those of Victorian Christmas time or just some funny clip art, I am always so pleased to watch them.

Then it came to my mind to make a post of some I found and that I like.
Let's begin by the Victorian ones.

But I have to say that I even prefer the ones from later times like these:

I think I was born in the wrong time.

Dreaming of a white Christmas

It has been quite cold here which makes me dream of some snow even if last time it happened was years ago.
Anyway, we can dream.

I leave you here with this wish.

24 days to Christmas

Christmas time is in full swing. Yay ! Now we really are.

I know I've been thinking about Christmas since October, (cough, cough...I mean September...) but there were other things to think about too. 

First it was the beginning of the School year which here begins half September. Then I wanted to feel I was really in Autumn and the weather in his antics sometimes gave us good, true Autumn days, either with a little rain ( it didn't rain much) or with nice, fresh days with pure air and not a hint of heat or some hot days as if it was Summer!

After having Autumn well installed, I had in my mind some birthdays. Then it was Thanksgiving all over the internet.
And this year we had a special day: yesterday one of my girls, nº3, Carolina, had her Confirmation- called also Chrismation.
It was a happy and so special day, full of blessings.

But now...rolling drums...It's Christmas Time !!!

In my house we have a date set to begin decorating: 1 December. We must put the tree up that day and also the Nativity.  In the next days we do the other things, one bit at a time.

So as we are ending November, we can't wait to put the wreath at the door and begin the party !

I will, obviously, post some pictures when things are done but for now I will leave you with some of Christmas though the years in my house.