16!

16!

December 28, 1996

And I'd do it all over again!



Unfortunately, feeling flu-ish and so I need to keep posting brief, today of all days.
<sigh>
Have a lovely day friends.

~Chris

Merry !

I hope you and yours had a lovely day yesterday. We have an abundance of photos of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which I'm looking froward to getting organized and posting soon. We have some family fun time planned and so I'll share a shot now and get back, hopefully before too many a day passes, to post a few more:

Merry day after, friends...

A shot of our tree on Christmas morning, with the tray of goodies we left for Santa nearby.

Have a wonderful day!

~Chris

December 23~ O Emmanuel: Emmanuel and Trees

Good morning friends! How have we come to the fourth Sunday of advent already? And our final Great O Antiphon?


                                                            

December 23rd: O Emmanuel, you are our king and judge, the One whom the peoples await and their Savior. O come and save us, Lord, our God.


We are standing and decorating our tree tonight...no pictures yet of the 2012 tree....But here are a few from:

2011

2010

Decorating in 2009...and 

...the finished product in 2009....Timmy on the day he received his Sacrament of Reconciliation ON  his 7th birthday...!

What a gift.

Christmas Eve in 2008

Have a lovely day, friends! Thank you for stopping in.

~Chris

December 21~ O Oriens: The Rising Sun All Day, Everyday

The Rising Dawn as Christmas Approaches: O Oriens

Is this amazing? I snapped this one early, early morning in the summer of 2009 over the battlefield at Gettysburg, where my family was touring. Does it not symbolize and honor today's title for our Savior, O Rising Sun.......? It's just perfect, I thought.

 This was taken  right near that tragic spot by the copse of trees that General Lee intended to be his victory location. Remember that?  And right near the spot where General Amistad fell.  The latter is  my favorite Civil War figure. Heroism personified. 

O Oriens / O Rising Sun


                                                         

December 21st: O Radiant Dawn, you are the splendor of Eternal Light and the sun of Justice. O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in teh shadow of death.

Today as we enjoy our advent reading and reflect on today's O Antiphon, we will remember a few family members who have left the Church and truly need the Lord's enlightenment to return. The boys keep saying, "We don't think this is gonna work..." But we keep trying. It's been quite some time and there is no move for those who have left to come back. But we have to keep asking and asking and praying and praying.

Hopefully if the monsoon raging out there subsides, we will stroll through the neighborhood and enjoy the Christmas lights in honor of today's O Antiphon, as well...


And here are a few times recently when we have reveled in the Lord's beauty at a new day: This is dawn over Badlands National Park in South Dakota, during our trip there in   summer of 2012. Beautiful, no?


                                           

Of course, this verse in "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," signifies the Messianic title of today's Great O Anitphon:


 O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night.
And death's dark shadow put to flight



Here's a shot of the Rising Dawn over Gettysburg National Battlefield
in the Summer of 2009~

"Light" from our campfire that night at Artillery Ridge Campground~
Also, July 2009. The boys seem so much littler here, only three years ago.

And just because this is so gorgeous, I have to share one more time:

Thank you for visiting!
I appreciate your time~~ 

Don't forget to subscribe to Campfires and Cleats

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I'd love to stay in touch with you regularly!

Until next time,

~Chris

O Antiphons~ December 17 O Wisdom

 
.

How very exciting!  One week remaining of our advent celebrations, our Christmas preparations.

 Here's something special for our prayer times with the kids this   week: 
 Have you heard of the O Antiphon days?  The O Antiphons refer to the seven antiphons that are recited preceding the Magnificat during Vespers of the Liturgy of the Hours. They cover the period of advent known as the Octave before Christmas, December 17 through 23.

The importance of the O Antiphons is this: Each one highlights a title for our Messiah:
December 17~ O Sapienta (O Wisdom)
December 18 ~ O Adonai ( O Lord )
December 19 ~  O Radix Jesse ( O Root of Jesse)
December 20 ~  O Clavis David ( O Key of David )
December 21 ~  O Oriends ( O Rising Sun)
December 22 ~ O Rex Gentium ( O Lord of the Nations)
December 23~ O Emmanuel

Each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah. Here's a fascinating feature of the O Antiphon Days: the first letter of each invocation, when read backwards, forms, in Latin:  
                                                       ERO CRAS. 
These can be understood as the words of Christ, responding, "Tomorrow I come," to His people's plea. Amazing, no?

Wondrous, also? Did you know that each verse of   "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," which we've all been singing forever each advent,  contains one of the Messianic titles?  Stunning.

~ O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who orders all things mightily,
to us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go.

The O Antiphons are even more special in our household because they begin the day after our little man's birthday, signifying that  Christmas is drawing ever nearer.

Here's the birthday boy lighting candles on the 4th Sunday on advent last year...

Yesterday's 10th birthday hoopla and the lighting of the pink candle for
 Gaudette Sunday, coming soon:)

Here's a prayer for today's O Antiphon: O Sapienta/ O Wisdom~

                                                     
O Sapienta~!
 (Eccl 24: 5), you came forth from the mouth of the Most High (Sir 24: 30), and reaching from beginning to end, you ordered all things mightily and sweetly (Wis 8: 1). Come, and teach us the way of prudence (Isa 40: 14).

We will be creating "lapbooks" this week  around the O Antipons, using prayers, scripture verses, handmade drawings.  I  printed out some O Antiphon symbols from this site, too, if you'd like to click over to see how you might like to adapt usage of those offerings.
Please share how you celebrate! I know, I know, a week before Christmas there is just so much left to accomplish. It;s certainly hard to squeeze it all in. Try. Even a half hour a day, even if you don;t finish the books..... ( Confession:....this is our third year attempting the lapbooks. Maybe this will be our Advent to get it done. Almost done? )

 It's just so enriching when we can swap ideas around any topic, but especially the liturgical season!

Thank you, friends, for stopping in. Enjoy this day!

~Chris

Our Lady's Feast Day/The First One

The First One! 

December 12, 2012

Welcome to my blog, friends!

This will be a photojounral of sorts, chronicling our family's every day. 

Should be some journey.

These are my two boys......you'll see them again....!!

Our Lady's Feast Day

Fun  Our Lady of Guadalupe feast day activities today...

Photos and details soon.

Thank you for stopping in!

Have a lovely night, friends!

Until next time,

~Chris