Happy Fifth Day of Christmas!
I'm busy too (the comings! the goings!), and Thursday is New Year's Eve — and the Seventh Day of Christmas! Get ready to join us on {pretty, happy, funny, real} with your blog post or Instagram on your “Days of Christmas” and how they are going (how about hashtagging it #PHFR12DaysOfChristmas?).
On Saturday, instead of {bits & pieces}, we will be doing a post roundup for you from our favorites here on the blog. Do the same with yours! Or if you are doing the Instagram #2015BestNine, link that IG. Let's see that year's round-up!
My thoughts are turning to the new year. I would love, love, love to do another series with you, my dear readers. What's on my mind is two fantastic — and related — books that I read this past year with our St. Greg's Pocket, and I was thinking that you might want to do the same with yours. (I have to figure out the details — a podcast? Periscope? Is two books too many? — but if you want to get a jump, the ones I have in mind are Romano Guardini's The Spirit of the Liturgy and Pope Benedict/Joseph Ratzinger's The Spirit of the Liturgy.)
If you don't have a St. Greg's Pocket, it would be good to start one (or check that link to see if there is one near you)!
Maria Von Trapp writes about how the time between the Epiphany and Ash Wednesday is so fitting for visiting — just that good, old-fashioned kind of fun gathering of families and/or interested couples. There's a lull between the holidays and the penitential season — but before outdoor work starts calling our names — when we can enjoy cozy hospitality and friendship.
To me, there's something very heartwarming and encouraging about pondering how even entertaining can be liturgical — that is, can be made to fit into the very rhythm of life — interior, cosmic (the seasons in nature), and religious. We seem to want to gather together anyway, don't we, in these still short — but lengthening! — days, and it may be that making actual plans with this encouragement in mind will be the tipping point for us to put our thoughts into action.
I've found that if there is a book that we friends are reading in common, it makes for wonderful conversation.
Also, we need to craft! I'm hoping to show you a few things I made and think about what would be good to work on in the coming year. Those quilts won't sew themselves! What are you hoping to make in the new year?
Mamabearjd(Michelle) says
Oh to sit and read a post from Leila, such a comfort! We moved right after thanksgiving, and are truly enjoying these days of Christmas now that we have settled in (and finally have internet). So nice to find the time for old routines.
Chiara says
2015 was the year I came across LMLD. What a fabulous find it was!! So very many thanks to you ladies for your encouragement, practicality (is that a word?), heart-wise talk, and creative ideas.
2016 will be the year I learn to knit!
Becky says
I would adore a LMLD podcast. Don’t the periscope postings get auto deleted after 24 hours or something like that?
I just finished looking up a pattern on ravelry to make a scarf for a friend.
Chere Mama says
I love your pine cones above the sink!! And your lovely corner cupboard in all its Christmas finery!! Merry and Blessed Christmas to you!
Stephanie says
I second the pine cones! Leila, you make me feel like bringing more of the outside in…a pine cone in a pretty mug! Genius! Looking forward to what you pick out for Saturday…I have to say the koselig article from last Saturday has been something I am forwarding to all my friends. God bless
Mrs. B. says
This year I learned to knit! I finished my first project before Christmas: a doll’s scarf 🙂 Better start small… Next year I want to work on a simple blanket – I’m always hungry for wool blankets and wool pillows, and this is why I learned to knit – but all I know so far is to cast on, knit, purl, and barely bind off… I have to learn to correct my mistakes, I can’t keep pretending they don’t happen! Also, I think it might be useful to learn to understand instructions, all those Ks and Ps and *… 😉
Next year I also want to bake a lot of bread!
I have read most of The Spirit of the Liturgy by Ratzinger, and it’s a book I treasure, like anything else written by him, really… I also love Guardini’s How To Pray, and his meditations to prepare for Mass. Sadly, Leila, my immediate friends don’t share these same reading interests…
Maria says
Ah, crafting…my eyes are bigger than my stomach in that area (or my plans exceed the time available). I am finishing up flannel sheets for my toddler, a sweater for a baby and another for a doll, and a boy’s bathrobe. I have firm plans for a felt nativity, a sweater for my 14 year old, a sweater for a one year old and at least hats for three babies due this February. In the new year I hope to return to my resolve not to have multiple knitting projects going at once. Though we continue to enjoy the Christmas season, I am looking forward to the quiet of January and February (and we finally have snow!). Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Gina Switzer says
I third the pine cones on the window sill above the sink and in the cup!
I love both of those books and a podcast would be perfect. It’s always a delight to see Leila’s posts in my inbox. Thank you Leila. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!
Karen says
To what book by Maria Von Trapp do you refer? I have read “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.” Is there another that I should know about?