Mother Claire's Sermons

Growing up, the Saturday after Thanksgiving was Christmas decoration day. We’d pull out all of the storage bins from the closet under the basement stairs and bring them upstairs where we’d sort the contents into whatever room they belonged. All of the Christmas-y things, the decorating, the baking, and the music have always been an important part of my Advent preparations. Some of it comes from those family of origin practices, and some from being raised by a musician and being a musician myself. You have to begin preparing your Christmas music during Advent and your Easter music during Lent. So while it is excessive that local radio stations switch from Christmas music back to regular programming at midnight on Christmas Day, I enjoy that secular Christmas helps to create the environment that enhances my Advent preparation. On Sunday evening, when the final miscellaneous knick knacks whose location we couldn’t remember from last year had been placed, we would sit down to the Advent wr...