So close Now!!

From Sunday's readings :
‘The Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel’ (Is 7:14)
and  ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife’ (Mt 1:20).
Today I was impressed especially with the role of both Mary and Joseph and their responses to the Lord.
Both Mary and Joseph took God at his word, they  believed that God could be trusted. There was no need to question what God had said to them.

It seems so easy to look back on history and see that God was there for Mary and Joseph in the promise that all would be right.
In many ways I would love to have that 'in hindsight' point of view that the trials we undergo now will turn out to be fine.
It seems so much easier to do this than to live a life simply filled with 'faith and trust'. And although I know this to be true in theory I find often in practice it is very hard to do, especially with a prayer that you have waited on for quite a while.
So I continue to look to those wonderful examples given to us in Joseph and Mary as well as the numerous other examples in saints and those around me for the courage and inspiration to continue in my commitment to live a life of 'faith and trust.'

Meanwhile in our home we are continuing on with our Advent preparations in accordance with our family traditions. While not everything has gone to plan and we really are prepared in lots of ways we are still finalising our Christmas cookies and cakes.
I took down the puddings last week that we had made on Stir Up Sunday, well actually a little later than that.

We actually started the Christmas tree on Saturday. We couldn't wait for Kynan any longer as it will come down again on the 6th January for the Feast of Epiphany.
So little time to enjoy this special event.

We purchased a very cheap little train set this year from our local cheap shop and it was the highlight of the decorating for our little train happy boy, aka Corbyn.

This is it the first night it was up and already the children are starting to put the home made gifts under the tree.
I just love the Christmas lights. Thanks to Autumn, we have outside lights on the veranda's and railings, hopefully when Kynan returns home AND when the roof is dry our Roof Boys can climb up and do the high level ones before Christmas.

We continue to bake cookies and Christmas cakes here and the children are very enthusiastic workers, especially when it comes to the licking of bowls and rolling out of the mixture as I am sure you  know a little needs to be tested to see that it actually is edible, even before the baking stage.

Vellvin getting some cookies fresh out of the oven.

Some of the cookies we have made bagged up and ready for the freezer. Why in the freezer?
Well we do not eat any (officially, except those taste testers of course) until our Midnight Feast after Midnight Mass.
This way it keeps them fresh as well out of temptations way.

Have a great day everyone as the special day comes a little closer each day.

Blessings to you and your homes,