Of this and that

We are in the third week of Advent and I have been decorating a paper tree by pasting a different ornament on it each day. As I remove the sticker, it tells me how many days are left until Christmas. I am preparing to take out my Infant Jesus and arrange my prayer shelf for Christmas, but without losing the Advent spirit of waiting, desiring, longing for the coming of the Lord.

Saturday we had a very long teleconference with all the communities in the United States/Canada Province. We were looking at the preparation for our General Chapter in Italy next summer and it was a way to get feedback on the calls we had seen during our Provincial Chapter last summer. I found it quite tiring and can imagine what this must be like for the Provincial Team who need to listen to all the suggestions. I kept my extended community fed as we were one this conference call from 11:30 to 1:30 and then again from 2:30 to 3:30. We usually begin with prayer and today we started right into the work; I think I missed the prayer at the beginning.

We invited the others to come for Veilee on December 23 and dinner. We were also invited to Christmas dinner and I am happy about that as I wanted us to be together on Christmas. I was in isolation last year so I am looking forward to celebrating Christ's birthday with joy this year.

I received a book on silence as a Christmas present and I will share some thoughts from it tomorrow.