Adjectiveless Sunday

Apparently there is no adjective to go with today.  Last Friday was Black Friday, followed by Small Business Saturday.  Tomorrow is Cyber Monday, and in Pennsylvania, more importantly, it will be the first day of deer hunting season.  Tuesday has been named Giving Tuesday.  I’m beginning to understand why people want to go hunting – to get away from the incessant requests to empty their pockets of money.

For some, today is the First Sunday of Advent – Hopeful Sunday.  We had holy sights and sounds at church today.  There were decorations hanging high on the wall, installed by one fearless member of the congregation. There was the lighting of the first candle of the Advent wreath, which reminded me of this passage:

Your sun shall no more go down,

    or your moon withdraw itself;

for the Lord will be your everlasting light,

    and your days of mourning shall be ended.

Your people shall all be righteous.

                        - Isaiah 60:20-21 and similarly in Revelation 22:5

Given the behavior of all-us Americans lately, it seems ridiculous to hope that all the people could be righteous, and that days of mourning could be finished with.  I do little to make it happen, except to hope against all odds. 

We also had wonderful music, with some ol’ favorite Advent hymns and a new one called “Almost There”.  Then, without drawing attention to it, the music director snuck in some J.S. Bach, including “Wachet Auf” (pronounced “Whack It Off,” which means either “Sleepers Awake” or “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying”) with its great moving lines of harmony.  I love me some Johann Sebastian.

Here in the Common Household, today should probably also be called Recovery From Past Excess Sunday.  Our guests have gone home, our students have gone back to college.  The dining room table has shrunk back to its original size, inversely proportional to the expansion of us from turkey and pie. The roasting pan has crept back into its box in the basement to wait until next year. The leftovers are all gone (sob!) except for the yams, which I will not make next year, as demand for them is not high enough to merit that space in the fridge. 

What adjective would you attach to today?

I leave you with gobs of photos of our lovely day last Friday.  We took four teenaged girls ice-skating downtown.  I had a lovely time not skating but watching the skaters.  We also got to see the gingerbread house display, but I will put those photos in a separate post.  

The pears did not get eaten, but all the pies did.

Me with the Ketchuposaurus

Skaters at PPG Place

Excellent skating socks

Three teenaged girls would rather watch the horse-drawn
carriages than skate.

Giant Christmas tree outside, plus a rare
spot of blue sky.  It was cold, though!