I love this season – the Advent wreath, with its candles, the fragrance of fresh evergreen branches, the hymns, the readings, the expectant anticipation – the whole marvelous thing. However, it seems like every year Advent gets shorter. Christmas decorations took over the shelves at Menard’s right after Halloween. Santa Claus has already appeared in dozens of Thanksgiving Day Parades, and even at the university, the stable was set up last week with Mary and Joseph, the donkey, shepherds and wise men and the baby Jesus already in the manger. Our Christmas party is scheduled for Tuesday, right before the Lessons and Carols – the Episcopalian ceremony invented years back as an alternative to Midnight Mass. Archbishop Cupich blessed the manger scene down in Daley Plaza yesterday. What’s left to anticipate?
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