Year's end . . .

I was hoping to have a post before now on another little ramble but the weather seems to have been against us recently.

On St Stephen's Day we drove down to the Devil's Punchbowl in Hindhead.

We were later leaving home than we intended.  We stayed after Mass for Rosary which then 'evolved' into the Divine Mercy chaplet so our quick getaway was not quite so quick after all. But, hey ho!  A few more prayers probably did us more good than reaching Hindhead before the rain (she says hopefully).

Nevertheless, walk we did, despite the rain.  In fact it was very enjoyable even though we were more than slightly damp when we returned for our warming cuppa in the handy National Trust café.

The downside of the rain is that we have no photographic evidence.

Though, as in previous posts, we have done this walk before so here are a couple of shots of the beautiful heather taken when the weather was kinder.

There are probably several legends surrounding the naming of the 'Devil's Punchbowl'.

One local one says the Devil used to live at the 'Devil's Jumps', three small hills in the area.

He would often torment Thor, the God of Thunder, who lived at nearby Thor's Lie (Thursley) by jumping from hill to hill.

Thor would retaliate by trying to strike the Devil with thunder and lightening.  Once the devil in turn retaliated by scooping up a handful of earth and throwing it at Thor. The resulting depression was the 'Devil's Punchbowl'. 

It's also thought that the dip was so named because the mist lies in the bowl and appears to flow over the rim as if it were boiling over, just like a bowl of steaming hot punch.

Advent 4 - Nearly there . . .

A  busy weekend again but very enjoyable.

Signs that Christmas is almost upon us . . . 

The children's Nativity play at the end of Mass, complete with toddler shepherd wandering up and down the aisle not sure whether or not he wanted to be part of this 'thing' going on in front of the sanctuary; complete with Away in  a Manger sung by the tiny tots which of course never fails to produce damp eyes in all the adults present.

Our younger son coming home for his Christmas visit - hooray!

The tree being put up at home and the crib and figures unwrapped from their protective wrappings.  All the figures are 'swaddled' in our crib as they rest in the loft.

Drinks and nibbles with the neighbours - coming up this evening.

Saturday morning whilst I was struggling to finalise Christmas rotas at church, my menfolk were putting up the tree at home and going through the annual routine of testing lights and testing each other's patience as they struggled to put the outside lights up around the house.

Here's a photo of their handiwork . .  .

The crib is now in-situ, minus the all-important 'Baby Jesus' of course.  He won't put in an appearance until we get back home after Midnight Mass.

One of the lovely things about Christmas, I always think, is the way family traditions are built up.  They might be things that you did in your own family and then continue when you have your own children, or they could be traditions that you have created anew with your own family. Quite often they are silly little things that you do or say and they are taken up by family members and become part of the way that your family celebrates Christmas.

Talking to other parents with grown-up children, I know that it's not peculiar to our family, that the age of the children seems to make very little difference.

I can't remember when we started placing our 'Wise Men/Kings' a distance from the crib, in 'The East' and moving them nearer until they took up their place in the crib proper, complete with their gifts.

Here they are today, still a little way off . . .

I doubt if I'll find time to post anything else before Christmas so I'd just like to wish everyone a very Happy and Holy Christmas.

Reindeer in Surrey . . .?

I decided to visit our local garden centre this afternoon for a little break from the ironing and to get outside for a while.

For many years this particular garden centre has advertised the presence of  reindeer at Christmas time, presumably as a way to draw in the children, and naturally also their parents and grandparents, to swell the coffers.  Fair enough, that's what commerce is all about.

Although I've often been in to look for something in particular around this time, I've never yet seen the famous reindeer so I went with a purpose this afternoon . . .

I must admit, I was rather disappointed. They have a lot of land and I was expecting to see the reindeer roaming around a field, not penned up like this.

This particular chap may have super antlers but he doesn't look particularly happy, and I can't say I blame him.

Now this is much more my sort of thing . . . 

And this is what I call a great reindeer opportunity . . . 

The other thing that is very apparent; the plants are very much side-lined nowadays in our larger garden centres.  It is like a mini shopping mall.  You could just about do all your Christmas shopping for the whole family; Christmas decorations, clothing, books, toiletries, gift items, candles, kitchen ware, china, etc. and an absolutely enormous coffee shop which also offers very reasonable cooked lunches too.  It provides a lot of employment, locally, and to be fair, just how many winter pansies and poinsettia can you sell?  There is not much else in the area.

The Making of our Advent Wreath . . .

Despite the fact that all the shops, the local high street, TV and radio, magazines etc. etc. are under the impression that it is Christmas already, we are of course only just beginning the Season of Advent.

I love Advent.  It's great to have a whole four weeks to prepare for the coming of Christ at Christmas and a reminder that of course we should try and be prepared for his Second Coming whenever that might be. 

We always had an Advent wreath at home and we have continued the tradition with our children who are now grown up.  Such a simple thing to do and yet like many traditions has great value.

It's also a great talking point amongst our non-Church-going friends who are always interested to know what it is and what it signifies.

Our son had kindly ferreted around in the loft and found the oasis ring from last year which is still very usable and was soaking overnight ready for decoration today.

A quick trip round our small garden with the secateurs provided the necessary greenery.  Candles found too and off we go . . .

I'll be the first to admit I'm not much good at floristry but it's amazing how you can create something quite acceptable by just randomly inserting greenery into an oasis ring!

We're going to be lighting our first candle at 6pm this evening and praying the Angelus. I'll see if I can get a photo.

I'm sure you all know the various traditions and symbolism associated with the Advent wreath.  As far as I'm aware, and very briefly;

The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent and as they are lit they represent the light of Christ coming into the world; the light growing brighter as more candles are lit as we approach Christmas day.  Some people like to put a lighted white candle in the centre of the wreath on Christmas day to represent Christ's birth.

The evergreen foliage represents the everlasting life of Christ and the circular shape of the wreath reminds us that God has no beginning nor end, He always was and always will be.  Holly is often included to remind us of Christ's Crown of Thorns.

There are various traditions associated with the four candles.  One such is that each candle represents  a thousand years, the total being the 4,000 years from Adam and Eve to the birth of Christ.

The three purple candles represent penance and the sacrifices and good works done during Advent as part or our spiritual preparation. This is of course the liturgical colour of Advent and purple vestments will be worn.

The rose candle is lit on Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday in Advent.  This is a day to rejoice as we are getting close to the time of our Saviour's birth. Gaudete takes its name from the first word of  the Mass antiphon of the Third Sunday in Advent, " Gaudete in Domino semper . . . " ("Rejoice in the Lord always . . .")

I'm sure you can add many more traditions to the ones I have mentioned.

A quick search on the Internet will lead you to many different prayers to say as you light your Advent wreath, with different appropriate prayers for each of the four Sundays of Advent.   We say the Angelus because the timing suits our family, and we can also hear the Angelus bell ringing from our local Catholic church as a reminder.

The Angel of the Lord, declared unto Mary . . . 

A blessed Advent to all!

Stepping Stones . . . but only for good swimmers or those wearing waders.

Sundays at the moment are lovely (not that they aren't always the best day of the week anyway) as we have Rosary and Benediction at 4pm but it does mean that time for rambling is rather restricted.  We usually don't get back from the morning Mass until about midday by the time we've had a chat over coffee after Mass.

We've got into a routine, weather permitting, of trying to get out for a brief walk and back again by about 3pm so you can see we don't attempt anything remotely considered a 'proper' walk.

Today we re-visited another local favourite, Box Hill.  One of the fun walks (at least it's fun on the way down but not quite so much fun on the rather steep climb back) is called the Stepping Stones Walk.  This involves climbing down A LOT  of steps which was quite treacherous today as there was slippery mud everywhere following heavy rain overnight.  I see from the website that there are 275 steps.  I tell you it feels like it on the way back!

It was quite overcast today and trying to rain so  not brilliant for photos but as we've done this walk before I have some photos from earlier walks.  Here's a shot of a few of the steps, taken on a much drier day . . .

When you get the bottom of the steps, after following the path for a little way you reach the Stepping Stones over the River Mole.

Because of all the rain we have had recently, the stones were totally submerged today and you couldn't even make out their outline under the water.  In fact the place where we usually stand to take photos on the bank was also submerged.

Here's a photo taken on the same day as the one above when water levels were more normal.

And this is what it looked like today, taken from a little bit further back as all of the area you see in the photo above was under water.

The route back takes you over a bridge (well above water level) and eventually to climb back up Box Hill via a different route - very steep but minus the steps.

It's a wonder I didn't doze off during Benediction really . . .

I just couldn't resist it . . .

Yes, I know, I know, but I just couldn't keep away!

It was such a beautiful day today and unusually, I actually had time to enjoy the wonderful weather for a change.

We had a couple of hours free after Mass and a bite to eat before we needed to think about getting ready for Rosary and Benediction so our older son and I decided to go for a short walk locally.

One of our regular short walks takes a path through the heath, past a smallish pond and round in a loop passing a local parish church in the neighbouring village.

Here's the pond . . . 

And here are a few of St Peter's (Anglican) Church . . .

A really beautiful small church. Lovely to see the rood screen and the altar rails still intact *sigh*.

The piscina and sedilla (hope I spelled that correctly!)

The Lady Chapel.

And of course, oodles of beautiful stained glass . . . 

And to finish, just one more of the ducks . . .

Childhood memories . . .

I have been catching up with our parish Facebook page and I see that our PP has been reminiscing about attending Benediction as a child and in particular about a familiar hymn which inevitably brings back memories.

This caused me to think about music that evokes memories of my childhood.  I suppose the parallel in my childhood would be this:

Or, perhaps this:

I remember feeling very grown-up accompanying my mother to Evensong on dark Autumnal Sunday evenings.  Isn't it funny how things you learned as a child, stay with you for ever  . . . ?

I have been a Catholic now for about 25 years but it's taken me ages to get used to the translation of the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis I find in my breviary. Yet, the translation that I sang as child trips off my tongue without a second's thought.