{"id":3115,"date":"2005-11-30T15:08:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-30T14:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/2005\/11\/30\/the-december-surprise"},"modified":"2009-01-25T00:24:10","modified_gmt":"2009-01-24T23:24:10","slug":"the-december-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/2005\/11\/30\/the-december-surprise","title":{"rendered":"The December Surprise!"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nAn Advent Calendar for my Flist!<\/b><\/p>\n

You have made my life so much brighter that I would like to try and lighten up the last days of this year for you<\/i>.<\/p>\n

As we look back on the waning year, as the days are growing shorter, darker and colder in Europe and North America, I think all of us can use a quiet moment a day, to reflect on our lives and the rest of the universe.<\/p>\n

Therefore I have decided to adapt<\/i> the Advent calendar that I do with my husband for LiveJournal.<\/p>\n

This Advent calendar needs a bit explaining, I think. <\/p>\n

We are going to do it for the third year in a row now, because it helps us to find some quiet moments during the busy days right before Christmas. Our Advent calendar offers us moments of peace and introspection, and a chance to talk about things we might be hesitant to mention at other times.<\/p>\n

And this is what we do:<\/i><\/p>\n

Our Advent calendar is based on the book \u00e2\u20ac\u015350 Engel f\u00c3\u00bcr das Jahr\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (\u00e2\u20ac\u015350 Angels for the Year\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – in English the books is available as \u00e2\u20ac\u009dAngels of Grace\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) by Anselm Gr\u00c3\u00bcn. <\/p>\n

<\/a>

<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Anselm Gr\u00c3\u00bcn is a Benedictine monk in the <\/a>abbey of M\u00c3\u00bcnsterschwarzach in Frankonia \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the northern part of Bavaria, more or less the region where I live. <\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

Anselm Gr\u00c3\u00bcn is one of the most well known Christian authors in Germany today. What I like about him is his humble and kind spirituality. Yes, he is Christian, and Catholic, and he talks about the Catholic interpretation of God and about things that are in the Bible. But much more than that, he is something like an angel himself, offering gentle words of guidance about situations that everyone of us has experienced in our lives. <\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

The book \u00e2\u20ac\u015350 Angels for the Year\u00e2\u20ac\u009d has fifty short chapters about angels, such as the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Angel of Love\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Angel of Reconciliation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and many more. Texts that offer guidance and comfort for many situations in life. Texts, I think that can be an inspiration to everyone, no matter if you are a Christian or a Buddhist or an agnostic or an atheist.<\/p>\n

So how do I turn 50 Angels into an Advent calendar of 24 days?<\/i><\/p>\n

Well, I have 24 postcards featuring angels and an envelope with fifty pieces of papers that have the numbers 1 to 50 on them. My husband draws 12 numbers and so do I. That way we randomly pick an angel for each day of Advent. Each night we read the chapter of the angel of the day to each other. Most of the times I do the reading, but sometimes my husband will read to me, too. Afterwards we pin the angel-postcard of the day with a wooden clothes-peg to a garland in the living room. Every day another angel is added, until on Christmas day the garland is full of angels who have accompanied us through the days of Advent.<\/p>\n

Now, I can’t read to you. But<\/i> I can try and translate our Christmas angels for you. <\/p>\n

And that’s what I am going to do.<\/p>\n

Every day of Advent I will share with you our Angel of the day, an angel picture, an angel icon, and an angel song to download with YouSendIt<\/i>.<\/b><\/p>\n

The angel songs will be flute music by Hans-J\u00c3\u00bcrgen Hufeisen. I will use three of his albums: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Das Engelkonzert\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Concert of Angels\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gold, Weihrauch & Fl\u00c3\u00b6te\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gold, Incense & Flute\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pegasus \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Melodien der vier Winde\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pegasus \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Melodies of the Four Winds\u00e2\u20ac\u009d).<\/p>\n

I hope you will enjoy this Advent calender and I would like to invite you to share your thoughts about the angels of this Christmas with me.<\/p>\n

And to get you in the mood for angels, I have collected a few quotes about angels<\/i>. <\/p>\n

\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Angel of hope and calendars, do you know despair?
\nThat hole I crawl into with a box of Kleenex…. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– Anne Sexton (1928\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1974), U.S. poet. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Angel of Hope and Calendars.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Angel in tights and garters\u00e2\u20ac\u009d… <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– This is Sam Weller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s famous description of Mr. Pickwick. Charles Dickens (1812\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1870), British novelist. Sam Weller, The Pickwick Papers, ch. 45, p. 642 (1837).<\/i> <\/p>\n

~~~*~~~<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u009dThe Angel that presided o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122er my birth
\nSaid, ‘Little creature, formed of Joy and Mirth,
\nGo love without the help of any thing on earth.’<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– William Blake (1757\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1827), British poet, painter, mystic. From Gnomic Verses. The Angel that presided o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122er my birth (l. 1-3). <\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153An angel, robed in spotless white,
\nBent down and kissed the sleeping Night.
\nNight woke to blush; the sprite was gone.
\nMen saw the blush and called it Dawn.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1906), U.S. poet. Dawn (l. 1\u00e2\u20ac\u201c4). . .
\nAmerican Negro Poetry. Arna Bontemps, ed. (Rev. ed., 1974) Hill and Wang.<\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My angel,\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhis name is Freedom,\u00e2\u20ac\u201d
\nChoose him to be your king;
\nHe shall cut pathways east and west,
\nAnd fend you with his wing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1882), U.S. essayist, poet, philosopher. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Boston Hymn,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d May-Day and Other Pieces (1867). <\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~
\n<\/center><\/p>\n
\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If an angel were ever to tell us anything of his philosophy I believe many propositions would sound like 2 times 2 equals 13.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– G.C. (Georg Christoph) Lichtenberg (1742\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1799), German physicist, philosopher. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Notebook B,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d aphorism 44, Aphorisms (written 1765-1799), trans. by R.J. Hollingdale (1990). <\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~
\n<\/center><\/p>\n
\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In Heaven an angel is nobody in particular.\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– George Bernard Shaw (1856\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maxims for Revolutionists: Greatness,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Man and Superman (1903). <\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~
\n<\/center><\/p>\n
\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I hold a beast, an angel and a madman in me, and my enquiry is as to their working, and my problem is their subjugation and victory, downthrow and upheaval, and my effort is their self-expression.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– Dylan Thomas, quoted by Constantine FitzGibbon \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Life of Dylan Thomas\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, Little, Brown 65.<\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~
\n<\/center><\/p>\n
\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But how irrelevantly
\nthe absurd angel of happiness walks in….\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– Denise Levertov (b. 1923), Anglo\u00e2\u20ac\u201cU.S. poet. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Sequence.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~<\/center><\/p>\n
\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The flame from the angel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sword in the garden of Eden has been catalysed into the atom bomb; God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thunderbolt became blunted, so man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dunderbolt has become the steel star of destruction.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– Sean O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Casey (1884\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1964), Irish dramatist. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And Evening Star,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d vol. 6, Sunset and Evening Star (1954). <\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~
\n<\/center><\/p>\n
\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u009dHow fading are the joys we dote upon!
\nLike apparitions seen and gone.
\nBut those which soonest take their flight
\nAre the most exquisite and strong,\u00e2\u20ac\u201d
\nLike angels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 visits, short and bright;
\nMortality \u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too weak to bear them long.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

– John Norris (1657\u00e2\u20ac\u201c1711) , The Parting.<\/i><\/p>\n

~~~*~~~
\n<\/center>
\nAnd finally: What Wikipedia says about angels.<\/lj-cut><\/p>\n

I wish all my friends a wonderful December 2005!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Advent Calendar for my Flist! You have made my life so much brighter that I would like to try and lighten up the last days of this year for you. As we look back on the waning year, as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[87,220,177],"class_list":["post-3115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-junomagic","tag-advent-calendar","tag-advent-calendar-2005","tag-friends"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/juno-magic.fancrone.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}