Twenty years !

Our twentieth wedding anniversary was on the second day of Christmas in Polish calendar and on January December 26th for the rest. The days last week were full of preparation to Christmas then full of celebration and finally full of work; putting my Christmas and anniversary gift together:)
I also did not want to write a post on our special day. I preferred to spend it with Andrzej rather than in front of the computer; except for announcing it on fb page and changing the picture into the vintage one:)

We had spent our day just relaxing, remembering the events from 20 years ago, going through the pictures, treating each other with a rare dinner date, just the two of us, and dancing to our song "Listen to your heart" by Roxette...

Twenty years, almost quarter of a century. I started to believe those more experience by life, folks, long time ago. They said that time speeds up with age . I could say that the slowest were the first five years of our marriage. The fastest, the five last ones! And maybe that's good. They were the most challenging ones.

It is hard to summarize those twenty years. So much happened.

The first five years...
We had graduated from college in 1995 and then moved to another country, another language and different culture, different weather climate. Being away from family and friends was the hardest part to bear!
We were so young, so full of plans! We got to learn, and know each other. And there were just two of us...

The next five years were filled with heart breaking sadness, graduation, joy of welcoming Kiki into the world, then difficult depression, changing jobs, moving to another state and buying our first house. So much has happened, it was not always easy. We had disagreements, different opinions, quiet days, but learn to compromise.

The next five years we spent on settling down with job, at our new house, and then welcoming Zuzia into our family. The task of caring for a colicky child made difficult to care for our own marriage. We did have time for each other, but our minds were preoccupied with being parents.

The last five years I have to say were hardest on us. We went through some pretty serious problems, and we made it through! We had our joy of welcoming our boy into our family. I think the best thing that happened in those years. This past year was extra challenging, due to my severe anxiety and depression. But Andrzej took care me, and tried to be as much help and support as he could.

We laughed together, we cried together, we traveled together, with fought together and we stuck together.

When I look back at our wedding pictures I see young, almost kids like, couple getting ready to the adventure called marriage. It is a bumpy but good one!

As I look into the future I know that we will be with each other no matter what. We took our vows seriously when we said for good and for bad in richness and in poor in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live... Those are not empty words, our life together is the fulfillment of those vows and commitment that we made to each other with God and family and friends as our witnesses.

 

 Then...

 

 

 

 



...twenty years later!

 

 

Kinga:)





{ this moment } :)

It made me smile today; this moment:)
I was looking for baby Jesus to put in the manger, after I have to put it together yet again. Someone ( Kubus ) takes the stable apart few times a day! But today baby was missing.

So I asked my boy if he saw baby Jesus, and he told me where I can find Him...

 

 

The truckers need Jesus too!

(Joining Amanda for Friday's theme.)

Kinga:)



{pretty, happy, funny, real}

As the Advent draws to the end, and Christmas is approaching, I look back and see so many things that I have failed to do... Why is it always that we concentrate on the things that are undone, and forget the things that are accomplished?

Yet I will try to be optimistic and happy about this Advent. There is always something that we can look back at and remember that it was memorable after all.
 I will try to look at it through the { pretty, happy, funny, real } edition, as I try to capture the context of contentment in my Advent life, and join Like Mother, Like Daughter this Thursday.

{pretty}

My own Advent readings seem to be skipping a day or two recently, yet, the Advent wreath is present on our family table to remind me, that this is a season of expecting and waiting and coming.

 

 

{happy}

With the Gaudete Sunday the time for decorating the house came. Unfortunately the outside looks plain, no lights at night, no ornaments hanging from the branches. Just a wreath on the door... On the other hand the tree got decorated, and few other Christmas toys were pulled out of the storage and are being discovered by the youngest member of our family:) 



 

{funny}

While I have not succeeded yet with cleaning my house, or baking cookies, the pantry and fridge is stocked with food, St. Nicholas is making arrangements concerning the Christmas lists, the Christmas cards are sent, and the teachers and classmates are taken care of.

The kids don't complain. They keep themselves entertained:)

 

 

{real}

Our Jesse tree is short on ornaments as of today. Somehow I can't find time very night for our daily Bible reading, ornament hanging and and Christmas themed book being read.

But the good news is that only two are missing so far, the girls enjoy every book that I read to them as they gather around me, and when I can't read to them is because I go to choir rehearsal to practice carols. I do enjoy it tremendously.

 

 

Kinga:)

 

Saint Lucia Day

Our yearly tradition of serving St. Lucia breakfast in the dawn hours of December thirteen, almost did not happened.
I made the sweet, filled with ricotta cheese, bread for this occasion yesterday, but when the morning came, I had no energy to get up earlier than usual, awake sleepy kids and even sleepier husband.
I can blame it on the fact that we are not early risers, and adding the school commute for Kateri in the morning, around 35-40 minutes, makes the mornings even more dreadful.

So I have announced to my waking up slowly family that we will move the breakfast to Saturday.
Minutes later I heard bare footsteps on the stairs. Zuzia came running into the kitchen asking when do we start the breakfast. When I told her about the change of plans, this poor little girl almost drown herself with tears and went upstairs to cry on her daddy's shoulder. The latter one being fully awake at that point asked if we could go with it, so we did.

So here is my sleepy, but happy "St. Lucia " this morning:

 

And here are the kids trying to stay awake and eat the early feast:) The darkness of this pictures is the proof of early hours of that event.

 

 

By the way, they requested St. Lucia breakfast tomorrow too! But I think we can handle it, it is Saturday after all:)

 

 

Kinga.



Theme Thursday: Dozen

Clever, very clever and easy! I am  linking up to Cari for her Theme Thursday.

Blessed Our Lady of Guadalupe Day to all of my Catholic Friends!

Besides prayers to our Blessed Mother, I wonder who is celebrating by cooking some Mexican food? I am trying, but it won't be too festive. I am working on St. Lucia breakfast for tomorrow:) Too many festivities to handle at the same time!

Any way...
For my "dozen" edition:

I have dozen Jesse Tree ornaments:

 

 

The Jacob ladder is called by Kubus, Kubus' ladder of course:)

( for those who don't realize, Kubus is Polish nickname for Jacob)

 

 

Building Christmas tree out of dozen blocks.

 

 

A dozen of Candy Cane Joe-Joe's from Trader Joe.

Delicious:)

 

Kinga. 



On the Second Sunday

 

 



And here we are, lighting the second candle on our Advent wreath already. The days go so fast, that I am thankful for the evenings, when we slow down for a couple of minutes and live our traditions.
There are Bible readings, the Jesse tree gets filled up with the ornaments and the favorite Christmas stories are being read.
I do cherish those readings. Even my twelve year old likes to snuggle next to me and listen to the story. Especially if it is long and beautiful; like  "The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey".

I have discovered that book when Kiki was little, and I have to say it is my favorite Christmas story.
It is story of a woodcarver, whose loneliness and personal tragedy left him bitter and old; and of the love that kept on slowly coming into his sad life in the presence of a widow and her sweet little boy. This story makes my heart melt and my eyes tear, every time that I read it to my children. They sense the real miracle of Christmas too.

Our week would not be complete without a nightly visit from St. Nicholas. I could not catch him with a camera, but he has left few surprises for my children.
They are lucky. St. Nick visits them twice in December. It is good to have Polish parents:)
I honestly think that their childhood would be missing something without those visits. I as a child, waited for them anxiously:)

Kinga.

Theme Thursday: Lights

I am linking today to Cari, for the "Lights" theme.

I know it is December and it should be the Christmas lights. But I do not have the decorations on yet ( my earlier post, the Gaudete Sunday ). I could have taken a walk around the neighborhood, but I lacked the time.
My first idea was to take some pictures from the deck. The weather was foggy and misty, and the far away lights gave the dimmed light and nostalgic feeling. It looked good in the theory, but not in the camera.
So I improvised.
I had set the lantern on the table, put the candle in ( made in Poland, bought in Christmas Tree Store !), and took some pictures.
I needed that for a change:) I am quite pleased with my five minute unedited "art":)

 



 Kinga.

The Advent

 

 

 The first purple candle is lit.

 

 

The first book for advent evening reading.

 

 

The first Jesse tree ornament - the Jesse Tree itself.

( pardon my lack of craftsmanship in this particular ornament )

 

 



It has always played a big part of my life; this season, advent.

The traditions of the religious part of the season, ( however there should be only religious part anyway ), were different than I have encountered and welcomed to our family here.

The advent that I grew up with, was a season of quieting inside and out. There were no parties to be held, no Christmas carols, no Christmas tree or any other holiday decorations; until the Christmas Eve.
The advent days were started with a early morning Mass, called "Roraty". It was dark, cold, rather freezing, slippery and often snowy. I should not even mention that I walked to the church!
There was no time for breakfast before the Mass, only after, right before school. I was tired at the end of the day...

But I would never have it any other way. It is because of those small offerings and sacrifices that the season was special and then the Christmas was more joyous and the memories of those times are so rich.

Here the advent is loud, shiny, bright, and red. The Christmas carols sound long before Thanksgiving, the decorations are on even before Halloween! The parties are held everywhere and everybody is in crazy pace of shopping. But we try.

I and my family, start with advent wreath. We have also welcomed the beautiful custom of Jesse tree, instead of Christmas tree in the beginning. We read the passages form the Bible, and for everyday we read a different Christmas story. Usually with a deeper meaning.

As the season draws closer to Christmas we celebrate St. Nicholas day, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Lucia day.

There is also secular side to this season. Kids delight themselves in chocolate version of advent calendar. We bake cookies, which disappear quite quickly, watch Christmas movies, we admire neighborhood  Christmas lights and start decorating the house and Christmas tree around Gaudete Sunday.

I try to make it  memorable for my children as it was for me, even though different. Mostly I want the kids to remember the religious aspect of the seasons of advent and Christmas.
I do know that if we continue those traditions, they will cherish the memories of them as I do mine:)

Kinga:)