January 2018 Calendar Sketch

My notes on the month ahead.

January 2018 Sketch click here to download the PDF

Left in black and white for you to color.

There are more Epiphany customs than I could fit, including of course the one best known to Americans, the King Cake. This pastry ring is often filled with nuts and cinnamon sugar, covered with icing and colored sprinkles in purple, green, and yellow. A plastic baby Jesus figure (or similar token) is hidden inside, and the lucky person who discovers it in their slice of cake is the "king" for the year, or has to host the party next year, customs vary. This same cake is sold throughout the Epiphany to Mardi Gras season. However, this pastry always looks unappetizing to me, after all the sweets we've already had at Christmas--and store-bought versions are always off limits since I am a celiac--so I prefer to emphasize other Epiphany customs.

In my house, I am methodically putting Christmas decorations away. First the stockings, then the tree (it was dried out and making me nervous), next the nutcrackers, outdoor lights, and assorted seasonal knicknacks, and eventually, at Epiphany or Candlemas, the nativity scenes. My favorite this year is a blue and white china nativity set that I have sitting in the window with white tulips. My traditional nativity set is sitting in the kitchen window, where we can see it all day long as we wash dishes and prepare meals. The advent wreath with Christ candle will sit on the dining table to be lit daily until Epiphany (if the candles hold out) and then it will be recycled, as it's made from a tree round and cedar greens.

Lighting candles daily is important to me in these gray, dark, cold and wet days. Where I live the sun is now rising about 8:00 am and sets by 4:30 pm, and most days are cloudy, chilly and wet all the way through til after Easter. If the Narnia had had the weather of the Pacific Northwest, the phrase would have been "always November and never Winter (let alone Christmas)!" 

Have a blessed month of January!
~LeeAnn

2018 Quarter Days Calendar

And on the sixth day of Christmas...

Ta da!
It's here. The 2018 Quarter Days Calendar.
Now in black & white so you can color it in yourself.
The full year, all four quarters on one poster, beginning with January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018.
All mistakes are my own. :)
Free for your personal use. Please do not sell or modify my work.

2018 Quarter Year Calendar click here to download the PDF.

What are the Quarter Days?
In the English agricultural/academic/economic calendar, the year was marked by four holidays, roughly all falling on the 25th of the month: Annunciation 3/25, St. John the Baptist Day 6/24, Michaelmas (St. Michael's Day) 9/29, and Christmas 12/25.

In the Scottish/Celtic calendar, the custom was to follow the "cross-quarter days" that fell somewhat equally between the quarter days, usually on the 1st of the month: St. Brigid's Day 2/1 or Candlemas 2/2, May Day 5/1, Lammas (a harvest thanksgiving feast, lammas is a contraction of "loaf mass") 8/1, All Saints' Day 11/1.

These Church holy days had been built on the best parts of what existed naturally in these cultures, the various pagan holidays that marked the natural seasons, solstices, and equinoxes of the year. When placed together on the circle of the liturgical calendar, insight into the nature of these holy days can be had,  such as the celebrations of the births of St. John the Baptist and Jesus being opposite from each other in the year. "He must increase, I must decrease," fits nicely with the natural year as well, as daylight increases (in the northern hemisphere) with Christ's birth following winter solstice and decreases after John's following the summer solstice. There are many such natural and spiritual connections, which help explain many of the regional customs to celebrate the holy days that sprang up over the centuries.

What does this Calendar include?

• At the center is Christ in the Eucharist, the small white circle at the enter of our Sacramental lives. On it is written the year 2018.
• This is divided into four quarters, the natural seasons of winter, spring, summer and winter.
• Next, the months of the year.
• The Sundays of the year are the next circle, these can be colored in the colors proper to each Sunday.
• Outside that are the moveable feasts, saints days, fasting days, liturgical seasons and other observances of the year. Of these, I included the celebrations that are my personal favorites. There are many more which would never all fit on a calendar this size, but you can write in as many as you like. 
• The outer corners are marked by the points of the compass rose, the leaves and arrows, the 8 holidays of the quarter and cross-quarter year. There is extra white space here for you to write in your loved ones' birthdays and other remembrances. 
• The symbols in the corners are: top right, the Virgin & Child for the Presentation/Candlemas, bottom right, a family heraldic design including four leaves for my 4 children for May Day, at bottom left, a wayside shrine of Christ the teacher surrounded by wheat and flowers for Lammas, at top left, the star of Bethlehem surrounded by heavenly light, for All Saints and Christmas. 

My original drawing is about 15 inches square, but when you print it will turn out something like 8 inches. I have some examples of the colored version on my instagram @la_balbirona and I would love to see your finished versions as well! Use the hashtag #quarterdayscalendar if you post it there.  

Happy New Year!
Enjoy!

~LeeAnn

Epiphany

The Last Day of Christmas

To celebrate the twelfth day of Christmas I bought fresh flowers, red mini carnations and parrot tulips. Carnations are January's birth flower. I was hoping to find full sized carnations for a drawing study but my local grocery store florist didn't have any.  

We also blessed our homed with blessed chalk by writing "20+C+M+B+15" on the door frame, as seen here in this list of epiphany prayers put together by my friend Mrs. Webb a few years ago. 

Blessed Chalk and a selection of prayers kept in a ziploc bag in my kitchen drawer.

I'm working on a new drawing with the theme of January, which might turn into a calendar page. 

I went from this to a piece of watercolor paper. I should finish it today and will share it later.

I also drew a little full year version of a calendar wheel but I'm not sure I love it. It feels like it needs a little tweaking yet.

I think it needs a darker border or something to finish it off. Not sure still. 

Taped to the wall for a new perspective and further thought.

One of my most important resolutions for 2015 is

"Draw More, Write More." 

Today I'm planning to put together a more organized daily journal notebook (inspired by Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight) to keep my ideas in one place. I have lots of random spiral notebooks that I hate to throw away since I've written good things I them, but I can never find anything again without spending a lot of time searching through every page. I want to be more deliberate and more organized about my writing and drawing this year, this seems like a good way to do it.

A Spider at Christmastime

How the "Legend of the Christmas Spider" Saved My Sanity

Christmastime, 2011

Mom, I can't eat my lunch until you kill the spider on the ceiling!

It's OK. It's pretty far away from you. And it's really little.

Mom, stand on something and get it!

I've been sick, kiddo. I'm not going to climb on the bench or I'll get dizzy. If the spider gets down to the wall let me know and I'll take it outside.

Mom, it's going to get me! 

We can't kill spiders unless they attack us because of the Christmas Peace. (Ancient Norse custom coming in handy here as a stalling tactic.)

Mom. Mom! MOM!

Maybe it's a Christmas Spider. We'd better leave it alone.

What?

Do you know the "Legend of the Christmas Spider"?

A long time ago, when the Baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph were asleep in the stable with the baby, when suddenly an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel told Joseph that they had to get up right away because King Herod was sending soldiers to kill the Baby Jesus, and they should hide in Egypt until it was safe. Joseph woke up from the dream and got Mary and Jesus ready and put them on the donkey and they left Bethlehem in the night.

Mary was so tired though from having a baby that she needed to rest, so they laid down in a little cave by the side of the road. Herod's soldiers nearly caught up with them and were getting close. A little spider in the cave could see that the holy family needed protection, so he spun a cobweb to cover the cave to hide them and the soldiers passed by. Baby Jesus was safe! And ever since then, a white cross has appeared on the back of certain spiders at Christmastime to thank them for this good deed.

Oh. 

Let's see if it has a white cross on it's back. Maybe it's a Christmas spider!

Maybe. If it gets close enough for us to see, we can check. But in the mean time, how about you just move to the other end of the table?

---

This is a mash-up of at least two stories: a saint's legend from Sixty Saints for Boys and assorted stories about the Holy Family interacting with flora and fauna, such as the rosemary plant being gifted with its white flowers turned to blue in gratitude for being a drying spot for Mary's blue cloak.

Storytelling is a skill that every parent should keep in their back pocket, if only to keep yourself from going bonkers. At least you can amuse yourself making up a story while trying to get your child to stop whining about this or that for three minutes.

Best case scenario, you've redirected your child's temporary state of dissatisfaction with life to a long term deposit into their treasure bank of imagination and knowledge, or at least contemplation of what a strange person mom is and what did it mean? Either way, it buys you precious moments of peace.

This is also how I know I am turning into an old woman. I'm going to be that tiresome old person who makes every one stop and listen to a long-winded and fanciful explanation for why the yew tree is the symbol of both long life and death, or why blackberries should be picked before September 29, when all they really want to know is whether the bus is on time and which stop to get out at for Target.

I managed to get out and mail Christmas cards and packages this morning. Half of us are still under the weather, but it's the under-15 half, so the oldest and I are getting back to normal and Christmas preparations are underway. I also discovered a packet of gluten free lebkuchen I had squirreled away for the holiday, so things are looking up.

Wherever you are, and whoever you may be, I wish you Peace. May you know the peace of Christ at Christmastime and always.

--

Keep watch! Christ is coming!

Prepare! Christmas is coming!

Rejoice! The Lord is near!

He is coming to dwell with us.

Come, let us adore him!

3rd Week of Advent {pretty, funny, happy, real}

Like Mother, Like Daughter is one of my favorite blogs. When I want to read something inspiring and see something beautiful, I head over there to browse the new posts and re-read the archived ones. Leila and family are amazing folk. Every Thursday they host a round up of posts based on the theme, "pretty, funny, happy, real." So here is my post for the third week of Advent.

1. Pretty

Does a house ever look better than when it is decorated for Christmas? 

Our piano is in the kitchen.

The little tree over the piano is so cute. I set out all of our Christmas sheet music to encourage caroling, and other festive activity. You can only hear "Dyin' Ain't So Bad" and "What I Did For Love" so many times before you need a little change from Broadway ballads.

Yes, the tree is blocking the doorway.
There are two entrances, and it's okay for a few weeks.

Our Noble Fir in the living room looks nice, if I do say so myself.

2. Funny

I finally found a use for the last piece of Justin Bieber Christmas wrapping paper.

Occasionally, I block off the windows of the office doors so I can wrap presents in secret.

Christmas cards are coming in a slow trickle. For a while, business cards were outpacing personal cards, but I have about 12 or 15 altogether now. Trying to get my own cards out today...!

3. Happy

That's my #1 girl in green.

Caroling party at our house. It turned out that the retirement home was already booked, so they caroled in the neighborhood. One of my favorite things!

Joy to the Gnomes!

Happy spots in the front garden, even though almost everything is asleep for the winter.

The saffron bulbs have finally sprouted!
They went in the ground a year ago with nothing to show for it til this month.
They must be biennial.

4. Real

My oldest kiddo (yes, the one that went out caroling) is sick. We'll have to cancel weekend plans and hopefully exchange some tickets for other days during winter break.

Eeew.

Thanks for visiting! Check back this evening for my post on this Ember Friday in Advent.

St. Lucy Day

How do you celebrate St. Lucy's Day? Do you call it Sankta Lucia or Lussidag? Do you think of her with a crown of candles and tray of saffron buns or bearing a martyr's palm and plate of eyes?

Lucy was a real person, a Christian in the classical era during the times of persecution, and such an ancient saint naturally has had meaning and customs added to her feast day over time.

There are dozens of articles you can read on the internet about her story and later legends, about how her feast day (December 13) became associated with the winter solstice in the far north, and her light-bearing symbolizes the promise of the return of summer in the middle of deep winter.

I want to offer just what I am thinking about this year, as a person who is neither of Scandinavian nor Italian descent (the regions most associated with Lucy's veneration), but who welcomes Lucy into my winter days of remembrance for many reasons.

Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

A hero, virgin, martyr, saint

There is no disconnect between Lucy as martyr for Christ and a symbol of the return of the sun in winter. They are the same thing, understood on the spiritual and natural levels. 

A bringer of light in winter

[These are the day's readings in the Catholic lectionary (if you're protestant, you might hear slightly different readings, since Sirach is not used in later Bibles). I'm using them here as a framework to meditate on, not as any kind of biblical proof for Lucy in the Bible or anything. Of course not, she is just one of many early Christian saints, who become special to certain peoples over time. I think God planned it that way. He knows the best ways to speak to every kind of person, in every time, in every language. Lucia, of course, means "light" and her feast day (the day she was martyred, of her death) is marked on the old calendar's winter solstice, before Gregorian calendar reform.]

Reading 1: Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11

In those days,

like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah

whose words were as a flaming furnace.

Their staff of bread he shattered,

in his zeal he reduced them to straits;

By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens

and three times brought down fire.

How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!

Whose glory is equal to yours?

You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,

in a chariot with fiery horses.

You were destined, it is written, in time to come

to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,

To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,

and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.

Blessed is he who shall have seen you 

and who falls asleep in your friendship.

Lucy, like Elijah, became a sign to a people. It was a thousand years ago when the Norse peoples were first evangelized (around 1100 AD), and probably a few hundred years later until the story of Lucy made its way from Sicily to Scandinavia. Over time, the connection was made between the celebration of winter solstice and the saint's story. Today, when the region, and much of the world. has forgotten most of its Christian era, the promise God made to love mankind and establish his reign over all the world is still current, still true, still full of hope. Scripture is wonderful that way. It is timeless, applying to the past, the present when it was written, today, and for the future.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19

R. (4) Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

O shepherd of Israel, hearken,

From your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.

Rouse your power.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

Once again, O LORD of hosts,

look down from heaven, and see;

Take care of this vine,

and protect what your right hand has planted

the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

May your help be with the man of your right hand,

with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

Then we will no more withdraw from you;

give us new life, and we will call upon your name.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

When I read this psalm, and think about the Scandinavian people, I think of  Norwegian writer Sigrid Undset and her quest for truth. Her novels (the most famous is Kristin Lavransdatter) are about women and men realizing their own faults and facing them unflinchingingly; seeking truth outside themselves, looking for honesty in romantic relationships and seeing one's self clearly as a mother, father, wife, husband, son, daughter, and ultimately as a child of God. Sigrid was raised agnostic and modern, she chose to become a Christian (a Catholic Christian in Lutheran Norway in the 1930s) and separated from her husband because of this choice (he had been married before and his first wife was still living).

Lucy may have been raised a Christian or converted later in her childhood, but at some point, she decided to dedicate her life to Christ completely. She vowed to live as a virgin and give her bridal dowry to the poor. Her intended fiancee was angry and had her arrested, and ultimately tortured and killed because she would not change her mind to give up her faith.

These brave women remind me that we all have to face difficulties in life, whether they are little ones that seem trivial (saying no to gossip, or finding that you've been gossiped about) or big ones, such as they faced. Knowing the Truth and keeping the Vision in front of us helps us to bear the hurts, both big and little, and also to confront the pain we may have inflicted on others.

Alleluia Lk 3:4, 6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:

All flesh shall see the salvation of God.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

These are the words of John the Baptist. 
And Lucy says them too with her flames and crown, with the witness of her life.
Yes, Lucy lights the way.
A light in the midst of winter to remind us of summer's return.
A light in the darkness that points us toward the coming of Christ.
St. Lucy Day is a reminder to prepare, in the same way that St. John the Baptist says "prepare!"
Christmas is coming, the Lord is coming. The winter will end, and the sun return.

Do you know about the tradition called Ember Days?

They are seasonal days of penance held after certain dates on the calendar leading up to the traditional quarter days (Christmas, Annunciation, St. John's Day, Michaelmas).  These days are set aside for prayer, for the blessing of the earth and our human care of it (preparing, planting, growing, harvesting), for fasting and thanksgiving.

St. Lucy's Day is the marker for the Advent Ember Days. This coming Wednesday, Friday and Saturday are the Ember Days of wintertime. Her day reminds us to prepare ourselves for Christmas, through prayer, confession, charity, love for others
.
The tradition of Lucy bearing the saffron buns is a remind of her generosity to the poor. Whether you hold the tradition today by having the oldest daughter in the house bring coffee and pastries to the family in bed before dawn, or you attend a community service to hear seasonal songs, watch the star boys, handmaidens and Lucy process with candles and enjoy treats in the church afterward, the point is to remember Lucy's charity.

If you live in an area with no such ceremony to participate in, an act or gift of charity on this day is in keeping with the spirit of Lucy. Actually, an act of charity should always be part of any feast day or saint's day remembrance.

I also use this time as reminder to get to confession before Christmas, whenever it is available during Advent. The schedule at the parish church may be a little different than usual because of all the different activities going on, so make sure to check before you go. The Friday of Ember Days is traditionally a day of abstinence from meat or other penance, and Ember Saturdays were often the days of priestly ordinations. Doing something nice for your local priests or seminarians, and offering prayers for them, would be appropriate on this day.

The Ember Days this week are December 17, 19, and 20th.

Gospel: Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

As they were coming down from the mountain,

the disciples asked Jesus,

“Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things;

but I tell you that Elijah has already come,

and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. 

So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood

that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

The story of Lucy's martyrdom is not pleasant. Most Catholic images of Lucy show her with a plate of eyes, some with the martyr's palm, and fewer with a sword stabbed into her neck, or with bleeding wounds of any kind. John the Baptist was beheaded and his head placed upon a plate to please Herod's niece as punishment for preaching against the world and for repentance and Christ.

Lucy is one of thousands of martyrs to suffer in a similar way, and like all of them, she also calls us to repent of our sins, to love others, and to love Christ, to look for the light in the midst of winter, and have faith in the return of the sun.

Lucy belongs in my winter tradition because she reminds me to

 prepare, 

make ready, 

light the lights! 

Christmas is coming!

Christ is coming!

How different those two phrases are, and yet they are the same. 

So there is my very long meditation on St. Lucy's Day, and I am sure I have more to learn and incorporate into my devotional life as the years go by. This year, at my house, there were no saffron buns or candle crowns, but we did observe St. Lucy's Day in other ways that are also part of the tradition, bringing light into the darkness, giving love to others and giving thanks to God.

You can see how we've celebrated St. Lucy in the past in my post called Winter Saints.

2nd Week of Advent {pretty, funny, happy, real}

Like Mother, Like Daughter is one of my favorite blogs. When I want to read something inspiring and see something beautiful, I head over there to browse the new posts and re-read the archived ones. Leila and family are amazing folk. Every Thursday they host a round up of posts based on the theme, "pretty, funny, happy, real." So here is my post for the second week of Advent.

1. Pretty: It's one of my favorite things every year, choosing a pretty Christmas card to send out to family and friends. Last year, I sent out almost 200 of them. I didn't have enough of the card I'd chosen ("Christmas Night at the Hermitage" from the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, CA) so I had to fill in with a few cards of other types.

This year I'm not sending out quite so many cards, but still, it's a day's work pretty much to get them all addressed, signed, stamped and mailed, not to mention writing the messages inside or at least composing a short letter to print onto the card. To save myself time, I picked up these colorful Madonna and Child cards that caught my eye during the after Christmas sales. Less than $2 a box!

First Choice

2. Funny: And yet...while I liked these cards, they didn't quite have that zing! factor to them that made me feel happy about sending them out. They're perfectly nice, maybe a little cartoonish. I love the bright jewel colors though.

To me, a card is a gift. Not just a piece of paper sent out of obligation or a dated formality. Sending a card is an opportunity to share something beautiful with the receiver, along with your kind and cheerful message inside, of course

Maybe you feel you don't have great taste in choosing cards, or know much about art in general. I encourage you to find a card that catches your eye, even if you don't understand why, pick something that you think is beautiful, or creative, or gives you a good feeling. Try not to just pick a box of cards that makes you think, "hmm, this will do, and it's on clearance." That is pretty much what I was thinking with my first choice.

Back up cards left over from previous years.They might even be from the grocery store. No, these won't do either.

The geometric igloo is cute, but "warm wishes," ugh.

Five more boxes of Christmas Fairy cards sitting on the window sill.
I liked the glitter and overall colors, but looking at this card for a while, it feels a bit melancholy.
I don't want to send sad Christmas cards.
Can I return them? Probably not.

I almost forgot about these. Twenty different vintage cards.
I forget what I was going to use them for. The kids? To give to teachers?
Save them for another year...hmm.

3. Happy: But then I thought...hey, I'm an artist! Maybe I should, like, you know, draw something. Something bright, festive, personal, unique... Like that cool winter liturgical calendar I finished yesterday. You can read more about the process of drawing it here.

Angel, Madonna & Child, Bright Festive Colors?
Sounds like Christmas Card material to me.
And it's useful!
Personal!
And there's even evangelization happening all over it!

I'm so thrilled with finally discovering the obvious solution to the Christmas Card blahs, that I am sitting down at my desk to scan in my drawing...

Finished artwork ready to scan!
The curved painting of Mary is also from the New Camaldoli Hermitage, I think it's called Our Lady of Big Sur.
It doesn't seem to be available on the website currently, which is too bad.
I love the California coastline in the background, the hills all covered in wild golden poppies.

...and while I'm here, I can show you a few ornaments and knick knacks I have sitting around my desk currently. Last year, I hung this multi-colored garland around my bedroom door, but this year, I hung it over my desk to enjoy it even more, since basically I am at my desk half of the day and not standing in my bedroom doorway admiring the mouldings as much as I'd like.

I like a little creative crazy around me.
I have quilted ornaments made by aunts and grandmas, a Hawaiian angel, a red metal heart made by my little sister and a white felt heart made by me, the cork from our wedding champagne, and a set of 
Nutcracker characters I first hung on my dorm Xmas tree.

Over here, is my college pennant and a picture of me graduating from college and even a paper nativity scene I bought in college and have managed to keep all these years. Below, is a picture of my favorite writer I read throughout college, C.S. Lewis. College, college, college. Oh, there's my diploma back there too.

I printed a photo of Lewis from the internet and glued it to some English-y floral scrapbook paper.
He's British, he won't mind.

Over on the other side, are some even older pieces. I bought the beeswax angel at a medieval faire a million years ago. I am always amazed that this one is still in one piece. Though, as I was untangling it from last year's garland, for some reason, I set it in my back pocket while I was working, and it sat there all day, warming against my posterior and ended up curved, but not broken. Not sure how to make it flat again without ruining it.

I made the red ornament with my mother in 1976 or so for Valentine's Day and the little Swiss cottage on the shelf belonged to my great-great-aunt, and it's one of those picture window clicky things.

In the center are two angels, one made by my great-grandmother out of tin cans (Depression era crafts) and one from my mother. Behind that is my original master calendar wheel, drawn on the back of a desk calendar page.

So, there's my desk. Now, back to working on this year's card....

4. Real: The wireless scanner won't talk to my computer. Argh. Off to the copy store I go. Still have 14 days til Christmas anyway, right?

Wireless technology, I love/hate you.
One advantage of greeting cards: they don't have internet connection problems and you never have to troubleshoot them.