THE GIFT OF ADVENT
My parents (who were not particularly religious) did give their children the gift of Advent.

ADVENT THEN AND NOW
My earliest recollections of Advent and Christmas date back to age four or five. During the weeks preceding Christmas, my sister, Mary and I would act out the Nativity story in our backyard…

THE ADVENT SURPRISE
Year by year I try to come to grips with the Magnificat’s depiction of everything in society being turned upside-down…

CHRISTMAS EVE IN THE TV TRUCK
In Atlanta, Georgia over the past five decades, the live telecast of the 11:30 p.m. Christmas Eve service from the Cathedral of St. Philip has been a much-loved holiday tradition.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING
Once upon an Advent, I struggled to add dozens of Christmas obligations to an already overflowing life.

CHRISTMASTIDE AND THE TIDE OF GRIEF
When I was newly married, my maternal grandmother died suddenly of a massive stroke on December 26, 1971.

TRANSFORMATION IN WHOVILLE
One of my favorite Advent/Christmas rituals is watching the Christmas classic that I think best mirrors the truth of the Gospel story…

SOMETHING FOR TRINA
I was doing some early Christmas shopping the other day in a store that offered for sale two dozen or so Advent calendars…

SITTING WITH THE STORY
There are five of them. Five photos hanging on the bedroom wall, photos of women in high-lace collars with their hair pulled up in buns.