The last day of Ordinary Time, the last day of the Church's year . . . every year the wheel spins faster, and here we are again.
I took a little time this morning to dust and put out the first few signs of Advent, to be ready for nightfall. Dollar Tree has had these tall purple and pink votives this year --- I actually ordered a case of the purple ones online, then bought two pink ones in the store when I went to pick up the case. I'm wishing, a little, that I'd bought more pink ones, and maybe I'll actually venture out, or send the daughter, who likes to venture out, to see if they still have some left. At any rate, I can have candles on my front mantel and candles on my kitchen table, all at once. At Christmas I'll move the kitchen candles to the dining room, with a white Christ Candle, to light our breakfast and dinner that day.
Meanwhile, I like setting out these little signs of waiting. Here, Mary and Joseph loiter at the edge of the mantel, waiting for their cue.
The Wise Men, on the windowframe above the living-room sofa, confront their yearly difficulty: is the camel going to back all the way to Bethlehem, or what? Maybe at least one of them should stand at its head, to push it.
It is an amusingly refusenik camel.
I didn't take a shot of our dining-room table set for Thanksgiving. It was simple but pretty, and now it's even simpler, my favorite room in the whole house:
Last night I took Dora for a walk just at sunset, and the sky was a gift.
Aaaaaannnnnnnd, wearing today:
My long Wool& Audrey dress again, with an Indian cotton tunic, thrifted long ago, tied over the top. This tunic is one of those things I hang onto, because I like it, but don't wear all that often. It looks pretty good over narrow trousers, but I don't really have any of those anymore, and it hasn't looked great with any of my other dresses. But over a long charcoal-gray skirt (really a dress, but for our purposes here, a skirt), knotted in front, with the knot tucked up under it for neatness, it is, I think, the chef's kiss. Tari boots with Boody socks, because again, while it's chilly now, it won't stay that way for long. I started out in EVA Birks, and I might well put them on again later:
Wet hair for now. I've also spent some time glancing through my reduced-but-functional wardrobe for Advent purple, because I think I can't not wear something purple every day in Advent. I don't, now, have a purple dress. I have one purple cardigan (in need of some mending, so I'll do that later on) and one purplish blazer. I generally count my light periwinkle crocheted cardigan as a purple, though light and airy as it is, it tends to get more wear in Lent than in Advent. I have one old, thrifted purple polarfleece pullover, which I will probably wear this time around, even though in general I'm trying not to wear synthetics. If it's cold, and I need a warm pullover, AND something purple, I'll reach for it. I have my big Anna-Kate-crocheted shawl, with stripes in shades of purple, as well as blue and green. I have scarves with some purple. I'll count my grapey Ibex merino tee, as well as my new Icebreaker long-sleeved tee (really more of a pink, but it'll do), in the purple category.
Most importantly, I have purple earrings. I've already switched out the stud that I wear all the time in my double piercing for a purple one. That way I'll always have something purple on, no matter what. To me that's kind of on the order of saying well, I'm wearing purple UNDERWEAR, so there! But again, it covers a base.
I don't like making this kind of thing an overt challenge, because it's a little too self-aggrandizing. Look how holy I am! I have often, in years past, made "giving up not wearing purple" my discipline in Lent, and it's been surprisingly effective as a tiny little daily sacrifice --- but if I call attention to it, then I don't think it really counts. It just becomes a thing I do, which doesn't at all mean I won't do it. It just means that it's not exactly a penance.
Time to take the dog out now, to meet the new day . . .
LATER:
I've spread out my potential Advent capsule wardrobe, minus only my Audrey dress, pictured above, on my body. I didn't feel like taking it off just to complete a flat-lay composition.
I'm pretty pleased with this array of colors, and with the discovery of a few things I hadn't thought about before, like my pinky-purple J. Jill ramie/cotton pullover, another long-ago thrift buy. AND a couple of scarves knitted me by loving family members at one time or other.
It's interesting to look at all these colors in juxtaposition, mostly because it's only when I see them next to other things that I realize how red some of these purples are. Take a look at that ruffly-edged cable cardigan --- bought years ago for a quarter off the rack at our neighborhood thrift shop. I just resewed the ruffled edge where it was coming away in spots at the back of the neck, and it's good to go --- but wow, I can see so clearly how red-plum it is, compared with other, bluer purples in this mix. Ditto the fleece just above it. The good news is that I can also see clearly how well these things will go with just these five dresses. Literally every wool dress I own looks good with some shade of purple. And I can wear as much or as little of it as I want --- including just wearing the little purple stud in my ear.
ETA:
Forgot my dark-periwinkle blazer, seen last year on Sunday, Advent 1. I don't wear it much, but it was a dollar at the thrift store, and it does come in seasonally handy.
Forgot my purply-pink tees, too. Oh well. I probably couldn't have fit all that in one photo anyway. Obviously I should have no shortage of things to wear for the next four weeks.
Again, I don't really want to call this a challenge. It's just my way of marking the liturgical year and being mindful of the season. Of course I'll go on posting selfies, because I just do that, but I don't want to be all Show Me Your Advent Purple! I'll just be all hey, it's Advent. I haven't done the first thing about Christmas yet --- I haven't had the first thought about what to do for anybody for Christmas --- but I do love Advent, not least because it gives me time to think.
PS: If ever there were a cure for envy and covetousness, in the form of constantly wanting more things I don't have, looking at what I DO actually have comes pretty darn close. Again: this is abundance. And it's not even my whole closet. That ought to stop me wanting Just One More Thing. Considering that, this afternoon . . .
