My Candle is Broken (and other Advent thoughts)
Friends, It has been so very long since my last post. Honestly, and not surprisingly, this past year has been quite awful, and I haven't felt like writing. But as Christmas and the new year draw closer, I'm getting reflective and not at all in the mood to sugar-coat anything. So here we go. This is our Advent wreath this year. Isn't it lame? None of the candles are straight, and I have twice found the pink "joy" candle completely broken off and sadly laying on the table. What a metaphor for 2020. No matter how many times I fix the candles and rig them to stand upright, they manage to do this. I quit trying to fix them. I don't want to tell you about how things were so different for our family this year, because things have been different for literally everyone. We all know that story. I do want to tell you a bit about this last year of our life and my reflection on this Advent season. Nora entered our world in September 2...