Twas Advent

Trees everywhere are starting to appear, Signaling to all that Christmas is near. Today's Song is ... O' Tannenbaum - Instrumental Today's Inspiring Story is ... "Twas Advent" "Just remember: you have to be especially polite during Advent, otherwise the Lord Jesus will not be born for you" Janek remembered it well, but he did not know what it meant. Besides, he was ashamed of being so silly and he did not dare to ask anyone. "Because what does it mean that the Lord Jesus will not be born for me. When he is born, he will be born for everyone. Anyway, what does it mean that he will be born? After all, he has already been born once. Is it possible to be born a second time? Only then will I know when I'm particularly polite. " And he was actually trying to be polite in Advent. First, as every year, he waited for the coming of Saint Nicholas. To tell the truth, he didn't know what it was like with this Santa Claus. Once at school, he inadvertently broke off some such opinion about Santa Claus. A friend who he did not like very much, and who did not like Janek either, and called him "slamazara", began to shout: - Look, one more who believes in Santa Claus. Besides, other colleagues had already said that it was not a saint from heaven who comes with gifts, but parents plant them. Just in case, he asked his mother: - Mom, will Santa Claus come to you? - "Santa Claus comes to the children. Only sometimes it comes to the elders."  - "It won't come to you either?"  - No. Janek frowned. After a while he asked: - "And what would you like to get from Santa Claus?" Mom didn't know. - "Come on say what. Maybe handkerchiefs. Remember, last year my grandmother gave me a name day. But I didn't use them because I felt sorry for them. And you liked them very much. Well?"  "All right," my mother replied. - But how do we do it? Because you can't know about it in advance. So I will put you under the pillow, and you will only be allowed to look in there at night. Well? "All right," my mother agreed. - "And daddy? Let him not be sad. Maybe I can buy socks for him and do the same." On the evening of Saint Nicholas, Janek promised himself that he would not sleep. That he has to find out if it's Santa Claus coming or not. He read in bed for a long time until his mother admonished him. He turned off the light, but tried to stay awake. He wasn't even sleepy at first. But then his eyes closed by themselves. He fought with all his will to stay awake. He even held his eyelids with his fingers for a moment. Especially to wake up, he remembered all sorts of funny stories, but nothing helped. Finally he said to himself, "I'll take a nap for a little while. Just for a moment." He woke up deep in the night. At first he didn't know why, but then he remembered that he was supposed to be awake, because he wanted to see Santa Claus. "Didn't he the only one who came while I was sleeping?" He was comforted that it was impossible. "It was just a moment." In such a short time, Santa Claus could not come. Or maybe? He reached under the pillow. Reassured, he found that there was nothing there. But he heard a faint rustle of paper overhead. He reached over and felt for the package. His heart began to pound with sensation. He sat down on the bed, placed the package in front of him on the quilt and began to undo the string slowly, as quietly as possible. But he couldn't quite handle it. He wanted to get inside as soon as possible, he began to struggle with the bundle, and then my sister woke up. All the better because you didn't have to sit in the dark anymore. It was possible to turn on the bedside lamp. Quietly, so as not to wake his parents, he got out of bed, knelt on the chair, put the package on the table and started unpacking. The sister imitated him closely. She also got out of the crib, she also knelt on the chair. He noticed how, as was her custom, she pulled her tongue out, bit her teeth and unfolded the paper slowly, carefully, so as not to rustle. But it was no use:? It did. Suddenly the door opened and mom in her nightgown burst into the room. She took him into an embrace saying: as was her custom, she pulled her tongue out of the takeover, bit her teeth and unrolled the paper slowly, carefully, so as not to rustle. But it was no use:? It did. Suddenly the door opened and mom in her nightgown burst into the room. She took him into an embrace saying: as was her custom, she pulled her tongue out of the takeover, bit her teeth and unrolled the paper slowly, carefully, so as not to rustle. But it was no use:? It did. Suddenly the door opened and mom in her nightgown burst into the room. She took him into an embrace saying: - And Santa Claus came to me, look what he brought me. She showed him the handkerchiefs. Then daddy came, hugged him and showed him the socks that he put under daddy's pillow in the evening. Although really Janek is not. he was already so sure if they were the same ones he had bought or the "Santa's" - he had similar doubts about his mother's handkerchiefs. But there was no time to think about it, because my mom put him and his sister back in bed. She adjusted, as was her custom, the quilt around her neck and legs "so that it wouldn't blow", she kissed him, made a cross on his forehead, turned off the light, said: - Sleep now, sleep, because school tomorrow - and she left quietly with my father. He could not sleep for a long time. He and his sister were whispering various beautiful things for a while longer. Then she fell asleep. He heard her deep, regular breathing. So he looked into the darkness and thought to himself that he was probably more pleased with the fact that he had made Mum and Daddy happy than with what he had received. Actually, it was both so and so: he was glad of one and the other. Then somehow it occurred to him that the shepherds and the three kings must have rejoiced when they offered the Lord Jesus a gift. He was still staring in the darkness in his own way with narrowed eyes, he saw strings of colored beads running down and flashing with all colors, and he went out. After Santa, as every year, preparations for Christmas began. In the evenings, when there was any free hour, when all the tasks had been completed and what belonged to him at home had been done, Janek and his sister were taking out boxes of toys with Christmas decorations and went to work. One by one, box by box. After opening each of them it turned out how much there was to be done. Although last year he took the toys off the tree very carefully and put them in the box with the help of his mother, they were very damaged. Therefore, the blown-out robfl repainted the faces of clowns on them, attached pointed hats to them from above, and chins from the bottom. He cut peacock eyes out of colored paper, made hedgehogs by sticking pins with threaded beads into the cork, and most importantly - he tied chains. Different ones: made of straws and blotting paper, but the sweetest, the simplest and most durable were always the same "real" chains made of narrow strips of colored paper. At the end it was necessary to golden the nuts, nail sticks and tie threads. The work was long and seemingly arduous. At least it seemed to my mother, because she reminded her many times and told her not to stop this work. But Janek was surprised his mother did not understand it. After all, preparing toys for a tree was pure joy, and he himself would prefer to sit over these colorful and flickering wonders every day in the evenings. If he put off this work at the end of his classes, it was only because he knew that you had to do your daily duties first. He remembered well what his mother had said to him at the beginning of Advent: "If you are naughty, the Lord Jesus will not be born for you." When all the toys were prepared, sorted and placed in new, fresh boxes, he went to the most enjoyable job: renovating the nativity scene. Unwrapped from the papers it had been wrapped in last year, it turned out to be useless: the star was bent, it was torn quickly, and the shepherds and Saint Joseph were a little blackened. If what, then only the Mother of God and the Child Jesus could become. Therefore, it was necessary to get a new straw for the roof and finally electrify the stable - if not for a transformer, then at least with batteries - because lighting candles in these times is a shame. Meanwhile, the streets were getting more and more festive. At the exhibitions there were various Santa Clauses with long beards and short, dressed in blue or red robes, angels like the real ones, fir branches with bubbles, candles, gifts wrapped in colorful packages, tied with shiny ribbons, prepared to just come, buy and put under the Christmas tree. All the inscriptions spoke of the upcoming holidays. In the afternoons it was even difficult to enter the shops, because so many people came and went, pushed and jostled, in a hurry to make it in time, where and for what. Colorful stalls grew up in the squares, selling angel's hair, stars, and various candies. Finally, next to the stalls there are spruce and fir trees, small, tiny and quite large. He liked these the best. "What does it mean that the Lord Jesus is to be born for me?" This thought was with him still as he looked at Christmas exhibitions, at people in a hurry. Finally, Daddy brought home a Christmas tree. Meanwhile, he and his sister asked him to put a Christmas tree in their room. She stood beautiful, green, smelling of forest and resin, and waited, just like him, for Christmas. Even after the light had gone out and it was time to sleep, although you couldn't see her in the dark, he felt good about her. Until the day on Christmas Eve. The house was full of the smells of soups, cakes and roasts. It is not known why everything was in a hurry from the very morning and it was too late for everything, although there was a lot of time until evening. Mom kept warning that she had to be handled with care, because she could give them both a spanking, and if the children were spanked on Christmas Eve, they would receive it all year round. She reminded that the devil is doing everything today to make people angry, because he wants to spoil Christmas. And despite this, what my mother had warned about, there was a brawl. Of course, because of his sister, whom Janek had to punish lightly. She struck a roar as usual for unknown to what. She did start to trickle blood from her nose, but nothing too much happened. My mom got mixed up in it unnecessarily. Janek tried to calmly explain to his mother how it was with his sister from beginning to end, then his mother admonished him not to shout at her, because he had no right to raise his voice at her. This, in turn, was completely unnecessary by my dad, he started screaming that Janek would immediately apologize to his mother. He didn't want to hear any explanations. He just kept shouting: "Apologize or you'll get spanked!" What Janek kept saying over and over again, that he would be happy to apologize to his mother, as soon as he knew for what. And, of course, it all ended up in a big spanking. Janek was screaming out loud, not because he was in pain, but because he thought that he was hurt, because he did not deserve a spanking. Then he had to stand in the corner for a while, and worst of all, his mother took offense at him and refused to speak to him, even though he tried his best. Therefore, Janek also took offense at his mother. - If mom doesn't want to speak, she doesn't have to, but he won't talk to mom either. He can be silent, like Mom, and pretend mum doesn't see him, and neither does she. - So it was worse than bad, and on a day like this. He was most furious with his sister, who at once became the good and beloved one and the aggrieved one. It stayed that way until the very evening. He considered leaving home so as not to sit at the Christmas table. "Maybe then they would remember me." But he didn't really have anywhere to go. There was definitely Christmas Eve at all of my friends and it would be awkward for them if he came to see them. Then the parents of his friends would certainly be interested in him, they would call Janek's dad. No, it didn't make sense. He didn't feel like walking in the streets. He was in the morning for shopping and he was really cold. Until Christmas Eve, as in the previous year, he dressed in the best clothes, tied himself, without his mother's help, the most beautiful tie. The knot was certainly not as tied as it should be, but in the end it didn't matter and Janek decided not to say a word to anyone. He looked with apparent indifference as his mother prepared the table. He would gladly help her if she said a word. She wouldn't even have to ask, she could only recommend that he do this or ^ that, but if not, then no. He stood and watched. It was like every year. My mother opened the table first, then put some hay in the center, covered the table with the most beautiful white cloth there was in the house. Then, on the tablecloth, in the place where the hay was lying, she put a wafer. This sight always touched him, every year, because he knew what it meant: the wafers meant the Lord Jesus, who was born in hay. But now he stood indifferent and stared cold as a stone. Then my mother laid out the plates with the help of her sister, who licked her mother as much as she could and was so kind that it was not good to make these sweets out of it. The star must have shone in the dark sky long ago, but somehow no one remembered looking out the window. He remembered, but he didn't look for her either. When supper was ready, they all approached the table. At the end, also Janek. Dad and mum knelt at the table, this little kid also knelt down. He knelt down, too, reluctantly. This is what I feared the most. Dad started praying out loud, then everyone got up, Dad took the Gospel and started reading about what it was like back then. He listened to what he almost knew by memory and felt very sad. He had been waiting for this holiday so long, he thought that maybe the Lord Jesus would also be born for him, When daddy finished reading, he put the Gospel down, bent over the table, took the wafer, walked over to mum and started talking to her. Janek didn't really hear what his daddy was saying, he just looked at his mom. Mom smiled at first, but apparently with a lot of embarrassment, and then tears began to join the smile. He looked at Dad. He was also very touched, he kissed my mother first on the hand, then on the mouth. Janek knew it was his turn. He realized that the worst was just now coming. Meanwhile, suddenly he found himself in his mother's embrace and felt like everything that was hard as rock in his soul disappeared. He felt very sorry that he had been so bad to his mother, and he hugged her and started crying like a baby. He only heard his mother's words through a fog: "you dummy" and some wishes: " - That you would be a brave man and that I would not have to be ashamed for you. Janek still had wet eyes and it was hard to catch his breath. Fortunately, it was the turn of the sister, who was roared even more than he was and did not have to be ashamed of anything in front of her. Finally it was time to sit down at the table. Everyone pretended to be very busy eating the soup. Dad even praised that great mushroom soup, mum replied with a smile streaked with tears that it is not great mushroom soup, at most it is great borscht, everyone laughed and pretended that laughter was wiping tears and it was all very well. Then there was one more dish, and one more and another - it was hard to count. He couldn't even eat anymore, but he continued to eat, if only to hide the emotion that still shook him. Finally the prune compote arrived and that was it. Then dad said: - Janek, play church and light candles. So he started lighting candles. Dad turned off the light and caroling began. Janek took a songbook of Christmas carols and sang one after another with the alphabet one after another, which only the melodies he remembered. The little sister snuggled up to him and tried to echo him by faking it in all directions. Mother, who had a lovely voice, led all singing. Dad only came on occasionally. He could sit there until the morning and sing Christmas carols, but my mother said that it was time to go to sleep and that a moment longer, and Janek and his sister would fall from their chairs like willow pears, because their heads are so daring. Although it was not true, he gladly went to wash, because in fact he wanted to sleep. In a moment he was in bed, which at first was cold, smelled of starch and fresh like never in a year. Mom announced that Janek and her sister would stay at home, and that she and Dad would go to the Midnight Mass. In the meantime, he will only clean up the kitchen. He was lying in bed, staring through the slightly open door at the Christmas tree flashing in the darkness with all its splendor. It was good for him as never before, so good that he would most willingly die of happiness. He narrowed his eyes the way he used to do. The colorful beads tingled from the top down more and more, faster and faster, finally so many of them that they turned completely white - they were no longer the beads, they were a whirlwind that swirled around him. He felt in the dark, but he was not afraid at all. Although the snowflakes swirled around him, he felt neither cold, nor wind, nor snow on his face, he felt good and warm. He kept on walking and was not afraid of going astray. Nobody had told him that yet, and neither had he himself, but he knew that he was going to Jesus, who was born in a stable. Suddenly he was on the road in the woods. The forest was like a park, where he played in summer and sometimes sleigh with his mother and sister in winter. There were similar trees and bushes, only all covered with a thick layer of snow. Even though he knew it was night, it was still bright - from the moon, I guess - and the snow sparkled like diamonds. Suddenly he was at the edge of some clearing. He saw a stable deep inside it. It was similar to the one he was building during Advent. Thatch covered with snow; above her a star with a huge tail. The light that fell through the open doors and windows illuminated the bushes and trees standing nearby. Suddenly he was inside the shed. He was kneeling on the floor of the stables. Beside him, he noticed Daddy kneeling, and Mommy and sister smiling at him. He felt as happy as he was on Christmas Eve when he wished. Then he remembered it what my mother told him at the very beginning of Advent, that when he is good, the Lord Jesus will be born for him. "Was Jesus born for me too?" He felt he had to look at the nursery. "Jesus is definitely there. But will I see Him?" a deep unease penetrated him. But he should have seen. "I apologized to my mom, dad and sister. I tried to be polite during Advent." Determined, he decided. With eyes full of tears, he raised his head - and saw. The Child lay on a hay covered with a white scarf. But he should have seen. "I apologized to my mom, dad and sister. I tried to be polite during Advent." Determined, he decided. With eyes full of tears, he raised his head - and saw. The Child lay on a hay covered with a white scarf. But he should have seen. "I just apologized to my mom, dad and sister. I tried to be polite during Advent." Determined, he decided. With eyes full of tears, he raised his head - and saw. The Child lay on a hay covered with a white scarf. Fr. M. Maliński View thee original version of "Twas Advent" Thanks For Visiting