Christmas Eve

Tonight is Christmas Eve. In Norway, folks open gifts tonight, but we usually wait until Christmas morning. That means I have one more day to finish and wrap gifts!

Agenda Today:
1. Advent Prayers
2. Make Danish Prune Bread
3. Put Baby Jesus in the manger
4. Hang our stockings with care
5. Christmas Novena, day 9

1. Advent Prayers:
This last few days of Advent my theme is the Guiding Light of God. My image of God is a Spirit of Love and Light that lives in all people. I try to live always awake and listening for the message of love, but I often get distracted. I want to have a more effectual connection to the Spirit, and so this week I'm practice a morning prayer habit.

• Each morning as I wake, pause to take a slow breath, and center on the Light within. 
• I stay in this gentle meditation as I get dressed and move through my morning.
• I light a candle, and sit every morning for a few minutes of silence, simply feeling a presence of Love-- breath love in and send love out.
• I send prayers to others. Pray that God’s love and protection will reach out and surround my loved ones, and all the people of the world.

2. Make Danish Prune Bread:

Christmas sweet bread is a tradition in most every country. Since I grew up in a Scandinavian-American town, I’m partial to this bread from Denmark. You can easily make the dough and filling in advance and shape it to bake fresh on Christmas morning.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 c. chilled unsalted butter 
• 3-1/2 c. flour 
• 2 tsp. active dry yeast (1 packet)
• 1/2 c. warm water (105-115ºF) 
• 1/2 c. heavy cream 
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 2 eggs 
• 1/4 c. sugar 
• 1 c. pitted prunes, packed 
• 1 c. sugar 
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 
• 1/2-tsp. vanilla 
• 1/2-tsp. cinnamon

Yield: 2 loaves-

1- Cut cold butter into chunks; combine with flour, and cut with a pastry blender until the butter is the size of kidney beans.

2- In another large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in the cream, cardamom, salt, eggs, and 1/4 c. sugar. Mix very lightly with a fork.








3- Turn flour and butter mixture into the yeast mixture and mix lightly with a fork or spatula just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 4 days).

4- Filling: Put prunes, 1 c. sugar, and 1/4 c. of water into a saucepan. Heat and simmer until prunes are soft and plumped, and have absorbed most of the liquid. 

5- Puree in a blender, transfer to a bowl and stir in lemon juice, vanilla and cinnamon. Cool and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake.

6- You can finish this tonight, or on Christmas morning: Prepare a baking sheet with lightly buttered and floured parchment paper. Take dough out of the refrigerator, divide in 2 parts, and put half back. On a floured surface, roll dough into a 12 x 6-inch rectangle. Place on the baking sheet.

6- Spread half the prune filling down the length of the center of the dough. Cut strips along both sides with kitchen scissors. Fold strips over the filling in a crisscross manner.

7- Repeat for the other half of the dough and filling to make a second loaf.

8- Let rise 1 hour or more, just until the pastry appears puffy (it will not double.)

9- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes, until golden.

3. Put Baby Jesus in the manger:

Of course, Baby Jesus must arrive in His crib tonight! 

I believe that we all have that of God within, and I generally picture it as Light, but the Christ Child is another wonderful image. At Advent, I am a baby again, waiting for birth into wisdom and grace.


Our stockings 3 year's ago

4. Hang our stockings with care:
We are meeting tonight at my daughter's house to hang our stockings.

5. Christmas Novena, day 9:
From the Worldssps site:

In Communion with Street Children

The day has come at last when Mary will bring forth her firstborn Son. 

While we sleep tonight in our comfortable beds, in our comfortable homes and in a safe neighbourhood, an estimated 200 million street children will be sleeping down in conditions that are too dreadful even for stray animals. 

Our loving God must have grieved over the loneliness and desperation of these children. Where the world sees a filthy urchin, God sees a precious child created in his image. While we see their disposable lives, God sees their eternal souls. When the communities in which these children roam see a problem that needs to be fixed, God sees a child who needs to be loved. 

On the 9th day of our Christmas novena, united with the whole congregation, we remember all street children with and without names who are alive in our dreams, like the child Jesus who was born in a crib where animals fed.