The third Advent candle, lit today, is the Shepherd Candle, in honour of the shepherds to whom the birth was announced.




You are 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing'. You take
Christmas very seriously. For you, it is a
religious festival, celebrating the birth of
the Saviour, and its current secularisation
really irritates you. You enjoy the period of
Advent leading up to Christmas, and attend any
local carol services you can find, as well as
the more contemplative Advent church services
each Sunday. You may be involved in Christmas
food collections or similar charity work. The
midnight service at your church, with candles
and carols, is one you look forward to all
year, and you also look forward to the family
get together on Christmas Day.


What Christmas Carol are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Click on the link and try it yourself. In my case, that quiz is so true! I just love the religious aspects of Christmas and yes, I'm looking forward to next week's carol service in the church. And I'm grateful to be here in Sweden where there is a decided low-key approach taken to the more secular aspects of Christmas.

I went to a small Christmas concert on Saturday. It was so beautiful. A mixture of traditional Swedish Christmas hymns, English carols, and gospel. It occured to me that I understood all of it and related to all of it. An overwhelming sense of belonging--the first Christmas in Sweden that I've been able to feel that. Exciting, scary, amazing.

My dear man is fiddling with the photographs from this weekend's sailing trip to Utö, so I'll write more about that tomorrow or the next day. It was wonderful to be out, but I have to say, it's lovely to be home now it's snowing again!