The Eowiggle

1. Advent The Advent season is now in full swing. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get this panicky feeling when I realize that Christmas is just around the corner. There is so much to do: shopping for gifts, innumerable Christmas parties to attend at school, sport clubs, church, getting organized for out-of-town guests, etc. This hustle and bustle seems to fly in the face of what the Advent season is all about: waiting. It used to be a season set apart for expectant waiting on the coming of Jesus at Christmas. 2. "Wait a minute!" But waiting is not restricted to Advent and the Christmas season. Waiting is a universal phenomenon. Ethan, my then six year old, was standing at my side while I was typing at the computer. He questioned me again about something he wanted. Honestly, I cannot even remember what it was about. "Wait a minute," was my answer to him. Upon hearing this he retorted: "Does 'wait a minute' always mean never, M

I will never forget our first Saint Nicholas day here in Berlin. We invited our neighbors over for a nice Saint Nick's coffee time. They came dressed up in as Saint Nicholas and Knecht Rupert, his servant. Saint Nick was wearing the typical Father Christmas garb, and carried a sack of gifts. But Rupert was actually scary. He came dressed in brown, wearing an ugly mask and carrying a sack of coal and a whip. They both asked the kids whether they had been good or bad...Our kids were terrified and didn't know what to say! Before Saint Nick would give them anything, they had to answer that they had been good. "According to tradition, Knecht Ruprecht asks children whether they can pray. If they can, they receive apples, nuts, and gingerbread . If they cannot, he beats the children with his bag of ashes.   In other (presumably more modern) versions of the story, Knecht Ruprecht gives naughty children useless, ugly gifts such as lumps of coal, sticks, and stones, while we