Sister Mary Beth Klingel

Advent is my favorite season of the Liturgical Year. I love this quiet time before Christmas.

It isn’t a penitential time like Lent. It is a time of quiet anticipation.

Anticipation is naturally in the air. Children certainly anticipate Santa Claus and time off from school. Adults anticipate a break from work, getting together with family and friends, the chance to kick back and relax from the frenzied pace of life.

Advent is the season of waiting and longing. Our society makes it almost impossible to wait.

I noticed that Christmas TV programming began in early November. Certainly, Christmas advertising and shopping crept in even earlier — before Halloween!

The greatest challenge in Advent is to refrain from celebrating Christmas. Christmas is coming and it will be more than a day. In fact, there are 12 days for celebration, as the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” suggests (Christmas Eve on Dec. 24 through Epiphany on Jan. 6).

I always think of my maternal grandfather, Alex “Casey” Gutgsell, on Halloween. He was very German and very stern. But he also had a mischievous side.

As kids, we went first to “trick or treat” at my grandparents’ home. Someone always dressed up like a witch and wore a treasured, horrific mask to complete her costume.

Without fail, Grandpa Gutgsell would remove the mask from the little witch, put it on and proceed to scare us. It so delighted him and so annoyed my grandmother.