How did it get to be the second Sunday of Advent already? Around here, we’re just regaining our footing after a demanding journey-plus-sickness, and the end of semester (with concomitant exam preparation and grading) looms in front of us. We have done almost no gift shopping, have no plan for sending holiday cards, most of our friends don’t know what address to send a card to anyway (so we won’t receive the cards they do send until after they’ve been forwarded, perhaps multiple times). And then, I have to keep my schedule open for the upcoming confirmation hearings….