Stir up Sunday

At least, that what we always call it. The traditional day on which to stir up your Christmas pudding and cook it, so it can mature nicely between now and Christmas day.

The name, of course, comes from the Collect of the Mass (in the Extraordinary Form):

Excita, Domine, corda nostra ad praeparandas Unigeniti tui vias: ut per ejus adventum purificatis tibi mentibus servire mereamur.

Stir up, O Lord, our hearts to make ready the ways of thine only-begotten Son; and with minds undefiled to pay to thee, through his coming, the homage of our service.

This is the prayer we will say around the Advent wreath every evening, until Gaudete Sunday, next week.