In Christmas Carols Mary Is AWOL- Why?

I am updating this entry with a post from Pro Ecclesia. An interesting link to a Article written by a Lutheran pastor that was in Our Sunday Visitor. Go see his entry Our Sunday Visitor: "Mary -- Crucial to Christmas" .

I am still struggling to get in the proper Christian mode for the upcoming Christmas. I think the illness I had set me off track.

I thought the Anchoress had a good point this morning to people that just rant on about the Materialism of Christmas. She was pointing out to Catholics(and I should note Anglicans) that you have the solution right in front of you. That is the Liturgy of the Hours AKA The Divine Office. In her post Christmas in June? she stated:
I don’t know that we need to give up the battle just yet, maybe simply turn it inward. Speaking only for myself, I have found that praying at least Vespers of the Liturgy of the Hours each day has helped a great deal in keeping me “Advent focused,” as have some of the early feastdays of Advent, and even simple chats with family members.
Being attentive to little things throughout this season has kept me Christ-centered, and all of that has made the rest of it feel almost other-worldly, and so I can bear it with good humor. And not everything being thrown at us at Christmas is laughable or annoying, if only we can remember that - marketing aside - much of what makes this an endurance test of a season is rooted in love. The people rolling their eyes as you take too long to load your car and get out of their chosen parking space may be obnoxious, but they’re crowding the mall along with you because they love someone. The mother-in-law who calls you 7 times from The Gap because she wants to be clear about the hoodie she’s buying can try your patience, but she’s trying to get it “just right” because she loves your kid, who is too old and fussy to be satisfied with an Easy Bake Oven. She loves. At her root, she loves.

Noticing the little things is important. Sometimes things become so regular we don't notice them. On this theme I was struck by a post over at First Things. That post is Looking for Mary in Christmas Carols. A very good read. Especially with now the tradition of many secular radio stations to play Christmas music nonstop for the season. Of course the whole tone of article is "Keep looking because for some reason she is not there in a lot of them!!!!. Anyway a very good read that gets you thinking about the songs we sing and id with.