Originally posted to Chez VH, January 5, 2011
Okay, I know I haven't posted in something like two weeks - eek! I've been doing too much basking in new board games, reading interesting books and working on various projects and such. It's really been a very nice Christmas.
Here, at long last, is a picture of our Christmas tree - a 10 foot tall artificial tree that we saved from the dumpster at church. Well, it didn't *quite* make it to the dumpster, but it was about 10 minutes from getting there). I think it turned out rather nice and wow - it really makes the room look good.
Speaking of the room looking good, we had a really ugly old sectional in this room for years and I was really fed up with it. Two days before Christmas, John and I decided to head to the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store to see if we could find something a little better. We found two couches with relatively coordinating plaids (shown in the picture) of a rather high quality AND all the furniture was 50% off, so we got the two for about $50. Yippee!!!
One more funny thing happened with that St. Vinnie's trip. I was talking to John about Christmas presents on the way there and mentioned that I thought we needed a little something more for Frank. I even mentioned that Frank had told me he really wanted a Nutcracker but had forgotten to put it on his wish list. Well, in the store, right on top of one of the pieces of furniture where we were browsing was a huge, beautiful Nutcracker! It was very reasonably priced at $3.99, but all of the Christmas stuff was 80% off, so I think we paid about 80 cents for it. I do have a picture of that somewhere that I'll try to post too. He ended up identifying it as his favorite present of the day.
I'm always so glad to have twelve days to celebrate Christmas, which was especially evident this year, the first year that John and I and Gus sang with a choir for midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. We also hosted a big jolly gathering on Christmas Day as usual. It was all beautiful, but somewhat hectic, and so I even more appreciated having some quieter days afterwards.
I saw two movies at the theater over Christmas time, both of which I really liked. The first was Tangled - Disney's latest princess movie - based on the story of Rapunzel. It was a little violent in one scene for the youngest set, but on the whole I loved it. It was, quite seriously, one of the most profound animated films I've ever seen. And besides, the music is great.
A few days after Christmas we took the family to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. When we got there, we realized it was a 3D showing, which I really wasn't interested in. So John took the kids to Narnia and I saw The King's Speech. It's a great movie - excellent in quality and a fascinating story. It is rated R for language, but it is appropriate to the story and I think it's a fine film for older teens and up. It's the true story of King George VI of England, the one who took over when his brother abdicated the throne to marry a divorced woman. What I didn't know until hearing about this film was that King George had a terrible stutter. Couldn't manage public speaking a bit. So this is the story of his stutter, how it was overcome and why it mattered so much. The casting was *exquisite* - we recognized many actors from BBC/A&E's Pride and Prejudice and BBC's Brideshead Revisited. Okay, and it's only fair to mention that I went back and saw the movie a second time with John in tow and we both loved it.
I mentioned that we've been playing a lot of board games lately. I taught the kids how to play Risk last week. We played two games and that was about enough. It's a fun game, but can definitely be overdone.
We also played lots of Settlers of Catan, which is always a favorite and just tonight we opened a brand new game we hadn't tried before, but had heard of from many quarters - Carcassonne (not sure of the spelling). It's theme runs in a similar direction to Settlers (in so far as you build things and it looks sort of medieval), but it's a very different game and is quite a bit simpler in nature. We enjoyed it a lot!
We had our Three Kings' Day celebration last night. I know it's not perfect, but we figure if we can squeeze in something between the Sunday when Epiphany is officially celebrated and the actual date of January 6th, then we're doing pretty well. For Three Kings' Day in our family, everyone has a present for everyone else, though they're sometimes in clumps (for example, both Ria and Gus had a single present to give to all of their siblings together). The kids gather a few things on their own, but mostly I collect lots of goodies (mostly from St. Vinnie's or from Target's after-Christmas clearance stuff) and have the kids come "shopping" in my room one by one. They wrap all of their own stuff and do jobs to pay for the goodies (most of which cost between 25 cents and $1). When we're ready to celebrate, we have a big procession around the house with the kids carrying the three kings from the nativity set, little boxes representing gold, frankincense and myrrh (that Gus received as a Christmas present from his godparents one year) and something to represent a star in front. We all walk all over the house singing We Three Kings and end up at the Christmas tree. It's a lot of fun, and I've found that it helps to ease the expectations of Christmas morning, because they know that's not the end of the story.
Ah, and as you can see in the photo, we did have a White Christmas! A Blessed New Year everyone! :)
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Why I Love Celebrating Christmas for Twelve Days
Reposting an old favorite (from 2007) again - amazing how many of the details still apply this year too. For me it's a critical part of how I keep joy and sanity in Christmas (Especially for me! I've had a couple of Christmasses with major let-downs in the middle of Christmas day and it's not fun!) Also, another piece that's grown in recent years is how much the kids do in the Christmas process. Because I'm often sick a week or so before Christmas, (still trying to get the allergies under control!) I've had to bring the kids in to do more tasks for me - and it turns out they really enjoy being part of the process. For example, we do a teen movie night in our room some time in the week before Christmas. We all watch a movie and all wrap presents together and have a lot more fun with a lot less stress than trying to do it all myself.
Ah, and so my two updated hints are: 1. The kids will enjoy helping as long as you don't give away all the surprises! 2. Don't be afraid to buy used presents. For us this both opens up the possibilities (because of the reasonable prices) and takes away some of the stress (for the same reason). I'm pretty selective with the used stuff though; basically, it only goes out on Christmas day if it's really like-new. If they'll love it anyway, but it's more obviously used (like a movie with a wrinkled or marked-up case), I'll save it for one of the 12 days of Christmas.
Merry Christmas and a Joyful and Blessed Christmas Season to You and Yours!
1. It makes Christmas Day itself a lot more relaxed with less expectations than if we tried to cram everything into one day. We actually scatter some extra presents out throughout the 12 days and especially on Three Kings Day - part of the fun of this is that the kids never know when there will be something under the tree. Hint #1 - keep Christmas day presents fairly reasonable in size and quantity. Hint #2 - don't give them something every day or it messes with the expectations (ahem... and the pocketbook!). :)
2. It allows us to spend our Christmas Eve Vigil Mass in the "stable" of our church gymnasium in order to attempt to provide many who attend Mass only once a year with a more beautiful and meaningful liturgy (musically speaking) and yet still celebrate Christmas the following Sunday in one of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in (the inside of the dome of St. Josaphat's Basilica is pictured here - click here for more photos). Ria did manage to go to Christmas Eve Midnight Mass later that night with her grandparents (who very kindly brought her back in time for opening presents on Christmas morning) and Gus and I watched Midnight Mass from the National Shrine in D.C. via EWTN.
3. It gives me an excuse to play loads of games of Settlers of Catan (one of the very favorite Christmas presents this year) with the kids and encourage them to keep baking Christmas goodies, even though John had to work for a few days last week. (I hardly ever do any baking any more as my kids love it - warning: it does get messy!)
4. The same goes for listening to Christmas Music.
5. I get to take advantage of crazy after-Christmas sales to supply fun little presents for between Christmas and Three Kings' Day - such as the dollar section at Target at 75% off! :) Yesterday was a day that everyone got to open an item of clothing courtesy of Kohl's 80-90% clearance sections and $20 in Kohl's cash.
5. Many of things people try to cram in before Christmas are still open the week after Christmas too. On the third day of Christmas we went to a fun drive-through light show with John's parents and lots of Christmas music on the car CD player, followed by an indoor look at an amazing nativity set and a fun and enormous set of electric trains.
Also, after visiting the Basilica yesterday, we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum and particularly enjoyed the "European Village" (here's a sample photo, though I can't remember which house this is from - Ria thinks it's the Austrian one) in which each exhibit was still decorated for Christmas and Christmas music was playing throughout. What fun - and this was completely unexpected for us - I never knew that they decorated these houses for Christmas!
6. We still have more time in which to send out our long-neglected Christmas Cards!
Ah, and so my two updated hints are: 1. The kids will enjoy helping as long as you don't give away all the surprises! 2. Don't be afraid to buy used presents. For us this both opens up the possibilities (because of the reasonable prices) and takes away some of the stress (for the same reason). I'm pretty selective with the used stuff though; basically, it only goes out on Christmas day if it's really like-new. If they'll love it anyway, but it's more obviously used (like a movie with a wrinkled or marked-up case), I'll save it for one of the 12 days of Christmas.
Merry Christmas and a Joyful and Blessed Christmas Season to You and Yours!
1. It makes Christmas Day itself a lot more relaxed with less expectations than if we tried to cram everything into one day. We actually scatter some extra presents out throughout the 12 days and especially on Three Kings Day - part of the fun of this is that the kids never know when there will be something under the tree. Hint #1 - keep Christmas day presents fairly reasonable in size and quantity. Hint #2 - don't give them something every day or it messes with the expectations (ahem... and the pocketbook!). :)
2. It allows us to spend our Christmas Eve Vigil Mass in the "stable" of our church gymnasium in order to attempt to provide many who attend Mass only once a year with a more beautiful and meaningful liturgy (musically speaking) and yet still celebrate Christmas the following Sunday in one of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in (the inside of the dome of St. Josaphat's Basilica is pictured here - click here for more photos). Ria did manage to go to Christmas Eve Midnight Mass later that night with her grandparents (who very kindly brought her back in time for opening presents on Christmas morning) and Gus and I watched Midnight Mass from the National Shrine in D.C. via EWTN.
3. It gives me an excuse to play loads of games of Settlers of Catan (one of the very favorite Christmas presents this year) with the kids and encourage them to keep baking Christmas goodies, even though John had to work for a few days last week. (I hardly ever do any baking any more as my kids love it - warning: it does get messy!)
4. The same goes for listening to Christmas Music.
5. I get to take advantage of crazy after-Christmas sales to supply fun little presents for between Christmas and Three Kings' Day - such as the dollar section at Target at 75% off! :) Yesterday was a day that everyone got to open an item of clothing courtesy of Kohl's 80-90% clearance sections and $20 in Kohl's cash.
5. Many of things people try to cram in before Christmas are still open the week after Christmas too. On the third day of Christmas we went to a fun drive-through light show with John's parents and lots of Christmas music on the car CD player, followed by an indoor look at an amazing nativity set and a fun and enormous set of electric trains.
Also, after visiting the Basilica yesterday, we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum and particularly enjoyed the "European Village" (here's a sample photo, though I can't remember which house this is from - Ria thinks it's the Austrian one) in which each exhibit was still decorated for Christmas and Christmas music was playing throughout. What fun - and this was completely unexpected for us - I never knew that they decorated these houses for Christmas!
6. We still have more time in which to send out our long-neglected Christmas Cards!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Why I Love Celebrating Christmas for 12 Days
1. It makes Christmas Day itself a lot more relaxed with less expectations than if we tried to cram everything into one day. We actually scatter some extra presents out throughout the 12 days and especially on Three Kings Day - part of the fun of this is that the kids never know when there will be something under the tree. Hint #1 - keep Christmas day presents fairly reasonable in size and quantity. Hint #2 - don't give them something every day or it messes with the expectations (ahem... and the pocketbook!). :)
2. It allows us to spend our Christmas Eve Vigil Mass in the "stable" of our church gymnasium in order to attempt to provide many who attend Mass only once a year with a more beautiful and meaningful liturgy (musically speaking) and yet still celebrate Christmas the following Sunday in one of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in (the inside of the dome of St. Josaphat's Basilica is pictured here - click here for more photos). Ria did manage to go to Christmas Eve Midnight Mass later that night with her grandparents (who very kindly brought her back in time for opening presents on Christmas morning) and Gus and I watched Midnight Mass from the National Shrine in D.C. via EWTN.
3. It gives me an excuse to play loads of games of Settlers of Catan (one of the very favorite Christmas presents this year) with the kids and encourage them to keep baking Christmas goodies, even though John had to work for a few days last week. (I hardly ever do any baking any more as my kids love it - warning: it does get messy!)
4. The same goes for listening to Christmas Music.
5. I get to take advantage of crazy after-Christmas sales to supply fun little presents for between Christmas and Three Kings' Day - such as the dollar section at Target at 75% off! :) Yesterday was a day that everyone got to open an item of clothing courtesy of Kohl's 80-90% clearance sections and $20 in Kohl's cash.
5. Many of things people try to cram in before Christmas are still open the week after Christmas too. On the third day of Christmas we went to a fun drive-through light show with John's parents and lots of Christmas music on the car CD player, followed by an indoor look at an amazing nativity set and a fun and enormous set of electric trains.
Also, after visiting the Basilica yesterday, we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum and particularly enjoyed the "European Village" (here's a sample photo, though I can't remember which house this is from - Ria thinks it's the Austrian one) in which each exhibit was still decorated for Christmas and Christmas music was playing throughout. What fun - and this was completely unexpected for us - I never knew that they decorated these houses for Christmas!
6. We still have more time in which to send out our long-neglected Christmas Cards!
2. It allows us to spend our Christmas Eve Vigil Mass in the "stable" of our church gymnasium in order to attempt to provide many who attend Mass only once a year with a more beautiful and meaningful liturgy (musically speaking) and yet still celebrate Christmas the following Sunday in one of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in (the inside of the dome of St. Josaphat's Basilica is pictured here - click here for more photos). Ria did manage to go to Christmas Eve Midnight Mass later that night with her grandparents (who very kindly brought her back in time for opening presents on Christmas morning) and Gus and I watched Midnight Mass from the National Shrine in D.C. via EWTN.
3. It gives me an excuse to play loads of games of Settlers of Catan (one of the very favorite Christmas presents this year) with the kids and encourage them to keep baking Christmas goodies, even though John had to work for a few days last week. (I hardly ever do any baking any more as my kids love it - warning: it does get messy!)
4. The same goes for listening to Christmas Music.
5. I get to take advantage of crazy after-Christmas sales to supply fun little presents for between Christmas and Three Kings' Day - such as the dollar section at Target at 75% off! :) Yesterday was a day that everyone got to open an item of clothing courtesy of Kohl's 80-90% clearance sections and $20 in Kohl's cash.
5. Many of things people try to cram in before Christmas are still open the week after Christmas too. On the third day of Christmas we went to a fun drive-through light show with John's parents and lots of Christmas music on the car CD player, followed by an indoor look at an amazing nativity set and a fun and enormous set of electric trains.
Also, after visiting the Basilica yesterday, we went to the Milwaukee Public Museum and particularly enjoyed the "European Village" (here's a sample photo, though I can't remember which house this is from - Ria thinks it's the Austrian one) in which each exhibit was still decorated for Christmas and Christmas music was playing throughout. What fun - and this was completely unexpected for us - I never knew that they decorated these houses for Christmas!
6. We still have more time in which to send out our long-neglected Christmas Cards!
Monday, December 24, 2007
A Blessed Christmas!
Wishing all of you a most blessed Christmas!
We've been too busy here with sinus infections and trips to Taiwan and Christmas preparations to do any blogging lately. We're also preparing to sing for the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass later today, and for an extended family gathering here tomorrow.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
And Speaking of Easy Ways to be Nice...
Suzanne at Blessed Among Men is hosting a "Christmas Cheer Challenge" to support a special family in need this Christmas. Check it out here.
Lots and lots to blog about from this weekend - but I can't do that until I get some more love2learn moments recorded today. Please say a quick prayer for me for guidance and inspiration in this important task.
Lots and lots to blog about from this weekend - but I can't do that until I get some more love2learn moments recorded today. Please say a quick prayer for me for guidance and inspiration in this important task.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Gift Stash
No, it's not what you think. :)
We had the church giving tree presents for a local pregnancy help center stashed in our garage (right in the midst of dead plants - which I wasn't trying to get in the picture - and barricaded by various assundry to keep the dog away) for several days before John and I finally got them checked off (the organizers of the giving tree need us to check the list twice) and packed up in his car (he works near the center) this morning - what an appropriate task to "accidentally" fall on St. Nick's Day! It was only slightly hampered by the 3 degree weather and the pen freezing on me.
I'm absolutely amazed that John was able to fit all of it in his little car.
Oh, and by the way, various people from Church donated (and wrapped) car seats, portable play pens, disposable diapers, snowsuits, etc. for those in need. Signing up the center and delivering the gifts is pretty much the only thing we do for the needy unborn each year (well, nearly every year - last year we missed the sign-up deadline) but it's become a lovely and meaningful part of our Advent.
By the way, for those who are curious, the entire top shelf of the shelving in the background is filled with camping equipment that we received last year for Christmas from John's parents which we haven't managed to use yet (except for the freezer chests, which we've had for years). All of our road trips this year (which comprised most of John's vacation days) brought us to the homes of friends or family and thus saved us the car-space of packing all that equipment. Whaddya do?
We had the church giving tree presents for a local pregnancy help center stashed in our garage (right in the midst of dead plants - which I wasn't trying to get in the picture - and barricaded by various assundry to keep the dog away) for several days before John and I finally got them checked off (the organizers of the giving tree need us to check the list twice) and packed up in his car (he works near the center) this morning - what an appropriate task to "accidentally" fall on St. Nick's Day! It was only slightly hampered by the 3 degree weather and the pen freezing on me.
I'm absolutely amazed that John was able to fit all of it in his little car.
Oh, and by the way, various people from Church donated (and wrapped) car seats, portable play pens, disposable diapers, snowsuits, etc. for those in need. Signing up the center and delivering the gifts is pretty much the only thing we do for the needy unborn each year (well, nearly every year - last year we missed the sign-up deadline) but it's become a lovely and meaningful part of our Advent.
By the way, for those who are curious, the entire top shelf of the shelving in the background is filled with camping equipment that we received last year for Christmas from John's parents which we haven't managed to use yet (except for the freezer chests, which we've had for years). All of our road trips this year (which comprised most of John's vacation days) brought us to the homes of friends or family and thus saved us the car-space of packing all that equipment. Whaddya do?
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Clean-up Time
Well, we had the last of our three January birthdays yesterday, so the tree came down today. (The nativity set always stays up until Terri's birthday in mid-February). I liked this picture of some favorite ornaments that are almost-packed. The angel-photo in the corner is Ria from our first Christmas card after she was born. We had a bunch of cute photos from the angel-shoot, so I used pieces from old Christmas cards to turn two of them into an ornament. This was following after a tradition my grandma started of making photo-ornaments for each of the grand-kids. That yellow Christmas tree contains a photo of me! (Unfortunately I haven't managed to keep up the tradition, so far, with any of the other kids.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Happy Three Kings Day!
We enjoyed a procession this afternoon and gifts in honor of the three kings. We moved the breakable nativity set under the tree temporarily. Everyone (except Terri who has a rather nasty case of tonsillitis and decided to just stay near the tree) lined up and had something special to carry. Gus took up the lead with a "star" (a shiny silver costume cloth slung over a broomstick), followed by Frank holding the big doll-like Baby Jesus, Kate and Bernie carrying angels and finally, Ria, John and I each carrying one of the three kings. We processed around the house singing and made our way into the living room where we opened presents. The children exclaimed that this was bigger than Christmas. Which might have been true - such is sometimes the state of finances and after-Christmas sales - but it made things all the more wonderful because we managed to keep that spirit of celebration alive. One part of this that I especially liked is that the kids worked on making presents for each other and those who were so inclined went so far as to make or buy a small present for each of their siblings.By the way, Katherine at A Living Education has a wonderful exposition on the Manifestations of Christ and how they are traditionally celebrated on January 6th. I think these also serve to shed some light on the recitation of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
The Nativity and the Cross
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes, we are healed.
(Isaiah 53: 3-5)
I was reminded of these words because of a Christmas mishap. The words are familiar to me from Handel's Messiah, but not the Christmas part - the part for Holy Week and Easter.
Here is how it happened...
John bought me a beautiful Nativity set for Christmas. We were at Sam's Club the week before Christmas and the set was half price, and reasonably within our budget. It's a gorgeous porcelain set with real fabric clothing and lots of interesting embellishments. It's also quite large - St. Joseph is nearly a foot tall! It includes a shepherd, sheep and a donkey (not pictured here). We decided that we could keep it safe on top of the piano or the "library table" in our sun room (really our family room). We knew that it would add a new and very meaningful element to our Christmas celebrations for years to come.We brought it home and squirreled it away to set up on a Christmas Eve as a surprise for the kids.
Christmas Eve was a very busy, and rather tiring day We went to Saturday night Mass for our Sunday obligation, but the house (and time) were still filled with haircuts, finding clothes, photocopying music, finishing up homemade KK presents and many other things.
That night, John and I were so tired that we decided to sleep for a few hours, set the alarm, and get up in the middle of the night to set up the nativity set and such. So at 1 am we groggily rose and started putting things together. It turns out that clumsiness is heightened at that hour (go figure!) and I managed to bump into John while he was holding baby Jesus and the manger and he dropped both. Poor Baby Jesus - his head broke off and one leg was broken. The manger suffered some ill effects too. John and I just sat on the floor and stared forlornly at the broken pieces for some long moments.
As providence would have it, they were clean breaks. John was able to glue the head back on and the leg sits rather safely (though somewhat loosely) nestled in the swaddling clothes. The manger leg was glue-able also, though it is a little chipped along the crack.
And so everything worked out (although the spot we chose on top of the piano doesn't have any room left for the three kings - we'll have to figure out something for that befo
re Saturday) . It's a beautiful set to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas and the kids have been incredibly good about not moving or bumping the pieces around (they do have our much smaller and unbreakable Fontanini set that they can move around as much as they like).But now I will always be reminded of the Cross whenever I see our poor broken Baby Jesus.
While I'm on the subject of nativity scenes, please visit the Cottage Garden's "Creche in the Woods" for some wonderful photos of their outdoor nativity set.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Two Turtle Doves?
Christmas Day itself tends to be a bit tiring for me - all of the busyness of Christmas Eve Mass and the extended family party (which is, naturally, quite delightful but also, naturally, runs rather late) at Grandma's hits me sometime on Christmas day. Which makes it quite wonderful that there are so MANY days of Christmas to celebrate. I got one of my very favorite presents today - I opened the mailbox to find about six Christmas cards from dear friends which included plenty of pictures (I love Christmas pictures!), one rather intriguing story and a pen-pal invitation for Ria. What could be better?
Well, I guess if they hadn't been accompanied by those pesky bills...
:)
Well, I guess if they hadn't been accompanied by those pesky bills...
:)
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Merry Christmas!!!
This is a "dust picture" my niece made on the back of one of the cars on their ranch. I was completely blown away by its great beauty in this temporary state. (Of course, Michaela, you must know the story about Michelangelo and his snow sculptures!) What a wonderful depiction of "Angels We Have Heard on High." (Frank, by the way, has really taken to the "Gloria" line from that song and always sings it with us - it's SO delightful!)I thought this picture was a beautiful reminder (and the medium perhaps has some interesting symbolism!) of the joy that comes to us in Christ and the joy we share with so many others on this beautiful night. Let us pray that others - particularly those who come to Mass just at Christmas may be brought closer to the Christ Child on this great day.
A most joyous and blessed Christmas to all of you!
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Busy Days!
Ria and I spent about five hours at the parish gym yesterday decorating and rehearsing for the Christmas Eve "overflow" Mass. Despite an assortment of mishaps and glitches, it looks really beautiful and I wanted to especially thank a dear online friend who made a generous donation to the poinsettia fund - thank you SO much!!!
I'll try to share a picture later. In the meantime I hope all of your Christmas preparations are going well and that you are able to eagerly anticipate the arrival of the joyous event! Today we've been busy with baking for the big extended family party on Sunday night. Terri is making more St. Lucy's Day buns (miniature versions this time - the originals were HUGE!), Ria made a braided wreath bread, Gus made a cranberry orange loaf (and is planning on making a second) and I hope to find a scrumptious recipe for some sort of rosemary onion bread on the Internet very soon. Honestly, I haven't spent any time baking as I've been in the busy shopping scene for a large part of the day. I am pleased to report that I was greeted with many Merry Christmases in a variety of stores (and, by the way, I like Kohl's Christmas theme this year - "Love Transforms Everything").
Advent is almost over and we're doing our imperfect best, as usual. Our Jesse Tree blocks didn't quite work out and we didn't do many of the Jesse Tree readings, but we made a special effort to start a new tradition which is working out quite well this past week. Night time prayers have been dwindling lately with the kids saying them together in their room. With the beginning of the "O Antiphons" (and with the help of a little furniture shifting), we've been bringing everyone downstairs to pray the O Antiphons, read about the Saint of the day, a short Bible story and nighttime prayers together. Naturally, this has included all of the usual pushing and shushing, but overall it's working out quite nicely and is making us feel so much more prepared for Christmas as a family. (I appreciate all the inspiration from various Catholic homeschool blogs). I hope to keep up this tradition of nighttime prayers together even during and after Christmas.
I'll try to share a picture later. In the meantime I hope all of your Christmas preparations are going well and that you are able to eagerly anticipate the arrival of the joyous event! Today we've been busy with baking for the big extended family party on Sunday night. Terri is making more St. Lucy's Day buns (miniature versions this time - the originals were HUGE!), Ria made a braided wreath bread, Gus made a cranberry orange loaf (and is planning on making a second) and I hope to find a scrumptious recipe for some sort of rosemary onion bread on the Internet very soon. Honestly, I haven't spent any time baking as I've been in the busy shopping scene for a large part of the day. I am pleased to report that I was greeted with many Merry Christmases in a variety of stores (and, by the way, I like Kohl's Christmas theme this year - "Love Transforms Everything").
Advent is almost over and we're doing our imperfect best, as usual. Our Jesse Tree blocks didn't quite work out and we didn't do many of the Jesse Tree readings, but we made a special effort to start a new tradition which is working out quite well this past week. Night time prayers have been dwindling lately with the kids saying them together in their room. With the beginning of the "O Antiphons" (and with the help of a little furniture shifting), we've been bringing everyone downstairs to pray the O Antiphons, read about the Saint of the day, a short Bible story and nighttime prayers together. Naturally, this has included all of the usual pushing and shushing, but overall it's working out quite nicely and is making us feel so much more prepared for Christmas as a family. (I appreciate all the inspiration from various Catholic homeschool blogs). I hope to keep up this tradition of nighttime prayers together even during and after Christmas.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
O Christmas Tree
We tend to manage something more like "endearing" than "spectacular" - but I love every bit of it.
Frank is completely in love with the Christmas tree - and it shows (particularly with the beads - I can never seem to get it back to its original shape once it starts getting tangled). He takes me by the hand and brings me into the room with the tree to point out matching (or almost-matching) ornaments. This morning I found about a dozen pieces from a flashlight that he took apart - all in the corner behind the tree (but no ornaments down, amazingly enough).
Bernie and Kate each had different ideas about what to put on top - it ended up working out pretty well to do both - Bernie's homemade angel (from several Christmasses ago) AND the shiny star tree-topper.
I went to look for some fabric to put around the base of the tree (the tree is resting on a big piece of plywood that REALLY needed covering) and found this pretty material from a rummage sale. It didn't make it all the way around, but I discovered that I had two matching pillow covers in the same material that fit rather nicely around the back of the tree, ruffled edges and all. :)
I'm sure I'll have the "perfect" tree someday when the children are all grown, but I can't imagine it being as perfect as this.
Frank is completely in love with the Christmas tree - and it shows (particularly with the beads - I can never seem to get it back to its original shape once it starts getting tangled). He takes me by the hand and brings me into the room with the tree to point out matching (or almost-matching) ornaments. This morning I found about a dozen pieces from a flashlight that he took apart - all in the corner behind the tree (but no ornaments down, amazingly enough).
Bernie and Kate each had different ideas about what to put on top - it ended up working out pretty well to do both - Bernie's homemade angel (from several Christmasses ago) AND the shiny star tree-topper.
I went to look for some fabric to put around the base of the tree (the tree is resting on a big piece of plywood that REALLY needed covering) and found this pretty material from a rummage sale. It didn't make it all the way around, but I discovered that I had two matching pillow covers in the same material that fit rather nicely around the back of the tree, ruffled edges and all. :)
I'm sure I'll have the "perfect" tree someday when the children are all grown, but I can't imagine it being as perfect as this.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Christmas from the Outside In
This is a really beautiful post by a new convert on her discovery of the true meaning of Christmas.
O Christmas Tree
A few random thoughts...
I am extremely fond of unbreakable Christmas tree ornaments. (go figure)
We bought our Christmas tree yesterday and got the lights and bulbs up last night. Gus and I decided to sneak some candy canes in the upper branches of the tree this morning before Frank woke up - somehow (delusionally) thinking that maybe he wouldn't notice them.
Wrong.
The very first thing he said when he came downstairs was, "Can I have a candy cane?" (translated into Frank-speak - he's not quite that articulate yet - it sounds more like "Tan I have tanny tane?")
It is now up and I'm quite happy with it. Gus took a picture - I'll try to post it later.
I am extremely fond of unbreakable Christmas tree ornaments. (go figure)
We bought our Christmas tree yesterday and got the lights and bulbs up last night. Gus and I decided to sneak some candy canes in the upper branches of the tree this morning before Frank woke up - somehow (delusionally) thinking that maybe he wouldn't notice them.
Wrong.
The very first thing he said when he came downstairs was, "Can I have a candy cane?" (translated into Frank-speak - he's not quite that articulate yet - it sounds more like "Tan I have tanny tane?")
It is now up and I'm quite happy with it. Gus took a picture - I'll try to post it later.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
The Stable Goes Up
We put out our nativity stable today, along with animals, shepherds and an empty manger. The kids were looking into additional animals to include in the scene when Kate came upon some small toy horses.
"Oh, horses would be great," she said, "because horses always come to Jesus!"
"Oh, horses would be great," she said, "because horses always come to Jesus!"
Saturday, December 16, 2006
The Challenge
Get through Christmas without using the credit cards.
The reward: make one major stride in getting financial boat in order for large things - like college - beginning to loom on the horizon.
Requirements:
1. Save some shopping for the last few days before Christmas (critical paycheck)
2. Buy Christmas Cards at 90% off at Target the previous year(well, that's kind of a coincidence)
3. Save some goodies from a wonderful Rummage Sale in the fall
4. Encourage the kids to make homemade gifts and do lots of baking
5. Read books like The Wind Blows Free and The Christmas Turtles which help reinforce #4
6. A certain amount of letting go of expectations and of keeping up with society's vision of Christmas preparations
And you know what? We're having a really wonderful Advent this year - not in spite of, but partly because of these things.
The reward: make one major stride in getting financial boat in order for large things - like college - beginning to loom on the horizon.
Requirements:
1. Save some shopping for the last few days before Christmas (critical paycheck)
2. Buy Christmas Cards at 90% off at Target the previous year(well, that's kind of a coincidence)
3. Save some goodies from a wonderful Rummage Sale in the fall
4. Encourage the kids to make homemade gifts and do lots of baking
5. Read books like The Wind Blows Free and The Christmas Turtles which help reinforce #4
6. A certain amount of letting go of expectations and of keeping up with society's vision of Christmas preparations
And you know what? We're having a really wonderful Advent this year - not in spite of, but partly because of these things.
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