Simple Woman Monday, December 15th

Outside My Window ... It's pitch black, except for the square of light on the snow right outside my window. It's perfectly still ~ no wind, but I think I can hear the trees shivering. It's -14 degrees outside right now.

I am hearing... the little box heater under the kitchen sink puffing away, preventing frozen pipes.

I am reading... Finally got my Maisy Dobbs book back! It was being held hostage in Burlington, Colorado, where the traveling priest accidentally dropped off my overnight bag. My boys had inadvertently unloaded my bag with all of theirs when I dropped them off in Omaha back in October, and I've been trying to get it back ever since. I was beginning to think I'd never see it again! But, finally, I can finish my murder mystery! Well... Maybe I'll have time to pick it up again after Christmas, anyway!

I am wearing... pink plaid pajamas over a turtleneck, my purple queen's robe,

I am hoping... our boys and all the school kids and teachers make it safely back to Omaha today! (They were here for the weekend on a field trip.)
From the Learning Rooms... Plugging along. It's hard to be motivated when there is so much to do outside the schooling realm! But there are lots of ways to incorporate the season and its busy work into schooling, thank goodness. Baking is Home Ec, for instance. (Sure it is!) Also, this week marks the Ember Days for the season.It's a good opportunity to do some history study on the Ember Days with the children. And I found a wealth of fun preschool projects over at Joann's this morning that I'd like to do with the Littles.

From the kitchen ... We're gearing up for some Christmas baking. Michelle found a recipe for the best chocolate cookies I'll have to share. (I'll type that out later today!) We have some whole cranberries I want to make into bread, too.

One of my favorite things... Crockpot Peppermint Mocha.

I am thankful for... Central HEAT!

Around the house... We're behind on our Nativity Scene and other decorations, due to an unforseen trip to Omaha last week. Hope to really get on top of it this week, though!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing:

Covering your ears, Kevvy?

Could this be the reason?

Son, Jon and friend, David worked on this duet for hours last night. Well, it seemed like hours, anyway. No matter how much you like a tune, after about the fourth or fifth rendition, it begins to wear...

All their effort got me to thinking about duets. Waxing philosophical, ya know, to bear the drumming of the bass in my head.

Marriage is a lot like a duet. Which sounds very lyrical and romantic, until you've actually heard two people practicing a duet. The boys got this tune pretty close to perfect maybe one time out of many. And they discussed and fiddled and fumed through Jon being off beat and missing notes, then David being off beat and missing notes, and sometimes both of them messing up at the same time. Then, they also delighted in the passages that they hit perfectly. But overall, all the effort, missed notes and hit notes, was worth the time spent.

Even though the rest of us in the house witnessing the whole thing thought they were nuts and wanted to strangle them.

For a visit with more Simple Woman Daybooks, run over and see Peggy at the The Simple Woman!

The Theahtah

The children from our boys' school in Omaha traveled to Denver yesterday for a field trip. They came to see the Denver Mint, but mostly, they came to share their latest play with our parish . It was St. Joan of Arc ~ and they did a fabulous job!

St. Joan, played by our friend, Monica, was amazing! (You wouldn't believe how many lines she memorized!) And our boys (who also had reams/reems/remes of lines!) were so much fun to watch! There's one thing you gotta say for them ~ every one of them has a good, loud, carrying voice! We've known this fact from the beginning, but it never occured to us that combined with a special hammy talent, their loud mouths (I say this with love and admiration...) suit them very well for the stage!

I couldn't get any pics of the play itself, for lighting reasons, but here are a couple shots of the boys afterward. Kevin was one of the soldiers in St. Joan's army, as well as the narrator; Jon was the stage manager, the kindly monk, and the evil courtier; Dominic was St. Joan's commanding soldier.

"What? You want to see my face?"

"Thanks, Dominic."

"My sleeves? Nothing but my arms. And a rosary. And a brieviary. Plus some Mentos, my cell phone, and my cues written on the back of today's bulletin... "

"She said to look fierce, Kevin."

"Thanks, Kev. I think that's fierce..."

Important Reminder

The 12 Day Novena to St. Therese the Little Flower begins today to be completed on Christmas day! Many thanks to Jessica at a Shower of Roses for the reminder! Run on over there for the prayer and instructions!

How can you not love St. Therese? Our sixth child was named for dear St. Therese, and my husband shares her birthday on January 2nd. Did you know that she loved the winter, because she delighted in the purity and cleanness of the snow? She was thrilled when, against all odds (miraculously!), it snowed on the day of her profession. Her childlike simplicity and love for the Child Jesus make Christmas and St. Therese go together like snow and snowmen. What a perfect devotion for the last two weeks of Advent!

I'm so honored that Ginny and Marie over at one of my favorite blogs, View From the Pews, saw fit to award AWTY this honor! I'd like to pass it on along to some wonderful bloggers, rich in the true spirit of Christ's birth during this blessed season!

First of all, right back to Ginny and Marie!

And:

Kim at Starry Sky Ranch,

Stephanie at La Vita e'Bella

Suzy at Sailing by Starlight

Laura at Catholic Teacher Musings

Eileen at Eileen on Him...

Joann at Ten Kids and a Dog

Cathy at A Bit of the Blarney

Terrie at Mama-of-Many

Peggy at A Catholic Notebook

Bia at La Dolce Vita

I know many of these excellent, faith-filled bloggers may already have received this award, but, it just goes to show how wonderful they are that they are nominated many times! I love these ladies! Every one of these blogs is filled with the true spirits of Faith and Hope and Charity of Our Lord's Nativity and inspire these virtues in all their visitors.

(Yep, he said he was a "tuhtle.")

What am I?

Can you guess?

(Yuyum came up with this one all on his own.)

Good Medicine

Take six or eight siblings, uncles and miscellaneous friends and relatives... Apply liberally.

(That's Dominic there in the middle with a couple of little sisters on his lap. He's feeling lots better. We're all taking copious amounts of Ecchinacea.)

* Amended Starlight Cookie Recipe

I added the ingredient amounts that I missed the first time. You'll find it two posts down, added to the original, after the general instructions. I kept it separate for ease of copying out the upper portion for a gift tag if anyone wants to use it that way.

Making our way...

...back home across Nebraska today. Surprise! Our fifteen year old son, Dominic, was taken to the emergency room at an Omaha hospital Tuesday night. He seems to be OK now, but he was in poor shape Tuesday, suffering from what we think was a severe strain of the flu. (Boy, is that a hard thing to go through, being the Mom and being too far to stretch my arm all the way to Omaha to feel his forehead, look at his eyes, force him to drink water, etc...)

Anyway, all is well. We're taking him home now where we can let him relax and recover, within arm's reach, and where we can tease him, fatten him up, and drive him crazy in the familiar comfort of his own home. It'll be good for him and me, both

So, here I am, sitting in the front seat of the minivan, traveling across the broad tans and browns of Nebraska. The sky makes up about 85% of the landscape, which is a good thing, really, because the clouds are far more interesting than the landscape right now. One or two interesting things: We've been counting the pickup trucks parked along the edges of the fields where the hunters have left them. Lots of hunting going on here in Nebraska. We just saw a truck parked on the edge of a meadow, no hunter in sight. In the grass about two hundred feet away from the truck ~ a herd of about eight deer. (snicker, snicker) A while back we passed a little ice-ringed lake along the side of the highway completely filled with geese. (Brrrrr!) We thought they would have all been sunning themselves on Mexican waterways by now. What's with that?

So, anyway... I've got Dan's laptop propped on my knees and the keys are spaced differently than our desktop computer. It's driving me crazy. Watchk~ I'll write a afew lines without editint all my misgtakes from thej weird spacding. (Weird to me, anyuway)... &:o) I keep hitting something, too, which makes the cursor go flying to some other place on the screen, and every time we cross into another Sprint connection zone, I lose my signal and have to reboot the computer. Annoying. And, another thing: it's good that I don't have inner ear problems, or this exercise of typing in a moving car would probably have me nauseous by now. As it is, I've had to learn to get typing-finger sea-legs, swaying with the movement of the car to keep my fingers on the keyboard...See the lengths I'll go to in order to blog?

One of the main reasons I wanted to get on today, though, is to apologize for leaving out some ingredients on the Starlight Cookies. That was a big "Woops!" I had typed out the whole thing the other day and posted it ahead to print Wednesday morning. Then, when we flew out of the house to head for Omaha for Dominic, I had had just a few minutes to post my link to Works for Me Wednesday, and didn't even think of editing it. I ran out of time, anyway.

Anyway, I don't have the recipe with me. I could guess at the ingredients amounts, but, um, I don't think you want me to do that, do you? &:o) I'll try to get on when we get home and post them, though. Sorry about that, folks!

** Just got home ~ and only now posted this as the laptop died about one second before I went to hit the "publish" button. Figured I'd post it anyway. I'll update and add that recipe as soon as I get a chance. &:o)

Starlight Cookies for the last week of Advent

We found this recipe for a gift mix online and adapted it to use as a special Advent cookie. They would make lovely pre-Christmas gifts, made into mix kits, with the following instructions printed out and tied on with a ribbon. You might also want to just commemorate the journey of St. Joseph and Mary with your own family by making these the last week of Advent.

Starlight Cookies

To be made on or for Christmas Eve

in Honor of our Blessed Mother's and St. Joseph's

Journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem

Contained in this jar:

Chopped Walnuts to represent the rocky road the little family traveled on

White chocolate chips for the stars in the sky

Dried cranberries whose tarness symbolize the doors shut to Mary and Joseph

Sugar to represent the snow

Brown sugar for the brown hills of Bethlehem

Rolled oats to symbolize the animals in the stable where they found shelter

Flour for the simple goodness of the shepherds in the fields they passed

To make the cookies:

Think of the preparation St. Joseph and Our Blessed Mother must have made for this journey to Bethlehem: Heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper.

For the light of Heaven: In a medium bowl, beat together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 egg, and 1 tsp of vanilla until fluffy.

Add the hardships of the journey to the light of Heaven: Add the entire jar of ingredients, and mix until well blended. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets

Remember the hardships of Jesus' life on earth and His passion: Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until edges brown.

Anticipate His coming: Cool on baking sheets or remove to cool on wire racks.

Appreciate the joy and promise of His birth: Enjoy eating them!

Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas!

(Makes app. 18 cookies.)

*We made several of these gift jars to sell as fund raisers at our parish St. Nicholas Festival last weekend. To pepare the jar ingredients, layer the following:

1 C plus 2 T all-purpose flour

*mixed thoroughly with*

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

*followed by*
1/2 C rolled oats

1/3 C packed brown sugar

1/3 C sugar1/2 C dried cranberries

1/2 C white chocolate chips

1/2 C chopped pecans

Here's how they looked when we were all done.

Now, you really should run on over to Rocks in My Dryer for all the amazing tips and tricks at Shannon's weekly Works-for- me-Wednesday extravaganza!

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Any feast day of Our Blessed Mother is special, but this feast day marks a special anniversary of Our lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception. Though the Church had pronounced and defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, it was in 1858 that the Queen of Heaven appeared to St. Bernadette in the grotto outside of Lourdes, France, affirming to the world the truth of this doctrine. It has now been 150 years (and ten months) since Bernadette heard the words from Mary herself:

"I am the Immaculate Conception."

Two Prayers to the Immaculate Conception

O Virgin Immaculate, Mother of God and my Mother, from thy sublime height turn upon thine eyes of pity. Filled with confidence in thy goodness and knowing full well thy power, I beseech Thee to extend to me thine assistance in the journey of life, which is so full of dangers for my soul. And in order that I may never be the slave of the devil through sin, but may ever live with my heart humble and pure, I entrust myself wholly to thee. I consecrate my heart to thee forever, my only desire being to love thy Divine Son, Jesus. Mary, none of thy devout servants has ever perished; may I too be saved.

Amen.

O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin didst make ready a fitting habitation for Thy Son, we beseech Thee that Thou Who didst keep her clean from all stain by the precious death of the same Thy Son, foreseen by Thee, mayest grant unto us in like manner to be made clean through her intercession and so attain unto Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord.

Amen.
(Roman Missal)

This Grotto at Mount St. Michaels,

Spokane, WA

Charlotte has a coloring page for us today! Run on over to Waltzing Matilda for her link!

The Traditional Manner of Setting Up the Creche

We always set up a very large and elaborate Nativity Scene here at our house, as many may already know. We start building it during the first or second week of Advent, and slowly progress with it throughout the season, finishing up on Christmas Eve.

We finish the stable itself, with its rocks and trees first, then make sure that the shepherds come with their sheep in the last week of Advent, then don't bring St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother into the scene until Christmas Eve, and the Holy Infant arrives in the wee hours of Christmas day. Little did we know, however, that there is a formula that can be followed for the building of the Creche. We were thrilled today to find a flier in the vestibule before Mass, which spelled it out, making the whole Nativity Scene construction a giant devotion, full of significance and beauty! Wahoo! (We really get a charge out of things like this... Can you tell? &:o)

Anyway, I know this is long, but we've caught it just in time to get started with the "Traditional Manner," so I thought it might be good to post the whole thing for anyone else who might never have seen this and might want to follow it. I don't imagine, by any stretch of the imagination, that it's necessary to adhere to this formula 100%,. I expect, for instance, that we'll hang the blue veil with the Star of David over our Nativity Set, but not cover it (if I understand the meaning that this is to be done...), and we'll continue to move our shepherds into the scene about a week before Christmas ~ just because we like to do it that way. As we go, we'll morph this tradition with our own established one, and have much to talk about along the way. It'll be wonderful to have the extra depth of understanding that this old Catholic tradition brings to the custom of the Crib.

So, without further ado: Here it is!

The Traditional Manner of Setting Up the Creche

The Christmas Crib, or Creche, affords an effective and visible means of teaching the facts of Our Lord's Incarnation to all members of the parish, children and adults. Just as the Stations of the Cross is a pilgrimage in spirit along the way of Sorrows to Our Lord's Crucifixion, so the Christmas Crib is intended to foster the pious desire of the faithful to venerate His Lowly Birthplace.

On December 8th,

the day on which we celebrate the beginning of the spotless life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the framework of the Crib is set up. This framework symbolizes the Virgin Mary's part in the Incarnation, for she was the "framework," or instrument, chosen by God, for the "god-bearer," the mother of Our Lord's humanity. The framework of the Crib (the stable) is covered by a Virgin Blue Veil upon which has been placed the double Davidic triangle, or star, and before the Crib a blue vigil light burns. All of this is very significant and teaches great lessons.

The Blue Veil is a symbol of the Messianic prophecies relating to the person of Our Lord. "Therefore, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His Name Immanuel." (Isaiah vii, 14)

The Davidic star is a familiar emblem of the Trinity and is a combination of two equal triangles, one with the apex upward and the other with the apex downward, thus forming a six-pointed star enclosing a hexagon, which is the symbol of the six attributes of God. The star is also a symbol of creation, expressing the fact that it was the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost, who created the heavens and the earth. The Davidic star also expresses the truth that Our Lord not only is God, but that He also sprung from the Royal Seed of the House of David, insofar as His Blessed Mother and the lineage of His Human Body are concerned. (St. Mat. i, 1-18)

The blue vigil light symbolizes the dim light of faith which burned in the hearts of the faithful all through the centuries preceding Our Lord's Birth. It is also symbolic of His Second Advent when "He shall come again, in glory, to judge both the living and the dead, whose Kingdom shall have no end."

On December 18th,

the day of expectation, the animals are placed in the stable, These too are symbolic of Our Lord's earthly mission and foreshadow certain events pertaining to the Ministry of the Incarnate Son of God. The lamb prefigures the words of St. John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." The ox, the beast of burden, prefigures Our Lords' own words "Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The foal of an ass foreshadows Our Lord's Royal entry into Jerusalem as foreseen by the prophet Zechariah: "Behold thy King cometh unto thee, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." (Zech. ix, 9; St. Matt. xxi, 5)

On December 24th,

the Eve of the Christ Mass, the Holy Family and the lowly shepherds, the first to be brought the "good tidings of great joy" about the Saviour's birth, are placed in the stable and the blue veil is removed, to show that the Messianic prophecies are fulfilled.

On January 6th,

the Feast of the Epiphany, or the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, the shepherds are replaced by the Wise Men, or Magi. The Feast of the Epiphany commemorates the visitation of the learned men from the East (probably Persia) who, by following the new star, which they knew meant the birth of a King, found the Christ Child. These Kings and their gifts are also symbolical -- the gold, of tribute to a King; the incense of adoration and prayer to God; the myrrh, of recognition as a mortal, a man of sorrows. These learned men would not have worshipped a mere child; even though He might have been of the lineage of earthly royalty. It was their conviction that Jesus was the destined God-Man incarnate, veiled in humanity.

Our Lord was nearly two years old by the time the Wise Men found Him and we read in St. Matthew ii, 11 that "when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His Mother, and fell down and worshipped Him." This explains why the Wise Men are not placed with the Nativity group until twelve days later, to denote the length of time which elapsed before they finally found the Child Jesus. To this day, the reigning Sovereign of England pays a twelfth-day oblation at the Offertory in the Mass, in gold, frankincense and myrrh, to commemorate this visit of the Wise Men to pay tribute to the King of Kings.

On January 13th,

the Octave of the Ephiphany, the Crib is removed, marking the close of the events surrounding the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Let us become little with the Little One, that we may grow in stature with Him.

"Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man."

St. Nicholas

The Legend

The Myth



The Man

The Booty...

St. Nicholas of Myra,

Pray for us!

Michelle's First Date...

And it's with a nut!

She didn't like it and gave it to Gabriel.

(Snicker, snicker... Sorry. I know. I couldn't resist...)

English test

So, I'm a little embarassed about the grammar score here... But, my Dad, the grammarian, would not be surprised. I'm surprised I didn't do poorly on punctuation, though. I've had a bad case of comma-itis for years.

Your English Skills:

Punctuation: 100% Spelling: 100% Vocabulary: 100% Grammar: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

Our "Paper Creche" devotion idea...

To go along with our Spiritual Christmas Crib, we made the very beginnings of a simple nativity scene on a 2'x3' bulletin board we had lying around, stapling on blue construction paper for the sky, brown for the hills of Bethlehem.

Now, for each of the days leading up to Christmas, as we build our Cribs in our hearts, preparing for Our Lord's birthday, we're following along by adding the appropriate acoutrements to our bulletin board representation. So, on Day 1 we built the stable walls with round paper rocks, and on Day 2, we added a roof made of twigs. To stop the crevices on Day 3 we colored in the cracks of the stone walls with brown and black crayon and added an orange paper straw roof, so the snow couldn't get in. Today we figuratively swept the cobwebs out.

And for every good deed or little sacrifice that the children make for love of little Jesus, they get to add a star to the sky.

You can't see them in the picture, but there are actually several stars up there already. We're hoping for a beautiful star-filled sky by December 25th!

We just learned something

No matter how much you want to be a good mother and add nutrition to a pot of hot chocolate on a cold snowy day...

DON'T add chocolate whey protein powder!

* It turned out actually tasting chocolaty-good, but had the weirdest consistency ~ something between cream of wheat and pudding. Half of the kids thought it was absolutely gaggy. The other half want to save it and eat it for breakfast tomorrow.

Regardless, I wouldn't recommend it for company.

Loved her in Bringing Up Baby...

Though I can't say she's my all time favorite actress, I do like her (politics aside)... But, I knew I wouldn't rate as a Grace Kelly, so I suppose comparing to good ole Kate is realistic.

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Katharine!

You are a Katharine -- "I am happy and open to new things"

Katharines are energetic, lively, and optimistic. They want to contribute to the world.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Give me companionship, affection, and freedom.


• * Engage with me in stimulating conversation and laughter.


• * Appreciate my grand visions and listen to my stories.


• * Don't try to change my style. Accept me the way I am.


• * Be responsible for youself. I dislike clingy or needy people.


• * Don't tell me what to do.

What I Like About Being a Katharine

• * being optimistic and not letting life's troubles get me down


• * being spontaneous and free-spirited


• * being outspoken and outrageous. It's part of the fun.


• * being generous and trying to make the world a better place


• * having the guts to take risks and to try exciting adventures


• * having such varied interests and abilities

What's Hard About Being a Katharine

• * not having enough time to do all the things I want


• * not completing things I start


• * not being able to profit from the benefits that come from specializing; not making a commitment to a career


• * having a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies


• * feeling confined when I'm in a one-to-one relationship

Katharines as Children Often

• * are action oriented and adventuresome


• * drum up excitement


• * prefer being with other children to being alone


• * finesse their way around adults


• * dream of the freedom they'll have when they grow up

Katharines as Parents

• * are often enthusiastic and generous


• * want their children to be exposed to many adventures in life


• * may be too busy with their own activities to be attentive

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

H/T: Esther!

Fair warning: Modesty alert! If you go to take this quiz, there is a Playtex-ad of sorts, with images of movie stars from the '50s on the first "page." Not scandalous, but just wanted to make sure everyone is aware...

Two Tags, One Meme

Esther, at Catholic Mom in Hawaii, and Therese, at Aussie Coffee Shop, both tagged me for the 6 Things That Make Me Happy meme. And it's a simple, but good one. According to the rules, I have to post six things that make me really happy ... and pass it on to give six more people a reason to be thankful!

So here are my six of many:

1. A good cup of coffee (pouring one right now!)

2. A little boy who doesn't wipe my kisses off, but "rubs them in."

3. Little girls who make "I love Mommy" cards.

4. Never knowing when my husband might surprise me with flowers.

5. Teenagers who text me: How's it goin, Mom?

6. Having the perfect security that, no matter what, God is in His Heaven and all is (and will be) right with the world.

And I tag:

Marie,

Laura,

Bia,

Aimee,

Jenny, &

Kaila

Hurry up and take the picture, Mom! (shivershivershiver)

Ours, plus our Thanksgiving guests (Isn't Bella posing nicely?)
Ours ,except our oldest, who couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving.
(Bella is attempting a toothy grin here, we think...)

All the big boys and their friends left for Omaha after Mass yesterday.
Twenty days until we get them back for Christmas vacation!
Woohoo!