For my Number Four Son...

Dominic Alan:

Mistletoe

Sweet emblem of returning peace, the heart's full gush and love's release,

Spirits in human fondness flow and greet the pearly mistletoe.

Oh! Happy tricksome time of mirth, giv'n to the stars of sky and earth!

May all the best of feeling know, the custom of the mistletoe.

Married and single, proud and free, yield to the season, trim with glee:

Time will not stay ... he cheats us so ... A kiss? ... 'tis gone ... the mistletoe.

(Unknown author.  Written December, 1826) 

The Facts About Mistletoe:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Santalales

A hemi-parasitic plant that survives on the branches of a host tree or shrub, varieties of Mistletoe can be found throughout the world.  The unusual common name of the plant is thought to have originated from the German words "mist" meaning dung and "tang" meaning branch. (Um, yeah.  I know.  But, well, I don't make the facts, I just report them.)   Anyway...  Apparently our ancestors, the originators of language, were aware that mistletoe was spread from branch to branch through the medium of avian feces and titled the little "sucker" accordingly.  (Ahem).  Though types of mistletoe can be found throughout Europe, it is the eastern American variety, Phoradendron flavescens, which is grown commercially, and, therefore, most commonly recognized.

The Downside of Mistletoe:

Mistletoe is often considered a pest that, with heavy infestation, kills trees.  It's also poisonous.  The berries and leaves of most mistletoe varieties contain viscotoxins which can cause symptoms ranging from upset stomach to convulsions and even death -- a good reason to be sure that if your mistletoe is not high in the branches of a tree, it should be safely hung high in a doorway, out of the reach of animals and small children.

The Upside of Mistletoe:

As reported in Wikipedia:  Mistletoe has been "recently recognized as an ecological keystone species, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community.[7] A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots, transferring pollen between plants, and dispersing the sticky seeds. The dense evergreen witches' brooms formed by the dwarf mistletoes (Arceuthobium species) of western North America also make excellent locations for roosting and nesting of the Northern Spotted Owls and the Marbled Murrelets. In Australia the Diamond Firetails and Painted Honeyeaters are recorded as nesting in different mistletoes. This behavior is probably far more widespread than currently recognized; more than 240 species of birds that nest in foliage in Australia have been recorded nesting in mistletoe, representing more than 75% of the resident avifauna.[citation needed]
A study of mistletoe in junipers concluded that more juniper berries sprout in stands where mistletoe is present, as the mistletoe attracts berry-eating birds which also eat juniper berries.[8] Such interactions lead to dramatic influences on diversity, as areas with greater mistletoe densities support higher diversities of animals. Thus, rather than being a pest, mistletoe can have a positive effect on biodiversity, providing high quality food and habitat for a broad range of animals in forests and woodlands worldwide."

But,  more pertinent than all that:

 Mistletoe has the distinction of being the only member of the plant kingdom that elicits a conditioned human response.  Almost anyone in the Western World, upon catching sight of the distinctive plant reacts instinctively in one way or another.  Some are attracted to it and carefully time their arrival under a sprig, others (especially prepubescent males) run from the sight of it.  Mistletoe is known by most everyone as the Christmas Kissing Plant.  How many stolen kisses under the mistletoe have been the spark that kindled sweet romance?  How many have kindled indignant slaps and wounded egos?  Only the mistletoe knows.

The History:

Because mistletoe bears fruit at about the time of the Winter Solstice, the birth of the new year, it was used in British Druid ritual as a symbol of immortality.  It was used in ancient times by the Celts as a remedy for barrenness in animals, and, oddly enough, it being poisonous, was used as an antidote to poison.

In Romanian traditions and among the gypsies, mistletoe is considered good luck. It is even today valued in rural areas of Romania for its medical and  "magical" properties.

It's an old Christian tradition that it was the mistletoe "tree" that provided the wood of the Cross.  After Christ's Crucifixion, the plant, humbled, shriveled to become the tiny parasitic vine it is today. The custom is that the mistletoe must not touch the ground between its cutting and its removal.  It's supposed to be the last of Christmas greenery remaining at Candlemas, and can be left to remain hanging through the year to protect the house from lightning or fire until it 's replaced the following Christmas Eve.

The Custom:

Though most of the world knows mistletoe as a Christmas decoration, its use as such doesn't appear until the 18th century, and then it appears that the custom of kissing under the mistletoe originated with our winter-cozy cousins in Scandinavia. In Norse mythology, the mother of Baldr, the god of vegetation, frightened by a prophetic dream, made every plant, animal and inanimate object promise not to harm her child. But Frigga forgot to exact the promise from the lowly mistletoe plant.  The mischievous god Loki took advantage of this oversight, and tricked the blind god Höðr into killing Baldr with a spear fashioned from (you guessed it...) mistletoe.

(A depiction of the demise of Balder. Yikes!)

 The story goes that Baldr's death blanketed the world in perpetual winter, until the gods restored him to life. In her gratitude, Frigga declared the mistletoe sacred, commanding that from that time forward it should bring love rather than death into the world. And so, complying with Frigga's wishes, Scandinavian lads and lasses passing under a mistletoe plant happily celebrated Baldr's resurrection by kissing. So they say.

Folks nowadays, though, don't know anything about the Norse mythology connection.  We generally kiss under the mistletoe because it's as good an excuse as any. 

But then there's this: Christmas is the season of heavenly joy, the season of real love -- and anything we can do to promote the sentiments of joy and love...  well, it's a good thing.  All kinds of good associations surround the history of mistletoe and swirl around our heads when we kiss beneath a sprig of it.  Don't you love the old Christian tradition that connects mistletoe with the wood of the cross?  And, it's interesting how the old Norse legend involves resurrection and gratitude.  It all seems to come full circle in an eclectic sort of way.  The wood of the cradle in our family creche... in view of the mistletoe in the living room doorway reminding us of the humbled wood of the Cross...  Christ's Resurrection and His Love.. Our love for Him and our love for one another...  It's all good. 

I love everything about mistletoe.

(I'm gonna go catch me someone under a sprig right now. I have a lovely lot of potential victims around here...)

Quick Takes

1. Holiday-specific sweaters.  Do you wear them?  Am I a dork because I do?  I overheard a conversation in a store about how a woman wouldn't be caught dead in one -- and, thank heavens, I wasn't wearing one at the time. Because, well, I have to tell the truth.  As independent and stinkin' as I like to consider myself, I would have ducked out of sight before those women caught sight of me in my snowman sweater. But I like my snowman sweater, and my autumn leaf sweaters, and my Fourth-of-July jumper --  and I'm not going to give them all to Goodwill now because I've gotten wind of a classier dresser's opinion.  There was a time in my life when I would have heard a comment about looking-dorky-wear and avoided the said item like the plague ever afterward.  (Yeah, I was like that as a young adult. ) Now I cringe a little maybe, but, then I get my stubborn mama on.  Daggone it, I like my snowman sweater.  So I guess I like being dorky. (But, I still might hide behind a clothes rack if I know you think I'm dorky...)

2. I just found this wooden sign at a thrift store the other day.  I like Blatant Message Decor.  I have little reminders all over my house like this.  I can't help myself.  I see a funny little sign, I have to buy it and I have to hang it up somewhere.   But here's the thing.  The sad thing.  I had this idea when we moved back to our little eastern Colorado home that, after years of shabby-chic meets country-sloppy,  I was finally ready for a simple, elegant -- yay, even sparse decorating theme.  Less to clean, less to dust. Doesn't that seem like a good idea?  But, I just don't seem capable.  The weirdness will out.

3.  Does anyone out there really care about Tiger Woods? And, if so, why? I guess he's a public figure, a very public figure. And I suppose it's news that he's a "fair-haired boy" who's been found out not to be so fair haired. But, what's so new about that? It's horrible to learn that this man has led such an immoral life and I feel so sorry for his family. But, I wish the press would drop it already. The lip-smacking curiosity and smut-stirring gossip are just about as bad as the evil the man has done. I declare you can't tune in to listen to the weather without having to hear about the back of Tiger Woods' closet. Enough already.


4. The weather here the last few days has been glorious!  The sun is shining, the wind is still, and it's hovered around the forty-five degree mark since Monday.  Practically a heat wave! Isn't it amazing how things are so relative?  The girls wanted to know if they could wash the car.  You know: buckets, hoses, flipflops and sunglasses...   If it were July and forty-five degrees they'd be huddled in the house by the woodstove whining. It's the middle of December, though, so we're just glad it's above freezing here.  And I'm happy to see the children out playing outside in the fresh air, but I think maybe we'll drive through the automatic carwash down the road and leave the hoses stored where they are.

5.  Has anyone out there ever used the window stencils that come with the spray-on cans of snow?  We tried to decorate our windows with them yesterday and had a dickens of a time getting it to look half-way decent.  Is there a trick to this that we don't know about?

6.  We've got our Nativity Scene built, as I mentioned a couple days ago, but there are still no figures in it. We thought that, since we'd dinkered around on it this long, we might as well just wait until the boys are all home this weekend and can help us set out the animals and Holy Family. It's been a family custom for years to do it all together, anyway.

It's tradition. All the pieces, wrapped in newspaper and tucked into a big wooden box for eleven months of the year, are removed one by one and passed around to all the children until everyone has a little pile, still wrapped in paper. Then everyone gets to very carefully open their figures and see what they got. Kudos go to the child who gets any member of the Holy Family, especially Baby Jesus. But, other special figures get noted, too. It's a big deal to get the owls, for instance, and everyone laughs at the sibling who happens to get the skunk.

This year we replaced our lost mice and all the Littles are excited to get them scampering about the Nativity Scene. Every night, you see, the little mice move, and every morning, the children run to Bethlehem to see if they can find them. Sometimes they're in the trees, sometimes hiding in the crack of the rocks, sometimes they're tucked in a crevice of the bridge... But, on Christmas morning, everyone knows where they'll be: somewhere close to the manger, peeking around to get a look at the Infant Savior.

7.  I caught the end of Christmas in Connecticut last night.  (Boy Dennis Morgan was a handsome man!  He looked a lot like my Dad when he was young!)  I love that movie!  But, I haven't seen Miracle on 34th Street yet this season or It's a Wonderful Life -- two of my other favorites.  We'll watch the most recent Little Women this weekend for its Christmas theme, though, and are saving A Christmas Story for next week when the boys are home.  We'll be making an event of A Christmas Story, because it's everyone's favorite.  For dinner we're serving mashed potatoes, red cabbage, and meatloaf (beetloaf).  And we'll have a Ralphie Quiz before the movie with prizes.  I can't wait.  If you'd like to help me make up the quiz, please leave questions in my combox!  And I'm looking for appropriate prize ideas that are within my (small) budget.  Thanks for any ideas you can share!

Run over to Conversion Diary for a slew of Quick Takes this last Friday before Christmas!

Picks, Pans, and Proceed-with-Cautions

Just our humble opinions...

** Is anyone else out there watching Sing Off?  We're addicted!  There is some incredible talent out there in the acapella world, oh my gosh.  And you just have to appreciate the fact that such incredible music is produced without the crutch of electronics or editing.  Totally fun and amazing, real entertainment.  Our typical TV fare includes documentaries, old movies (Watched an old Kay Kaiser movie this morning!), and the Mythbusters -- but have been excited to add this week-long special to our must-see viewing.  The elimination rounds continue through the week, and the winner will be picked on Monday.  It's showing every evening this week on NBC. 

~ OOPS!  Correction:  I thought Sing Off was showing until Friday, but I was mistaken.  The final show, in which the winners will be chosen (voted for by the viewers), airs Monday on NBC.  All the eliminations rounds have been aired, but can be seen in their entirety here.

Here's a hilight:

** In contrast to Sing Off, we never watch, and cannot endorse the Dancing With the Stars program.  We're fans of Fred and Ginger and Gene Kelly (and have really enjoyed the choreography of the groups on Sing Off so far), so we tried one episode of Dancing...  and had to turn it off.  Not only are the women's outfits too often immodest (to say the least), but the routines are suggestive and -- to our sensibilities, anyway -- not very enjoyable.  We gladly tune out this program.

** We've found the same problem on the other televised talent shows.  Occasionally some real talent comes along, but the viewers are forced to sift through an awful lot of garbage to get to anything good.  We don't have the time or stomach for it.  You've heard the old story about the Dad who makes brownies for his children with only a "little tiny bit of dog poop" in it?  That's how we feel about variety shows that have only a "little bit of inappropriate programming."  I know, I know.  We really are stick in the muds (sticks in the mud?)... But, we like mud, so long as it's good, clean mud.

** Dan and I went to see Blind Side last weekend -- and LOVED it.  Sandra Bullock was great, as were all the other actors and actresses, and it was a true story about real people doing good things.  Ya gotta love that!  But...  I cannot give the movie a 100% endorsement, unfortunately.  First of all, I'd like to have given Sandra Bullock's Character a link to Betty Beguiles or Colleen Hammond.  Let's just say I wonder if the Christian woman betrayed in the movie dressed quite so much like a trollop as the wardrobe people dressed Ms. Bullock.  Also, the movie had two uses of the Lord's Name in vain, and there was language that, though it was pertinent to the story of a child who grew up in the worst of environments, I wouldn't want my young children hearing it.  Though there was no cussing or blatantly explicit dialogue, just slang and veiled inuendo, the movie revealed more of the lower side of the human condition than I would want to expose my little ones to at all. 

That said, the Christian value of charity and the moral fortitude of the characters in Blindside make it a worthwhile movie for adult viewing.  I would recommend it to my older teenagers, perhaps, with caveats and discussion, and endorse it for my adult friends.  Great feel good movie -- but proceed with caution.

Christmastime Sniffles

We just love Sniffles!

Girls

Gabe and I were washing up the lunch dishes just now.  (Gabe loves to play in the water and call it washing dishes...) 

I say:  Good grief! What's with the screaming outside?

Gabe answers:  It's just the gehls.  They do that sometimes.

They do, don't they?

Gabey pretty much has his sisters figured out.

Wordless Wednesday (Sorta)

What we've been up to:

Paul and Nicole -- flipflops in the snow on Saturday morning.

 They didn't want to have to change their shoes when they got out of the airplane in sunny Mexico.  (They both had shorts on under their sweatpants, too.)  I'm so jealous!

Lots of painting and crafting going on around here.  I'm trying to think of a way to show you some of the things we've made without tipping gift recipients off...  I'll get back with you on that..  Here's William, though, working hard.  He ended up painting his little wooden airplane in camouflage colors.  He said he made it for his little dinosaurs, thus, the color-scheme.  (Even William has a method to his madness...)

William learned how to peel his own tangerine this week.

(It's those little things in life, ya know?  He's so proud of himself!)

The Winter Village is in place on top of the school cabinet:

Can you believe it's the Third Week of Advent already!?

Our Nativity Scene is well underway in the fireplace,

 but we still want to tweak it a bit before we add the figures. We have a waterfall idea that we're working on that's giving us a little trouble.  It may need the creative inspiration of Jon and Dominic -- who will be home this weekend!  Woohoo!  Here it is, so far, though:

Updated photos and more catch-up, hopefully, on Friday, as time allows!

Haiku: The Family Omnibus

Our offerings:

From Dan

I'm dreaming of a

White Christmas -- right up until

Sidewalks need shoveled.

**

Wrapping paper piles

Children buzzing on sugar

Is it springtime yet?

**

If you have a heart,

Put an end to slave labor:
Help us free the elves!

**

Santa? Oh, who cares?

It's the booty that matters

On Christmas morning

**

A major award,

Glowing brightly from the street,

There for all to see.

**

Suppose that Santa

Is lactose intolerant

And diabetic?
~~

From me

Christmas tree needles

Working into the sofa

Prick butts at Easter.

**

Time to see who can

Blow out the Advent Candles

And burn their noses.

**

Kids singing off-key,

Getting all the lyrics wrong.

They are all groan deaf.

**

If they could just see

Underneath all of her clothes

Mom's in an elf suit.

**

Anna doesn't want

The Red Ryder Beebee Gun.

She likes bunny suits.

**

Where it's happenin:

In the living room doorway,

Mistletoe Central.

~~

From Paul

Depression, Pt. I

Family gathering

The presents and wrapping strewn,

The headach has come

**

Depression, Pt. II

The eggnog, the tree,

The presents and the snowmen,

Fights over presents.

**

Depression, Pt. III

The red truck is good

But the blue truck is better:

No one is happy.

**

Depression, Pt. IV

The lights are tangled.

they will never come undone.

Why did we save them?

**

Depression, Pt. V

Candy all over.

The kids have a sugar high.

Sugar everywhere.

**

Depression, Pt.VI

Santa Clause scares me --

He's an overweight prowler...

Why the big red suit?

**

Depression, Pt VII

Santa has reindeer,

but why not something cooler?

Polar bears maybe.

**

Depression, Pt. VIII

Santa is to me

What wins are to the Clippers:

Nothing but a myth.

Depression, Pt. IX

Blinking Christmas light,

Why do you torment me so?

Will you please stop it?

~~

Disclaimer:  My son, Paul is not a depressive fellow.  Really.  He's actually quite the good-time Charlie.  And, he's heading off to Mexico for ten days tomorrow morning, for heaven's sake!  And, seriously, Christmas around here is lots of fun -- regardless of the sugar highs and wrapping paper strewn everywhere.  Truly.  Really.  (I'm not kidding.)

Postscript:   Almost didn't have anything to contribute, but called an emergency session of the Davis Creative Think Tank to brainstorm after dinner tonight.  A good excuse for a good time and a good visit with Paul and Nicole before they turned in.  Didn't have time for pictures (except the mug shots and the elves) -- which pains me.  I so love illustrations!  But, we made it before the deadline.  Woohoo!  We may not be organized, but we can be silly on a dime. 

Etcetera:  I hilighted my favorites in green. (Mama's prerogative...)

Last, but most defintely not least:  Make sure and run over to Laura's and check out all the Bad Haiku contributions.  Cute, hysterical, the gamut!  A fun time!

Coming Soon...

Because we're making sure we have a place for Paul and Nicole to sleep tonight (They're stopping over to catch an early-morning flight out of DIA tomorrow to their Mexico-finally-honeymoon!).  And because my washing machine drain is frozen and my dryer inexplicably stopped working this morning.  And because the doorknob on our front door is broken and I have to stop to open it for small children and dogs wanting out every ten minutes (OK, I'm exagerating.  It's more like every fifteen minutes...)  And because I can't get to my sock drawer because of the pile of Christmas paraphernalia piled up in front of my dresser.  And because Anna wants me to teach her to sew for real -- on the sewing machine.  And because William and Gabe want to paint some Christmas cards because crayons aren't good enough for Christmas.  And because there's a bowl of cookie dough on the counter to make.  Etcetera and so forth..... You get the idea.  We've been delayed in working on our haikus.  But, we're getting on it today.  It's important to us.  We'll be working earnestly to make the midnight deadline for the contest.  Stay tuned!

This Silver Lining...

Breaking through the clouds on Tuesday...

A spot of sunshine, glimmering into a hazy rainbow...

Made us think of A Woman Clothed With The Sun

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

* More sky  photos over here!

Winter Comforts

Crack of dawn.

Everyone else still asleep.

Toast by the fire with Gabe and Lester, the stuffed monkey.

Can't Beat These Odds

So, I'm working in the kitchen today, and Gabe (5) is in the doorway to the next room.  He asks me, "Heads or tails, Mommy?"
"Heads," I say.

"You're right," says he.

My back is turned to him, so I can't see exactly how he's flipping his coin, but I assume he's learned this latest trick from one of his big sisters.  (It's amazing the way they pass things down to one another when you least expect it...)

Again, he asks me, "Heads or tails, Mommy?"

"Tails," I say this time.

"You're right!" he says.

"Woohoo!"  I say.

"You wanna do it again?"  He says.

"You bet, " say, still cleaning out the sink, my back turned to him.

"OK.  Heads or tails?"

"Heads."

"You're right!

At this point, I'm starting to think I'm doing amazingly well, but I still have the splatters on the window over the sink to wipe off, so I don't check to see Gabe's method.

"Heads or tails?" again he asks.

"Heads!"  I say, and turn around to see if I could possibly have hit it again.  I never thought I was that lucky!  I've got to check it out. As I enter the doorway, I'm just in time to see him toss the penny (It's a penny, of course) just an inch or so away from his hand, catch it, and, in expert imitation of his sisters, flip it over onto his other hand.  He looks up as I lean over to look at the outcome, and says, "You're right again, Mommy!" 

But, I'm not right.  There the penny lies in his upturned palm -- most definitely flipped to tails. No question about it; there's the Lincoln Memorial.

 "So, Gabe..." I say, "that looks like tails to me." Maybe he doesn't really know the difference between heads and tails, I'm thinking, so I try to clarify,  "That's not Lincoln's face." 

"Sure it is, Mommy," he says with authority.  "Look," he says.  And he flips the penny over.  "See? Here's his face; it was just next to my hand that time."

It's true what they say: Mommy is always right.

If everyone played like Gabey, I might actually like gambling!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Cold here where we are!

How 'bout there where you are?

(The temp is six below here in Eastern Colorado right now, and that's not even counting the wind-chill factor! God bless my hard working one-year-old radiator!  It's cold in our house right now, but nothing like it would have been before we had central heat.  Many's the cold winter night when the kids would have to bring their blankets and pillows downstairs and sleep around the one radiant heater in the dining room, or near the wood stove in the living room to keep from turning into ice pops overnight.  Hard times. Character building we called it. And, as we see it, we've really done the children a favor by roughing it pioneer-style for so many years; they all have built-in, true as rain "when-we-were kids- life-was-really-rough" stories to use when they have children of their own, right?)

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

Toto Pulchra Es!

The Immaculate Conception by Diego Velasquez (1599-1660)

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

Patroness of America,

Pray for us!

The boys (Jon, Dominic, and Kevin, and friend, Tim) singing The Magnificat two springs ago, I think...
(I hope nobody's getting tired of hearing this one -- I know I tend to pull it out a lot for the feasts of Our Lady.  It's my favorite!)

Coloring page here, courtesy of Charlotte.

Light a Candle Today

Preferably a beeswax candle, but any candle will do -- but today is a good day to light one before an image of the Blessed Mother in honor of the feast of  Great St. Ambrose, First Doctor of the Church, Patron of the Veneration of Mary, Patron of Beekeepers and Candle Makers.

St. Ambrose presided over the Council of Milan in 340, at which the doctrine and title were affirmed of "Mary Ever Virgin."  Isn't the wisdom of the Church so perfect in its placement of our feast days?  It's so wonderfully appropriate in these days of Advent, and most especially on this vigil of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,  to remember St. Ambrose and his quest to promote devotion to Mary, and especially the virginity of Mary!  And, in this season of lights, how wonderful to be able to remember this great saint of God by  using his iconic symbolism -- a beeswax candle -- to honor the Mother of God!  So simple, but so perfect.

Prayer of St. Ambrose

Lord, teach me to seek You, and reveal Yourself to me when I seek You.  For I cannot seek You unless You first teach me, nor find You, unless You first reveal Yourself to me.
 

Let me seek You in longing, and long for You in seeking.
Let me find You in love, and love You in finding.

Amen.


*  Homeschoolers' Note:  Beehive coloring page here.

Ralphie vs. The Matrix

A Banner Night

by Dan Davis

Hi, everybody.  First post on Lisa's blog, so let me say that I'm honored.

Regarding "Lisa's Finest Hour:" Many of the details of that particular night in October, 1985 have been lost to time, but the legend remains.  And even though I'm not honestly sure that Lisa and I have ever discussed the events of that evening in our 22 years of marriage (up until this week), it still feels like yesterday.

The University of Denver hockey program was emerging from a long period of apathy and slumber, and 1985-86 was a good year that would eventually land the Pioneers in the NCAA championship tournament (not yet called the "Frozen Four").  Early that season a group of us, DU students all, headed south to Colorado Springs to the old, small, low-ceilinged, smelly Broadmoor World Arena for a game against arch-rival Colorado College.

In Lisa's rendering of the story, she and I went down in separate group buses.  The Lisa legend actually begins on the trip down from Denver.  She was in possession of the most precious gift in the life of a college student:  valid ID as a 21-year-old, so on the trip down, she takes up a collection from her fraternity friends -- of which I was not one -- somebody convinces the bus driver to stop at a liquor store and Lisa makes a beer run (or was it wine coolers?) for the assembled masses.

In my rendering of the story, the two of us arrive arm-in-arm in a romantic, horse-drawn carriage, but whatever.  I was still short of 21, so the part about the valid ID and the illicit beer run was probably true, regardless.

Lisa and I both agree that, independent of how we got to the game, we did end up sitting next to each other.  In my version, it was by design.  In her version, it was more likely an accident.

That year, my roommate Greg and I had taken to spending our disposable time (which was abundant) and income (which wasn't) on creating enormous banners for the old DU hockey "barn".  The two of us created a phenomenon, via our most famous banner, that came to be known as the "Bleacher Creatures".  And OK, we'll take ownership of the giant "CC S****" banner that revived (created? doubtful) the famous cheer, but we plead the 5th on the dead squid and the frozen chickens launched onto the ice from the balcony following Pioneer goals!

For the CC game, though, we outdid ourselves.  Or rather, the mother of Greg's bride-to-be, Karen, did, creating a large, professional-looking banner in the Pioneer crimson and gold.  Man, were we proud of that banner!!

As the game gets underway, DU scores a goal and we're cheering and waving the banner like crazy, when suddenly there's a rustling in the seats next to me.  The banner's been snatched by a group of hoodlum CC students who are half-way across the arena before any of us knew what hit us!

So, I turn to Greg and ask him what we're going to do.  He's perplexed.  I turn back to Lisa, and...

SHE'S GONE.

I look down toward the ice, and there she is, marching after the hoodlums with the determination of a mother about to tweak her son's ear and call him by all three names -- you know the look?

By this time, the hoodlums are back in their seats.  So Lisa walks into the "belly of the beast," right up to the offending fan, looks him straight in the eyes, and says, "My friend's mother worked hard on that banner.  I want it back!"

To which the shocked fan looks at his buddies, looks back at Lisa, shrugs, and says, "OK". 

And hands over the banner.

Of course, by this time, the 3,000+ fans have turned their attention away from the game to watch the drama unfold.  Lisa walks back across the arena, alone, victorious, banner in hand, to a standing ovation (probably even some CC fans among those cheering).  The hockey team, obviously inspired by her heroics, cruises to victory over the Tigers. 

Or maybe not.  None of us actually remembers who won the game.

As we file out of the arena and back to the horse-drawn carriage, I can only remember thinking the same thing that probably half of the young men who made the trip down were thinking:

THIS is the woman I'm going to marry! 

Seven months later, I did.

H/T: Old friends,Greg and Karen, who e-mailed us the above pic of THE Banner, of distant and happily-remembered fame.

Soooo...

Because my resourceful and wonderful husband managed to get ahold of two highly-coveted DU vs CC hockey tickets for tonight!  Woohoo!  We're gonna go root for the old alma mater tonight!

GO DU!

*Remind me to tell you sometime about my finest hour -- which occured at a DU/CC game many moons ago...  Maybe I can get my husband guest-host for that post.  It's probably better told through his eyes -- and I don't want to look like I'm not humble...