At Considerable Cost

The final Sunday of Advent turned out to be such a special one for me.   I chose to drive past our home parish to attend 5:30 mass at a chapel owned by another parish as part of its school complex.   It was once the building for a large Baptist congregation.   The Catholic parish bought the building when the Baptist church built a bigger building.   It has since been decorated, blessed, and dedicated for Catholic worship. There's something about this chapel to which I strongly relate.   Maybe because it, too, has been reborn for a Catholic life and purpose.   It still holds remnants of its Protestant, or non-Catholic, past.   The Crucifix hangs in what seems a striking blue frame to some.   To the knowing eye, the crucifix hangs above what once served as the baptistry, the pool where baptisms as public signs of accepting Christ, not sacraments of regeneration, occurred.    The baptistry is now framed by the crucifix, a symbol and the Tabernacle that contains the reality to wh

I can't access the camera roll on my iPhone.   I haven't bought a new digital camera because it's just been too easy to use my phone that seems to be with me at most times.    Fortunately, I e-mailed a few of our Christmas pictures in an effort to make room on the phone and I have those to share. We continued our tradition of attending midnight mass.   Clare and Emmeline wore their beautiful dresses and Thomas wore footed pjs.   Really, there is such a small window of time when it is acceptable to wear pajamas to church, we really should take advantage of it!   The music was beautiful and I love making mass the first thing we do on Christmas Day.   As I sat there, I thought about Christians in times long ago, before the Victorians made Christmas the family holiday that the world celebrates today.   Imagine in medieval times when mass and a feast, not numerous presents, were the main focus of the day.   Surely midnight mass and the meal which traditionally followed must h

 I really enjoy making wreaths.   I was inspired this year by a trip to downtown Bryan after Thanksgiving with a friend.   We saw some beautiful southern-style decorations and I set about making much-needed new wreaths for our front door and above our mantle. Front Door Wreath First, can we just take a moment to appreciate the beauty of a red door at Christmas?! This is a real wreath, but it didn't make it until Christmas.   We get some intense morning sun on the front of our house.   It makes the paint on the door slightly tacky to the touch and sometimes you can barely grasp the hot door handle.  So, a week before Christmas, I transferred all the pieces to an artificial wreath.   It will make next year a little easier!   I used artificial red roses that were expensive, so beginning in October, I went once a week to Michael's and picked up a stem with one of my 40% off coupons.   I cut the stems apart so I could spread the blooms and leaves around the wreath.   Then

My latest post is up at CatholicMom.com: By the time this is posted, my family and I will hopefully be settled in, snug and happy, in our home on Christmas Day.    While our family is still trying to find our way through our Advent observance, we have made some progress when it comes to celebrating a Catholic Christmas. To read more :  http://catholicmom.com/2012/12/27/the-twelve-days-of-christmas-and-beyond/

Hand-carved table-top nativity scenes, life-sized nativities, Christmas trees aglow, the wonder of children's faces: they are all images brought to mind during this holy season and I love them all.   When I think about the image that stays with me, that links my childhood to adulthood and never fails to prompt contemplation, it is an unlikely scene that stands out from the rest.    Growing up in Louisiana, I saw extreme poverty in rural areas.   On the farm next to ours, there lived an elderly man who was called, "Preacher."   He worked on the farm and his small home was just beyond our fence.   People passing by would probably refer to his home as a shack and as technical definitions go, they would not be incorrect.   There was one main room which had at its center a free-standing wood stove.   There was no air conditioning in the summertime and Preacher spent most of his spare time on his tiny front porch rather than indoors. Such shacks were a fixture in

As I wrote earlier , my Advent was not what I planned.   I spent the first three weeks only leaving the house to drop the girls off at school and then to pick them up in the afternoon.   I did my Christmas shopping only a few days before Christmas.   I was able to really rest and recover from pneumonia and the other health issues I've dealt with this year. We couldn't find the Advent wreath, so the arrangement in the picture above was our family's Advent centerpiece.   Mary, pregnant with Hope incarnate and Joseph guiding them on their way to Bethlehem.    A single candle to inspire and remind us of the anticipation of Christ.   And beautiful flowers: a get-well gift from a friend. It was a season of blessing: rest and quiet, though forced, that I needed.   Less busy-ness and lessons in what is important and necessary.   I didn't get to make homemade treats for teachers because I was too tired, but gift cards and other store-bought gestures, along with hand-wr

 The last day of school before the Christmas break was Pajamas Day.   Clare was a *little* excited about that!   Sweet Emmeline had the flu and missed the whole week of school.   Her teacher sent classroom treats from the party, along with get-well cards from her classmates.   She was pleasantly surprised! One thing I missed out on during my homeschooling years was homemade arts and crafts that didn't depend upon me.  Clare brought home this sweet ornament: snowmen made from her handprint with a touching poem attached.   Love. Still life from art center: apples in a bowl.

This is not the Advent I planned.   Not that I'd planned an elaborate one, mind you, but I did expect to begin the season with evening mass (it's just so lovely during Advent to leave mass in the dark) and then each night, hang one ornament on our Jesse tree, light the candle on the Advent wreath, and pray the accompanying prayers and scriptures. The season began Sunday, in Urgent Care, with a two-hour wait.   The day before Thanksgiving, my youngest daughter and I went to Urgent Care, where we were diagnosed with sinus infections.   We were both put on a round of Amoxicillin.   She gradually got better. But I really didn't recover.   The sinus pressure, headaches, and post-nasal drip continued.   Last week, I started running fever and getting chills.   Then came the cough, which although it never reminded me for the fifth time to take out the trash or put my shoes away, still qualified as being of the nagging variety.  So, I did what I was supposed to do and made a follo

First school picture!  Sweet Emmeline is nine years old! This year, Emmeline has started public school for the first year.   She is adjusting well and loves third grade.   She especially loves her teachers!    She reads as often as she gets the chance.   She also likes watching Doctor Who.   She still loves to draw and create things.   For her birthday, she got a Barbie doll and clothes, a carousel of crayons, and a crystal-growing kit. She chose to invite a friend out to lunch and to U-Paint-It, a local ceramics shop in town.   They had so much fun creating their little trinket boxes.   Clare chose to paint a ladybug bank.   Amber came into town for her birthday.   It was a special day for a special girl. I am so thankful God gifted us with such a special girl!