Checking in as we begin Advent...

Just checking in as much of my computery-life has been on hold lately...

I wish you and your famiily a blessed Advent season as we await Christmas. May you find joy in all the festivities around us, the traffic and Christmas lights.. knowing that it is all done in His Glory! You all are in my thoughts and prayers and I feel very thankful to have such friends as you.

This time of year I always feel drawn away from the computer.. one year I fasted from the computer completley as if it were Lent. There is something about these 'purple seasons' that do that to me!

May God bless you and draw you closer as you draw family and friends closer as well.

With love,
Cindy

Beautiful Fontinini Nativity Sets

On our lovely UC list we are having a discussion about favorite wedding gifts to give. An old college buddy of mine's first son was recently married. I don't know him well (but have a picture of him bouncing on my knee when he was 6 months old...)-- but he knows his mom and I are old buds. So I wanted to give him something special. They also have a new baby, so I want to support them and also have a thoughtful gift.

Our UC discussion turned to religious gifts- really the best, most eternal and beautiful! My friend and son are Christian though not Catholic, and what speaks better to us all than a creche? Plus the 'new beginning' of a baby.. and it is Advent coming, too!

Anyway, it got me thinking about the creche that Stephen and Bryan's Godparents gave him on his first Christmas. Just a simple stable and holy family, but over the years we have added to it.

Our family tradition is to open one gift each Christmas Eve after Mass. It worked itself out that the gift the boys opened was always a figure addition to the nativity. After many years we had all the main people, so they would get cows, a dog family, chickens... and we even started working on the rest of the town of Bethlehem! If you want you can get into Roman soilders, buildings, wow, you could fill up your house!

Instead last year I got a second stable and we are filling that one out, so each son can take a nativity with them to their families one day.

But, I wanted to share the Fontnini site with you all. They are wonderful quality, vinyl that looks like plaster and child friendly! The boys have played and played with them over the years.

Also some years I would have the wise men at one end of the house, slowly making their way across the rugged carpet to eventually get to the stable by Epiphany. And of course the Christ child would be hidden in a drawer until Christmas morning. One Christmas about five years ago I hid him so well we could never find him, so I had to order another.. lolFor more info on Fontinini click here- or do a google search, there are many dealers...

They are not cheap, but an investment and the quality is worth the price. But adding a piece or two each year is not horribly expensive.

All Saints Mass

I was really tired last night and didn't much feel like going to Mass. My dh had been working hard all day in the office and about 6pm I poked my head in and asked if he was going to Mass tonight.

"No," he said, a drained look on his face as he removed his phone earpiece. He thought it was the daily Mass the boys and I usually go to once a week. But, I reminded him it was All Souls Day, a holy day of obligation.

"Yes." he said, not without a bit of a sigh.

So we went. The church was just beautiful. I love going to Mass after dark. It reminded me of the Easter Vigil and Christmas Masses. The lights were golden and low. As we walked through the vestabule, there were about a dozen children dressed as saints. Father was herding them and giving them last minute instructions on how to stand to best be seen.

I love the litany. St. Anne, pray for us. St. Cosmo, pray for us. St. Francis, pray for us.

It seemed like a hundred names, but I could have listened to a thousand more.

I also noticed the music. I am so glad our liturgist has gone back to a more traditional Holy Holy Holy. And all the music seemed to connect us and what is more, everyone was singing! Well not everyone (my guys are all three allergic to that), but most people were. I felt my voice was joined with everyone there and the saints above.

And Father N did what he does best. During his homily he brought up the 'little saints' and had them stand with him in front of the alter. He is a reuglar Art Linkletter, interviewing them about the saint they were representing and getting some funny answers. I also was happy to see some of the kids had no clue and were not like some perfect Catholic homeschooling children (BG) who could give a report on their saint.

"What country are you from, St. Terese?" he asked a little girl holding a rose.
---"Um. I dunno." Fr. N winked and said in a stage whisper
"FRANCE"
---"France!" St. Terese said.

Jacob didn't know if he was Old or New Testament, either, but he knew he brought the walls of Jericho down.

Going down the line,
"Who are you?"
--"St. Anne, the Virgin's mother."

"And who are you?"
---"Mary."

Turing back to the previous child-
"Oh, you brought your daughter with you!"

:)

Lots of fun. And as Father said, most people think of saints like these... kids in their bathrobes.. no, actaully as sorta super humans. But.. you know this is coming...
he said we are ALL called to be saints.

Yup. That means I still have to work on getting rid of my bad and selfish habits. Sigh.

But, yes, I am so glad I went to Mass. So glad I was 'obligated'. The world made sense. It explained Halloween to me once again. It reminded me of the dear departed who are with us but just beyond. We are not alone. We are all one Church. Oh, I love this Church! And how the liturgy and 'have tos' bring us back, over and over again.

When Does the New Year Begin?

Got this on an email today:

Advent Begins December 2 - The Start of the New Church Year. We Celebrate the Season of the Birth of Our Lord

“Advent calls us as Christians to ponder again the mystery
of our salvation, our hope that there is an answer to the riddle of earthly life
with its passing joys, disappointments, sorrows and frustrations, and it
apparently dark end in the oblivion of death.

Does life go anywhere?
Does it have any meaning? Advent calls every one of us to stop in the struggle
of life and to look up, to recall the answer to the questions of life. We are on
a journey to our Father's house. The door has been opened to us by the Son of
God, and the way marked out.

Advent invites us to look back over the
long centuries, during which the human race struggled on in shadows. Of course,
there was always some light. It began with the promise of a Redeemer who would
crush the head of the destroying Serpent, the Son of a woman at bitter enmity
with evil.

As believers, we have the faith to know that God came to us
through no merit of our own, and that He comes to us still by His grace. He
calls us by His birth, His life, His terrible death, and His glorious
Resurrection. Advent reminds us that He will come again.”

- Fr. Benedict Groeschel, excerpted from his book Behold, He Comes

St. Benedict of Nursia

Today is the feast day of St. Benedict!

Taking a cue from my friend Leonie a friend and I are going to get our kids together and celebrate today.

Actually Leonie gave me more than a cue, she gave me a how to, as I always try to overplan everything!

KISS! (keep it simple, sillygoose!) lol

Ok, so here are our plans:

I found some info on the internet (excuse me while I give my dear computer a big juicy hug!) about St. Benedict. I learned so much. I mean, I really had no clue about this saint. One reason this idea appealed to me was to learn more about the liturgical year and saints.

Some things I learned-
-He was Italian and died in 537 AD

-He was a monk.

-He wrote the Rule of Life. Until that time monks had no formation or set of guidelines and from what I learned there were some pretty wild monks out there! And some not so wild.

-He also spent time discerning HOW to live like Christ, but also relate to ourselves and people. So as not to get so strict and autocratic with rules that we don't see our humaness, in ourselves and others. Something I think all faithful people struggle with at some point.

There is much more to this saint... go google him! If I can do this, anyone can. :)

I found the following websites and suggested the teens and olders read yesterday in preparation for today:
Biography of St. Benedict

Rule of St. Benedict
This is very long and involved. I just printed out the table of contents for the kids to read- that in itself is very enlightening. If you want to read the actual rule, it is all hyperlinked in this text. Very interesting reading!
How to Write your Own Rule of Life This site is interesting as it is one person's suggestion of how to apply the rule to your own life and write a personal Rule of Life

For the little kids (my friend has several youngers) I printed out this coloring sheet:
Coloring saints

And did a word search puzzle for them on Puzzlemaker
(this is one of my all time favorite sites.. used it a lot when kids where younger- took 3 min to make the puzzle..easy!)

So today we are meeting at Fazoli's, a fast food Italian place to celebrate St. Bendict's day with an Italian feast! We will talk with the olders a bit about his life and where he lived and how he lived, and encourage them to think about their own Rule of Life. Littlies will color and search for words.

Also, for futher reading, here are a couple of interesting sites...
Father's Rule of Life and this one...Online Guide to St. Benedict

Thanks again to my friend Leonie who patiently helped me get going on this! Hugs!!

***REAL LIFE UPDATE***

The resturant was closed down, so we ate pizza (Italian food..) at Costco. The teens talked and olders talked while babies and toddler and my friend and I did some shopping. We ate in the food court and I talked with the three teen boys about St. B.. though they already knew it all... lol

Youngers did fine... next time no project for teens... more fun crafts for youngers and I will get to have fun with the littlies which I miss!

But, we knew St. Benedict was smiling down on us as we walked out into the Costco parking lot and we went to Mass tonight, which of course was all about St. Benedict. And now the olders have a benchmark.

Nice day, though not as planned. Ah... homeschooling! Ah... life!

Preparing to Prepare

This year I am thinking ahead about Advent.

I made list after going leisurly through a lot of neat books on traditions and the Liturgical year. I made a list of what I liked, then looked at a calendar and decided what to try and add this year. Slowly.. let it permeate. :)

One thing on my list was to start adding more religious Christmas music and back out some of the more secular. We will always have a place for Frosty (memories!) but want him not to dominate.

At a friend's sale this weekend, I found 2 tapes of beautiful Christmas music.

I am 'previewing' it while I make cole slaw, potato salad and a new recipe for biscotti this afternoon. I have my fall harvest scented candle burning.

It is beginning to feel like Christmas.. but this is just the preview! I will today put the tape away until Christmas! But it sure feels like Christmas in my kitchen...