7 Not-So-Quick Takes: ADVENT-ures 2011, Part 2

Take #1. I have this great app on my Ipad called "Home Routines" that helps me organize my daily and weekly tasks. It follows the guidelines of The Fly Lady, and you can adjust it to your own needs. You have a "morning" list, an "evening" list, a "weekly tasks" list; these generally stay the same all the time. Then you have several other To-Do lists: "Today," "This Week," and "Later." These are constantly changing. You can check off each task as you complete it, and it's an easy way to keep track of what needs to be done. It also gives you a place to list chores for each "zone" in your home--a room or area that you try to do little extra cleaning and organizing in each week. (Theoretically. Don't ask me when I last dusted my ceiling fans or cleaned the baseboards.) This Advent I've made a kind of new (liturgical) year's resolution to make better use of it because frankly I'm never been good at organizing my time or my home. (Ginny recommends a book called Organizing Solutions for People with Attention Deficit Disorder. I don't know if I actually have ADD or not, but it sounds like something that might help me. We'll see; I still have Peter Walsh's book Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? sitting on my shelf waiting for me to read.)

Anyhow, one of the tasks I listed (quite a while ago) in the "Morning" category is, "Prayer and Journaling." Most days I leave that unchecked. I'm working on a solution to that, especially the "prayer" part., and I'll tell you about that in a future post. (I'm also working out a system to help me get more "weekly" tasks done. I don't even look at the "zone" lists. Baby steps.)

The wise men are starting on their journey to visit the Baby Jesus. This is Moe's little project.

Take #2. I almost skipped praying one morning this week. I had made beef stew the night before, and had left it on the stove to cool before putting it in the fridge for the next day; when I got up in the morning I discovered I had left it out all night and had to throw it out. I wanted to cry. I cursed myself and of course the first thoughts that came to my head were harsh words of reproach about how stupid I could be sometimes and that I'm a loser, a failure, etc. Being angry at myself (or at anyone, for that matter) doesn't exactly put me in the right frame of mind for prayer. But I also realized that even spending a few minutes talking and listening to God would calm my spirit and I would have a better day overall. God certainly isn't angry at me for being forgetful. After praying a decade of the Rosary--trying not to scold myself for not praying the whole thing--I felt much better and was able to put that mistake behind me and focus on the tasks of the day.

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart. Amen.

Take #3. Recently our nephew in Atlanta turned four, and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law threw him a birthday party last Sunday. We talked to him on the phone that night, and he was excited to tell everyone about his party. When I got on the phone, he said, "Hi, Auntie Sharon! I had my birthday party! But why couldn't you come?" I told him I wished I could have been there but we live too far away. "But you could go fast!!"

We spent last Christmas at their house in Atlanta, and this year we miss them more than ever.

This is the creche at the church in Atlanta where we went to Christmas Eve Mass last year.

Take #4. In Art class, Moe and his classmates were given a plain, silver-colored Christmas ball and instructed to draw what they saw in the reflection. The teacher had four or five kids sit around a small table with the ball in the middle, and gave each of them Shrinky Dink paper and colored pencils (or whatever you use for Shrinky Dinks--I haven't seen those since I was a kid!) Here's how his turned out:

Take #5. In Technology class--here I go bragging about my kids' school work again--Moe used Power Point Auto Shapes (whatever that is) to make this:

(He says the manger looks like a flying saucer. Curly said it looks like a bobsled. Personally I think Joseph's mustache is way cool.)

And just for kicks, here's the one Curly made two years ago when he was in fifth grade:

(I love Mary's big hair in this one.)

Take #6. My paternal grandmother used to collect all kinds of whimsical things, including salt-and-pepper shakers. She had a whole china cabinet full of them. One of her most memorable sets was made in the image of a large-breasted mermaid. They sat on a tray shaped like the lounging mermaid, and the shakers were her, um, girls. Over the last couple of years I have started a collection of my own (although I don't think I'll ever have any that resemble body parts), much to the amusement--annoyance?--of my family.

The most ordinary-looking ones are what we use from day to day. The blue and white ones in the back match our wedding china, and I'm pretty sure we've had those the longest. The little redbirds and the peppermints are ones I found at Cracker Barrel just a few weeks ago. (I used to have more than these, but since I insist on actually USING them, some have gotten broken. And I did get just one more set this week that isn't in this photo; a little Christmas present for myself.)

I fell in love with these a while back at an antique show:

I didn't buy them, though, because the lady selling them was asking $90 for them. I almost wish I had, though; maybe I could have talked her down in price.

Take #7. In my last 7 Quick Takes post, I included this picture:

I received several comments about how beautiful my wreath is. It's actually my mother-in-law's wreath that she had out on Thanksgiving weekend. Here's the one she had on her door.

(The other day I found one in our attic like this one that I forgot that I had. I'm pretty sure my mother-in-law made it. I'll put that one up after Christmas.)

I'm sure she has put out some more Christmas-y ones by now (although these are pretty Christmas-y already); she has a whole collection of them hanging in a row in her attic. I sometimes jokingly call her Martha because her decorating and cooking often rival Martha Stewart's.

Here's the wreath I have on my door.

I picked it up at the Farmers' market, made by a nice lady who sells pies and cakes and things. The Santa was given to me a few years back by a friend and fellow teacher I was working with at the time. I'm sure Martha Stewart wouldn't have this on HER door, but we like our little holly-who wreath.

Bonus take, #8: My friend Lynda wrote this beautiful piece for Christmas and posted it on her blog, Conversations With My Soul. Head on over and check it out!

And be sure to check out Jen Fulwiler's blog, Conversion Diary, for more Quick Takes!

7 Quick Takes: ADVENTures, 2011 Part One, and My Second Ever Giveaway

--1--

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent a glorious few days with Joe's parents in Williamsburg. The weather was beautiful. Joe enjoyed a round of golf with his dad, and we all had some much-needed R&R--watching football, walking the dog, reading, video games, and we took in the new Muppet Movie. (If you haven't seen it, go. It's most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational...) It was even warm enough on Saturday to enjoy an alfresco breakfast at Aromas Cafe' in Colonial Williamsburg.

--2--

Sunday Mass with the New Translation went swimmingly! (For my non-Catholic friends, this past Sunday the Church introduced an new edition to the Roman Missal for masses in English. The new version is a more literal translation from the original Latin, and many of the prayers and responses are slightly different. The language is richer and more eloquent, and we're now using wonderful words like "incarnate" and "consubstantial.") Our choir director led the congregation in a practice round of the prayers and responses before Mass, and that was helpful. Father R reminded us throughout the Mass to say "And with your spirit," and everyone was given a cheat sheet when we arrived. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Eucharistic prayers! I mean, "you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name." Awesome!

--3--

When we arrived home on Saturday, I decided to reorganize my kitchen cabinets. I spent a good-sized chunk of time on Saturday and Sunday taking things out, packing things I don't use into a box to send to Goodwill, and moving items from one place to another. I found about twenty or thirty brown paper bags of various sizes stuffed into a couple of drawers--I can't imagine why on Earth I wanted to save them. I had bread pans in three different places (I mean, who keeps bread pans in three different places? Joe is delighted because now he knows where to find things), and I dug out two serving trays I completely forgot I had. I was able to clear away some of the clutter that had built up on the countertops over the summer. This weekend I hope take some time and tackle the study shelves, and find places for all my Religious Education stuff, which is mostly in cardboard boxes at the moment.

--4--

I've been going over the changes in the Mass these last couple of months with my third graders in CCD. Recently I found this Mass response booklet over at The Catholic Toolbox blog. I printed it out and made black-and-white copies, and gave them out to the kids to color and take home. A few weeks ago I wrote the words to the new penitential rite on the white board, and covered up the words one by one and had the kids fill in the blanks. They loved that one, since they were competing for prizes. We only have one more class before the Christmas holidays (classes are cancelled Wednesday and Thursday for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception), and they'll be having treats, listening to Christmas music, and decorating their own personal Jesse Trees. (I'm just using the one that's printed in their textbooks, and I printed off some symbols I found at Our Sunday Visitor for them to color, cut out, and glue to their trees. One of these days I'll plan far enough ahead to make a real Jesse tree, and have the kids make the ornaments. I want to do that at home too--maybe next year!

--5--

Now for the part you've all been waiting for--the giveaway!! I'm fast approaching my 200th post, and my three-year blog-aversary is not far behind. With Christmas coming soon I thought it might be a good time for a giveaway (And I'd better do it now before I change my mind. More on that in my next post.) What's the prize? A signed copy of Our Lady of Kibeho by Immaculee' Ilibagiza! Last spring I had the privilege of meeting Immaculee', and I bought several books that she signed for me: one I gave to my mother (Left to Tell), one is for me (Led By Faith, Immaculee's story of her faith journey, which I still haven't read), and one to share with you! We just celebrated the feast day of Our Lady of Kibeho on the 28th of November, too; had I known beforehand I would have had this giveaway earlier. Ah, well...

--6--

To enter the drawing, all you have to do is:

1. Follow my blog. If you already follow me, leave a comment letting me know you want to be in the running.

2. Leave a comment here.

3. Share this post with your friends, either via social networking or by email. Let me know in the comment box (or by Facebook, Twitter, or email) that you've done this. I operate under the honor system! :-)

You don't have to do all three to get your name into the cup (the last time I had a giveaway, I used a Dave and Buster's mug that we acquired on a visit to Atlanta; this time I'll probably use a Southern Living At Home Rudy Reindeer Mug. They're my favorite, and dang it, they've been discontinued.) If you do all three, your name will be entered three times; if you do two, I'll enter you twice, etc. You get the idea.

--7--

You have until ONE WEEK from today to enter--Friday, December 9. I will announce the winner on the 10th or the 11th. My goal is to get the book in the mail on Monday the 12th so you'll have it before Christmas!

Let the ADVENTures begin, and be sure to visit Jen Fulwiler's Conversion Diary blog for more Quick Takes!

7 Quick Takes: The Advent Edition

Wasn't it just summer? Now it's cold enough to need hats, scarves, and gloves. The lake has a layer of ice on top. It snowed, and we got Thursday and Friday off from school because of it. Everyone is saying how they can't believe there's only a week until Christmas. I spent two hours shoveling my driveway yesterday. Wasn't I lounging in the sun by the pool just last week?

--1--

What is your all-time favorite Christmas carol? My sister-in-law asked this question at Christmas dinner one year. I didn't answer because I knew if I did I'd start blubbering right there. Last night the question came up again on Facebook. My favorite: O Holy Night. Why? Because when I was a kid, my mother sang it at our church's annual Christmas Eve candlelight service. We were sitting in the pews with my dad, the lights in the church dimmed, and candles in the windows, and all of a sudden the organ started playing and I heard my mother's voice. I turned around to see her in the balcony with a light shining on her, and she was singing this beautiful carol I don't think I'd ever heard before. She looked and sounded like an angel.

This is the only picture I can find online of the inside of the church where I grew up. It might have looked like this that night. (Sometime I'll tell you about the stained glass window in the front, if I can get a better photo of it. Meanwhile you can read about how I grew from my Baptist roots to my Catholic faith here, here, and here.)

--2--

OK, I need some advice. My mother doesn't want anything extravagant for Christmas, but I want to get her something meaningful nonetheless. I'm planning to get a small gift for her to open (which I've already ordered) and then make a donation to a charity on her behalf. My dad says that she would prefer something that is Christian-based. My mom is Baptist, a retired teacher, and she teaches an ESL class at their church. A few years ago we made a gift donation to Habitat for Humanity for her, and this would be fine again of course, but it would be nice to find something different as well. They already support World Vision and Samaritan's Purse; I could give something to the Central Asia Institute (Greg Mortenson's effort to educate girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan) even though it isn't religious in nature, since she and I are big fans of that organization, and since we went to a lecture he gave together. (read more about that here.)
Anyway, If you have any suggestions, just leave them in the comment box. And Mom, if you're reading this--I know you don't see this very often--your suggestions would be the most valuable of all! :-)

(By the way, Elizabeth over at 100th Lamb has a very similar dilemma---head on over to her place and vote in her informal charity poll. They're also trying to decide what organization to donate to.)

--3--

I've finally put an RSS link on my sidebar. Now it's easier than ever to access this, your favorite blog. I mostly wanted it so that my mother can find it more easily--I bookmarked it on her computer but she doesn't know how to find it. The only time she gets to see this blog is when I email her the link. I want her to be able to set it up so that the posts go right to her email, but I can't figure out how she can do this using those links. Any suggestions? I have a couple of WordPress blogs that I subscribe to (A Simple Twist of Faith and I Have to Sit Down--and I read almost all of those posts simply because they're right in my inbox); does this work with Blogger too? Help! Thanks!

--4--

When Curly and I went to the 2009 March for Life, we caught a glimpse of Operation Rescue's Truth Truck. The pictures on the sides showed tiny unborn babies that had been wrenched from their mothers' wombs, with coins next to them to give you some idea of how small they were. I'm not one to post graphic pictures of aborted babies, mostly because I wouldn't want a youngster to inadvertently run across one. I have some young Facebook friends--mostly sons and daughters of adult friends--who I don't want to traumatize by exposing them to such graphic images. (When Curly saw the pictures on the Truth Truck, I asked him how they made him feel, and he said they made him sad, but admitted they were kind of strange-looking; after all, they were in the very early stages of development.)

Browsing my blog reader yesterday morning I ran across what may be the most disturbing abortion photo I have ever seen. I swear if it hadn't been a real baby I might have thought it was something from a horror movie. Catholic apologist Dave Armstrong posted an interesting dialog between himself and an agnostic who was trying to argue that the Bible doesn't teach that abortion is wrong. It's a compelling post (Dave proves, of course, that the Bible does indeed forbid abortion), if you can get past the awful images. Further down there is another image that's almost as sickening as the first one.

Anyhow, if you're already pro-life, the photo here will shock and sadden and sicken you. (Be forewarned; it's extremely graphic.) And if you're still pro-choice after seeing it, you must have a serious problem. I just can't see how any rational person could possibly argue for abortion "rights" after seeing that.

Which brings to mind a question: Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life often says "America won't reject abortion until America sees abortion." He reminds us that people didn't get outraged over slavery and the Holocaust until they saw graphic pictures of emaciated people, slaves with scars covering their backs, and truck beds and mass graves full of bodies. Do you agree? Personally I have mixed feelings about using images of aborted children to spread the pro-life message; on the one hand, they do expose the truth about what abortion really is, but sometimes I wonder if it only serves to enrage pro-choicers and make them more determined to dig in their heels. What are your thoughts?

--5--

This is one of my favorite Christmas ornaments because my grandmother made it. She had boxes and boxes in her house of silk styrofoam ornaments, beads, jewels, ribbons, and all kinds of accessories. She used pins to attach little decoratons to them, sometimes threading beads to long hat pins so they'd stick out from the top and bottom. Every year her Christmas tree was covered with all kinds of her homemade ornaments. She didn't make any money doing this as far as I know, but she loved making them and giving them away to friends and family members. We always had several on our tree growing up, and when she passed away, my cousins, my brother and I divided her collection amongst ourselves. I think my mother still has a few that my brother and I had made with her supplies when we visited her. (We never could make them as pretty as hers, no matter how hard we tried.)

--6--

Every year we get out this nativity calendar, and every day starting on December 1, we open up the little door and take out whichever piece is behind it. (By the way, can you figure out why I got this at a discounted price? Look at the numbers.) As we get closer to Christmas, the picture starts to fill in, and the last one to come out is baby Jesus. The boys started calling it my "panic calendar," because last year I made the mistake of admitting that watching all the little players arrive on the scene only reminds me how much I still have to do in such a little amount of time.
That's not what it's for, is it?

--7--

If you're looking for some last-minute gift ideas, I've got a couple of gems for ya. My friend Rachel's husband Juan is a teacher in the public school system, and he's also a talented writer. He is working on a children's book trilogy, a science fiction saga called Planet Korgg. I bought a couple of copies of the first installment, Planet Korgg: Lost in Space, for my kids a while back, and we listened to an audio version he had made. Our boys loved it. The book isn't very long; I'm sure most kids could probably read it in one sitting. It's about a family living in the future, and they get stranded on a man-made "planet" that was created as a vacation destination. Lots of adventure lurks in its pages (and dinosaurs, and sea monsters), and I was happy to learn that Juan is now working on the second book in the series. You can order a copy at the book's website (click here); he's working on making it available at places like Amazon and Borders and other major book chains. Hopefully if he can sell enough copies this will become a reality. (I never knew how difficult it was to get a book published, much less sold in a regular bookstore.)

Our little niece and nephew aren't quite old enough for Planet Korgg yet, so in the meantime I hope they enjoy Mr. and Mrs. Food Face. My sister-in-law will love us for getting them something that encourages them to play with their food. Especially if Dad encourages them, which he probably will.

Stay tuned for a "Get Thee To the Woods" post (so much for staying away from Blogger until Christmas), and I'll tell you about an organization I recently learned of that's all about getting kids out in the fresh air. I'll also post some pictures of our recent snowfall, and the fun the boys have had with it.

For more quick takes, visit Jenn at Conversion Diary! Now to get some work done.

7 Quick Takes: Thanksgiving into Advent and Beyond

ONE: I hope your Thanksgiving was as lovely as ours! We spent the holiday near Blacksburg with my parents, my brother and his new wife (I need to come up with blog names for them. I'll call my brother Tuba Man because in high school and college he played the tuba in the marching band. My sister-in-law will be Auntie J until I can think of something better), and my parents' friends, Mr. and Mrs. B, came over for dinner as well. We had a lovely meal; Mr. and Mrs. B told us stories of their recent travels to Yellowstone (I blogged here, here, and here about our adventures there) and Alaska--a place we're hoping to visit, possibly this summer or maybe next. Maybe. My dad and Mr. B talked about how when they were kids, they had very little as far as material possessions, and how their home life was rich and full of love and life and how they didn't realize growing up how much of a struggle it was for their parents to raise and provide for them. The only photo I took on Thanksgiving day was this one of my mother's cute centerpiece:

TWO: On Friday Joe wanted to take the kids to a park that had a basketball court so Curly could practice dribbling and shooting. We thought there would be one at a certain local park, but there wasn't. We decided instead to go looking for a geocache hidden somewhere in the vicinity of this caboose. We didn't find that, either.

We finally found a basketball court at the old abandoned middle school building that Tuba Man and I had attended, and where Mom taught many more years ago when it was still the high school.

The hoops were so old and rusted, the boys were almost afraid to use them for fear they would knock them over with the ball.

THREE: While the boys were shooting hoops, I took a stroll around the school grounds. There are a lot of memories here, and it made me sad to see the building standing empty and neglected.

FOUR: Mom celebrated her 70th birthday recently, and we decided to treat her to dinner at Mountain Lake Hotel, where Dirty Dancing was filmed. (I didn't take this photo, of course; it was dark outside.)

Tuba Man and Auntie J, being newlyweds, had been calling each other "Baby" all weekend. (So sweet. Joe and I have never called each other Baby.) During dinner I was tempted to take a photo of Auntie J. sitting against the wall next to one of the stone columns, have Tuba Man standing in front of her with his hand out, and caption it "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." I didn't.

FIVE: On Sunday Joe and the boys performed their annual male bonding ritual, Leaf Blowing, Leaf Raking, and Leaf Hauling. They'll probably be doing that again this weekend.

We lit our Advent wreath (we're pretending that the red candle is really pink)

and had beef stew and cornbread for dinner. (Stay tuned to Cooking Nick's Books: A Sparks Fan's Food Blog for the recipes, which I hope will be up this weekend.)

SIX: When Larry and I visited the National Shrine Basilica a couple of weeks ago, I bought this devotional book:

Each day there is a quote from Chesterton or one of his contemporaries, a scripture passage, a prayer, and an action to perform in the spirit of Advent. Today's Chesterton quote was this:

All ceremony depends on symbol; and all symbols have been vulgarized and made stale by the commercial conditions of our time...Of all these faded and falsified symbols, the most melancholy example is the ancient symbol of the flame. In every civilized age and country, it has been a natural thing to talk of some great festival on which "the town was illuminated." There is no meaning nowadays in saying the town was illuminated...The whole town is illuminated already, but not for noble things. It is illuminated solely to insist on the immense importance of trivial and material things, blazoned from motives entirely mercenary...It has not destroyed the difference between light and darkness, but it has allowed the seller light to put out the greater...Our streets are in a permanent dazzle, and our minds in a permanent darkness.

He wrote these words in 1927. How true they still are today.

SEVEN: Christmas cards have started to arrive in the mail. People are putting Christmas lights on their houses. The whole town will soon be illuminated. Which means I'd better get off my duff and start doing something Christmas, like sending out cards and ordering presents. I'll stop back by here to say hello between now and the 25th, maybe with a Small Successes post about how I've finished everything I need to do way ahead of time and all that's left is to sit around and drink egg nog. Wouldn't that be something?

Head on over to Conversion Diary for Jen Fulwiler's Quick Takes for this week!