...and a Happy New Year!

Since my Christmas cards were mailed DURING the Christmas season, as opposed to the Advent Season, I feel totally justified in posting Christmas morning pictures on Jan 1. This blog is only read by those who know me well, so the delay really won't shock or bother anyone, anyway. Irish Jig suffered a cold for the first weeks of December and was diagnosed the Tuesday prior to Christmas Day with Type A Influenza.

Joy, Joy, Joy!

Mr. Neoclassic and I made the decision to quarantine our family.  We had a fabulous few days of games, family jokes, movies, songs, and lots of books. By day three, the Tamaflu had done it's job and Irish Jig was noticeably improved.  With the rest of us on preventative doses of Tamaflu, we managed to avoid subsequent cases.

We generally like to attend the vigil Mass because it gives us the opportunity to focus on Christmas, in it's truest sense, long before the gift unwrapping begins.  This year, we opted not to attend the Vigil, believing that the crowd didn't need any possible germs from us. We did venture out for Mass on Christmas morning, but were very careful to sit in the back and wave from afar!

For the grandparents and various family members, here are some of the Christmas morning gifting highlights.

Waiting for the boys prior to stampeding down the stairs for gifts!

And with one gift, this girl was content and fulfilled.  That did not, of course, stop

her from opening any other gifts....

A box of electrical components, circuits, and robot programming gear.

The expression/ gesture of pure rapture and happiness just cracks me up!

So very joyful in her little nest of Legos, books, and a CD player for bedtime stories.

That last one is really a gift for the rest of us, shhhh!

Zydeco's hand picked gift for his dad: Shakespeare's Insult Generator.

This one kept us laughing all day!

Apparently, she could get more excited...the book to tell her what to do with all the Legos.

A thoughtful gift from Classic Rock.

Because somebody has to help this boy dress appropriately...

The only Mama-handmade under the tree this year.

A crown.  But NOT a princess crown.

(PS - Nana, it has vintage buttons on it from the great box!)

Where's Waldo?!

Auntie M: she's polishing the jewelry box mirror so she can see herself :)

And by loading these pictures, I've realized there is not one single picture of me on Christmas morning!  Oops.  

Our family hopes your Christmas and New Year were fabulous.

Tis a gift to be free...

For the past several years, I have tried to create the majority of the Christmas gifts our family gives. Either by sewing or baking, we’d create something wonderful for friends and family. This originally started about the time the press reported most of the small toys imported from China were covered in toxic lead paint. I wanted to know that the gifts I gave my children or my nieces and nephews weren’t hazardous.

We would also incorporate purchased/ manufactured gifts because sometimes, that’s just what is needed or desired. If a small child is begging for Legos, you don’t give them crochet finger puppets. Both excite the imagination, but one is truly more relevant for the asker.

That all said, this year I realized that a full time job just doesn’t lend enough time to the sewing and creating endeavor. I decided which very few gifts would be handmade and accepted the rest would be purchased.

But I have put a great deal of thought into how the gifts would be purchased. I want to make my “almighty dollar” make a difference. So I turned to the Fair Trade Federation website and looked into various retailers offering fair trade merchandise. Scarves, coffee mugs, wall art, jewelry, and so much more are available for purchase. These items ensure the makers, often in depressed societies, are justly compensated for their work and time.




Here are a few of my favorite finds this year (click to go to company website):

Ten Thousand Villages (their local retail store closed last year, but their online store is awesome)

Serrv (their wall hangings and tree skirts make me drool)

Project Have Hope (these are the most beautiful bead bracelets I’ve seen!)

TaraLuna (the scarves are exquisite and I selfishly purchased a whole new stack of dinner napkins for our family)

Women of Cloud Forest (I want all of the embroidered bags….I can’t decide! Sea turtle? Fruit Bat?)

The lyric I’ve used today is very old and everyone knows the song….Tis a Gift to be Simple…but we sometimes need a reminder that it truly is a gift to be FREE. Just knowing my shopping will help someone – a lot of someones if I’m honest about my shopping – be a little more independent and a little more dignified makes my personal Christmas season much more meaningful.

PS - I didn't include any pictures of the items I bought because I don't want to give away the surprise...shhhh!

Jesus in disguise

Happy New Year to all my friends and family! You may have noticed that no Christmas greeting card was sent from this Domestic Church. It was on the list of things to do....but the picture taking attempt was abysmal and time became short and precious. My hope is to send Valentine Cards to all we know, reminding them how much we love and appreciate them.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Meanwhile, back in the Domestic Church, we spent our weeks off together laughing and lounging in pajamas. As we prepared to reenter the worlds of school and work, we celebrated Epiphany a day early with wonderful readings during Mass. I really enjoy how our Church coordinates the Old Testament, the Psalms, the New Testament, and the Gospel readings each Sunday to present a unified message. (Sunday's readings are listed here, if you are interested.) One of our newest deacons proclaimed the Gospel and delivered a spectacular homily. He traced a bit of the Kings' paths across desert lands and pointed out their unfailing desire to pay homage to an unknown King - one of a different ethnicity and of possibly a different god. He pointed out their willingness to accept this unknown child as an equal.

Then Deacon Dave reminded us all that we are called to accept one another as equals - each made in the image of God.

That hit home in this household of "he's teasing me!", "she's taunting me!", and so on.

During dinner Sunday evening, we revisited the message of the homily and readings. We discussed it's impact and implication on not only our family, but also the people of our community and workplaces. Frankly, we don't always agree or like those we work alongside.  Do you? Be honest :)

Jazz perked up and interjected, "it's like Jesus in Disguise!"

I think I heard angels singing as I realized my daughter was quoting song lyrics. Yes! The crazy gene is definitely spreading into the next generation. I praised her for quoting Brandon Heath's lyrics.

"Oh, no, Mama. That's from Diary of a Wimpy Kid."

Crushed. I'm so crushed!

To brighten your day on a cold, blustery day, here's a sunny surprise:

We are expected to hit a record low tomorrow.  Apparently, we've not been this cold since 1890something or another.  Since it doesn't come with snow or pretty ice drenched foliage, I am planning to stay inside and bundled, clutching mugs of hot coffee or tea, and dreaming of steamy August days.  Those of you experiencing "real winter" (i.e. Aunt Karen), you are allowed to roll your eyes and laugh.

Be warm.

Today's post title from Brandon Heath's Jesus in Disguise, or from Diary of a Wimpy Kid , depending on your level of crazy.

I want candy!

Gaudete Sunday started off innocently enough...

Twelve houses awaited creative minds:

Then, the candy carnage began...

Zydeco and his friends teamed up against their house.  They proceeded to load the roof with

as much candy as possible, attempting to ascertain the structural fail point

of gingerbread.  All in the name of science, of course.

Irish Jig grabbed her bag of icing and hits the ground running, so to say.  No help or

assistance needed - and when offered was vehemently denied.  Katie took

advantage of the Jig's independence and claimed a house to decorate her way.

The tongue of concentration is awesome!

Jazz incorporated gymnastics equipment into her design this year.

She focused on decorating this house for at least an hour and a half.

Not too shabby for 4 years old.

Classic Rock and his good friend adapted the "more is better" approach to creating.

There was much candy ingesting at that station and not much attention to detail.

They did create a Twizzler football field, however...

Our favorite college student (Katie's brother) displayed his knack for 

accounting by aligning his candy columns.

These two had constantly puffy cheeks because they kept

squirreling away candy...

As always, this one conned her favorite people into

showering her with attention when the decorating fun ended.

As I milled around the kitchen, watching the candy fray and soaking up the laughter, I was reminded that Gaudete means "rejoice".  It's the Sunday we celebrate passing the halfway point of Advent as we prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus.  It's also become the official Gingerbread House Sunday, when we rejoice with our friends, thankful always for their continued support, love, humor, and grace. 

The line to one of my favorite psalms cycled through my mind all day:

This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice!

I hope you continue to rejoice with your family and friends as this wonderful Season unfolds!

Today's blog post title from Bow Wow Wow's I Want Candy. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The small people's level of excitement is off the proverbial chart. Continuing with our desire to slow down a bit and enjoy these days together, we used the first Sunday of Advent to find the perfect tree.  We loaded the van with snacks, water bottles, the people and Classic Rock's Christmas playlist and headed across the bridge to the Zuni Tree and Alpaca Farm.  We started by simply running through the fields, as Irish Jig exemplifies below:

Then we tried out our yoga poses: 

Then somebody got "too heavy for my feet!":

Then I played the I'm-older-and-can-tell-you-what-to-do-card.  I love having a strong teenager:

I should mention that in here somewhere, Mr. Neoclassic sawed

through the trunk of our chosen tree.

Then he tethered it to the roof of the van.  That's when we realized exactly how large the tree is.  It's not overly tall - just about seven feet - but it's almost 10 feet in diameter.  Ooops!  It looked much smaller when I declared it "the ONE".  We drove carefully and slowly home, hoping the tree wouldn't roll off the roof in the wind.

Then this majestic beauty was erected in just the right spot to allow for the train track to clear the base.  Zydeco is our chief train engineer since he's the only one who understands how to make the transformer talk to the track.  Probably because he sticks to my father's side whenever my parents are in town!

The girls, especially, check the tree each morning for newly added gifts.  Most are for friends, but they are checking for their names.  The boys are more surreptitious in their snooping, but I know they, too, are checking.  They just don't know that I've stashed their gifts elsewhere until Christmas - hee hee.

We are also gathering in the evenings to celebrate another day closer to His birth.  Classic Rock plays O Come, O Come Emmanuel for us on the piano as we spend time in quiet contemplation.  I knew those years of lessons would pay off!  We also gather at our Advent countdown.  I hope to share that with you soon (spoiler alert).

I hope your family is also slowing down to enjoy the season, the preparations, each other, and the magic.