St. Nicholas Day

St. Nicholas showed up this year with his usual treats of slippers, chocolate coins, and saint books.  He also brought initial ornaments for the kids and nutcracker toys for Beth, Luke, and Jack.  Poor Caeli didn't get any slippers- guess St. Nick couldn't find any for a baby!

St. Cuthbert.  Oh yes I did.

 

 

It was one of those perfect lazy mornings where everyone was sort of in their own world, doing their own thing for awhile after receiving their gifts.  I made cinnamon rolls and Beth made eggs, the boys played with their nutcrackers, and Ryan and Caeli played in the front room.  We enjoyed a feast in honor of St. Nicholas before we left to go pick our our Christmas tree!

 
We have a tradition of cutting down our own tree, but this year I convinced Ryan to purchase a pre-cut Frasier Fir.  We agree it's the most beautiful Christmas tree we've had, but for old time's sake  he wanted a picture of them pretending to cut down our chosen tree. ;-)

 

We dropped our tree off at home, ate a quick lunch, then drove in the opposite direction to meet St. Nick.  

We walked around the little shops for a bit, I picked up a Christmas present for Ryan (a coffee mug with a picture of a Boxer on it) and we went home to decorate the tree with lights.  I love the idea of not adding the lights until the feast of St. Lucia but... I just can't wait that long!  We added the ornaments on Gaudete Sunday!

I am an innkeeper

I'm done Christmas gift shopping, and some are even wrapped and safely hidden from peeking eyes.  My mind has turned from find "the perfect gift" for everyone to other items on my to-do list!  It's a great relief to be done early- I hope to do this every year!

I know the relief is probably temporary, because soon it will be about the food, cleaning, and rushing to-and-fro.  God has called me to be a responsible steward of my time, and so I plan.  I make my lists of groceries and rooms to clean and books to read, but I know to leave room for God's plans.  My heart is full of joy, anticipating the upcoming events and celebrations of hosting friends and family and having a bustling, full house.

"Christmas is a time to be Christ to one another. It is permission in a largely secular society to witness to the wonders of the Lord. In reality, the only thing perfect about Christmas is the Christ Child who longs to find shelter in our hearts.

I am not Martha Stewart. I am an innkeeper. I am preparing a place in my home and in my soul for the Savior of the World. I need to be so grounded in prayer that Christ’s peace overflows from me to those in my home. Let the visitors come. Let them come whenever they want and stay as long as they want. I will make the house warm and the food filling, but above all, I will make certain that the Holy Infant is here. He will be the reason for our celebration."  -Elizabeth Foss (please, go read her entire blog.  All of it.)

I am an innkeeper.  Since I read this phrase over a week ago, I can't get it out of my mind.  I relate so because we always host family members here during this time of year, and I spend so much time preparing for them.  I welcome everyone with open arms and hopefully a smile on my face.  But as diligently as I prepare my home, have I prepared my heart for the birth of Christ?

We give gifts and host celebrations and prepare our homes not only because we love our family and friends, but because we love God.   I hope that in our lovingly-prepared home, home-cooked meals, delicately-wrapped gifts, and even in the unavoidable chaos of excited children, others can see that we seek only to magnify His holy name!  For it is in Him, and only in Him that I find my peace- not in being "done" with gifts a little earlier this year.

I hope that everyone who enters our home this Advent and Christmas season is able to see Him here!

My View

My view.  Every day, everywhere I go.  The top of that beautiful hairy little head, hair with a reddish tint and the slightest hint of body that suggests to me there may one day be curl.  My fingers are crossed.  She follows me from room to room, that is, if I'm not carrying her already.  You see, she wants to be with me.  Always.  And I am so blessed to have her here with me, safe and healthy and developing as a little almost-11-month old should.  But I'm remembering those days of getting very little housework and cooking done because of baby.  Four kids in, I'm okay with that.  (That's what I keep telling myself...I'm okay with that.)

But some days, positive thinking doesn't make it any easier.  When her cute little arms (they look like soft miniature adult arms) go up in the air over her head and she gives me that little pouty face that she just knows I can't resist... Well, the house can get picked up later.  The other kids will eat dinner... Eventually.  For now, my baby needs me.

Renaissance Festival

The local Renaissance Festival hosts "school days" during the week during which they tame down the bawdy acts and make the whole thing a little more kid-friendly.  We heard it was a fun family activity, so Ryan took a day off and we all went together!

One rainy, cold day while we were dating, Ryan and I went together.  I don't remember why we decided to go, but it was our first time and we were poor college students, so I remember not having a lot of fun!  Upon walking in, a man with an accent called out to Ryan (who was wearing a visor), "Did you pay full price for that half cap?!"  Ryan still says that anytime I put on a visor.  That's my biggest memory from that day, probably 11 or 12 years ago!

I think it's fun that over a decade later, we went back with four children and a little money in our pocket this time.  I think we made up for not spending any before!  The first thing we all did when we walked in was all got our faces painted!

After that we walked around a bit while we made a plan.  We knew we had to see the joust, and we wanted to hit up a few booths for demonstrations.  The first thing we saw was a blacksmith.  The kids were pretty interested in watching him make a tool for turning steaks on a grill.

Almost right after that was the joust.  We wanted to get there early enough to get a seat in the front. 

Jack chose to have a dolphin painted on his face!

Luke kept asking if they were really hurting each other.  As you can imagine, this was his favorite part of the day!

Luke was enamored with all of the knights he kept seeing.  Statues, men dressed as knights, swords and chainmaille in the shops.  He kept asking if everything was real.  We stopped to take lots of pictures.

In this shop, the man demonstrated how sharp his sword was- he said it could cut a person in half! (I don't think the kids picked up on that delightful tidbit.)  Yet it was very light-weight- he let Luke "hold" it!

They started begging to play games so we found some bows and arrows to shoot.  The kids had practiced with the bows and arrows that PawPaw had made for them over the summer, so they looked like professionals in my opinion.

The second show we saw was a man who showcased his skills with a whip, then because that wasn't impressive enough he also lit it on fire!  We didn't get an up-front seat for this act... Which, halfway into the show, I realized I was completely okay with that!

At this point we stopped to have lunch.  We had packed a lunch and left it in the car, so Ryan went to grab it while the rest of us slowly meandered to a table.  Everyone was getting pretty tired but we hadn't accomplished nearly everything yet!  But after lunch it started to rain!  Luckily we had our umbrella and stood in a covered area for about 15 minutes until it passed.  While it got everything muddy, I think a lot of people left at this time because the place seemed to clear out after the rain.  We found some more games for the kids, shopped around for cheap souvenirs, then left for home around 3:00.

Everyone really enjoyed themselves!  I am sure we'll go back next year.  Ryan really wants to dress up, too, so if you see any Robin Hood men's costumes on sale, let me know! 

7 Quick Takes... Thoughts about Thinking

---1---
Being a friend is complicated.  Sometimes I get stuck in situations with certain people where I just fumble on my words.  I gush about myself or endure awkward silences when I'm secretly desperately trying to think of a new conversation topic.  It's always the same people too- they must think I'm an idiot!  I get myself worked up and then the words just don't come, or I wind up saying something totally dumb, or blabbing on about myself when I sincerely want to hear about them.  I hate that feeling!

---2---
I don't know why I let things bother me so much.  Like today I was on a country road and came up behind an older man in a truck going 50 mph in a 70.  He slowed down- I thought he was going to turn right- so I slowed down behind him.  He started waving for me to go around him but there was oncoming traffic and I didn't feel comfortable doing it since I would have had to cross over into the other lane.  He got really mad at me!  He had his window down, yelling Lord only knows what at me, waving his hands frantically.  I'm only happy he didn't make a specific one-fingered gesture but he was clearly ticked off at me and I can only imagine what he was thinking.  I was so confused!  He was doing something nice for me, but then got mad at me?  I let this incident eat at me off and on all afternoon.  I prayed for him after it happened but why did I dwell on it?

---3---
I guess I'm a thinker.  I do think about things for a long time, and I have to read as much information as I can before I make a decision.  I replay moments in my head over and over again, hoping I'll do better next time.  We've been thinking about something big over the past couple of months and it's taken some time for pieces to fall into place, but I've needed to gather all the facts.  This is difficult because sometimes you just can't gather everything; sometimes the facts don't exist.  Sometimes you have to pray and just trust God, and trust yourself to make the right decision even when some of the puzzle pieces are still missing.  But as I tell my clients- we make educated decisions with the information we have in this moment so we have no "what ifs" later.  We made part of our decision and although it's not originally what we'd wanted, we did gather as much information as we could and put the rest in God's hands. 

---4---
The good news about making a big decision is we've experienced a bit of relief knowing that it's officially Not An Option anymore.  Crossed it off the list.  That's always nice, don't you think?

---5---
Well, I guess we've made two decisions recently!  We also made a decision to say "yes" to a new church home.  We have become members of a parish that is right for our family. There are so many aspects of the parish and the liturgy that I just love.  We can truly say "yes" to God in so many new ways here.

It reminds me of the way we educate our children.  We don't buy literature that has been abridged or brought down to their level; we give them something of beauty and something to strive to understand, something for which to reach. Our faith life should be no different!   Here, we are all reaching, yet we are all nourished.

---6---

I'd have to say that I have a decent understanding of my role as mother, wife, and daughter of the King.  But it's hard for me to reach deeper sometimes because... I am a mother and wife! I've read the books- I know it's about prioritizing and coming outside of myself and self-donative love... And I have a missionary spirit. I am constantly being reminded that the best (and seemingly only) thing I should do right now is to love and raise my children.  I do agree!  Whole-heartedly!  Still, sometimes I struggle with the feeling that I should be doing more for God's kingdom.

---7---

Ahhhhh... God's kingdom.  Cuddling with this sweet, cuddly, ball of love.  The kingdom of God truly belongs to such as these, and I'm convinced she was given to me as a gift to help me heal from a lot of past hurts.  But have I mentioned she'd 10 months old?  It's starting to get a little complicated during the days!  She wants me so much, and the others want me so much too.  Then there's school work and chores and cooking to be done... Imagine my surprise when I went looking for this post for the first time since Caeli was born.  Gosh I knew exactly what I'd be thinking right now!  Time to take my own advice!