Twelve Days Post (Finally!) Updated!

First of all, a very happy New Year to one and all!

We toasted the new year with fizzy apple juice.  The kids love to clink glasses and say "Cheers!"--so when I said, "Let's have a toast!"  Taz  joyfully lept into the living room yelling, "Yes!  Let's do a 'Cheer'!"  We gleefully obliged with a "Hip-Hip-Hooray!" and cup-clinking all around.

After thus staying up way too late last night, most everyone enjoyed sleeping in, and a few minutes ago (10:45 at this initial writing) the last straggler woke up.  We are planning a quiet day at home, maybe some fun in the snow, and a Chief-and-Chef home cooked Prime Rib dinner ('tis the season for feasting!  And the Ordinary time between Christmas and Ash Wednesday is remarkably short this year...just a little over 4 weeks.)  Oh.  And the Ice Bowl.  We'll definitely be watching that!  (I am so regretting not getting the Chief tickets to this event for Christmas (not that I could have, they sold out pretty quickly)--he's been like a little kid on Christmas Eve all week talking about it, and listening to the excitement of the local sportscasters is actually making me a little weepy.  Poor Chief, he had to go and marry a non-hockey fan.  Mixed marriages can be so hard.)  :)

The Eighth Day of Christmas!

I finally finished all the luminaria for our front porch creche, and have added the photos to the original post.  They came out pretty nice I think (with the possible exception of Nine Ladies Dancing, which looks like '70s Liturgical Publication Meets Fruit of the Loom.  Oh, well!  It was the best I could do. :)

The children have been enjoying our little nightly outdoor ceremonies, placing each new light on the porch and replacing all the previous nights' candles.  (Oh--there's a point I missed.  I bought exactly twelve votive candles for this activity.  What we needed was 12 for the first one, 11 for the second...etc...which, of course equals...a lot more than 12.  We have a large backup supply of tea lights, happily, and will probably make it to the end without having to buy more.)  Anyway, Junie B. and Taz have taken to leaping in front of the display during the song--you know, "Eight[leap!] maids a-milking, Seven[leap!] swans a-swimming, Six[leap!] geese..."  It's actually pretty funny.

And the value of this as an educational activity has not been lost on Junie B.!  Last night, we went to the Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Mary at a beautiful old Gothic church, where a recent restoration took great care to preserve the beautiful symbols artistically presented throughout the church.  Just before Mass began, Junie B. turned to me excitedly and said, "The Gospel writers!  Look, Mom, a winged man, a winged lion, a winged ox and an eagle!"  (Since this is the church where we were married, I may be able to come up with a photo of the altar to show you, too!) The really cool thing is that, before this activity, the symbolism had been lost on both of us.  Now we can have fun looking for it in beautiful old churches, anywhere we go!

And a quick note on the laundry.  One of the kids seems to be coming down with a stomach bug, requiring an emergency use of the washing machine.  For the first time in months, it was possible to get into the laundry room without tripping over dirty clothes and wet towels, to get to an empty washing machine with  nothing stacked on top of it, to easily dispatch the present mess, and place the freshly cleaned items into an empty dryer and folding basket.  I'd say the new year is off to a good start! Hallelujah!

And I just noticed that this is my 100th post.  A day for milestones all around!  (If you're new here, please feel free to poke around the archives--I'd love your feedback!)

Continued Blessings of the Season to all.

Comments

[Wendy]

Happy 100th post. I love the name of your blog. Very clever.

[nina]

Happy 100th post! I didn't realize you had so many. I see you use categories for your posts. Might I suggest the Category cloud sidebar option (Typepad). It would be so lovely to be able to come back in the future click on Liturgical Year and see all that you have written on the subject.

I have one on the right sidebar on my blog.

[Meredith]

It's amazing, bravo!! Congrats on the 100th post, woohoo!

[Jane]

Wow!!! 100 posts...looking forward to reading the next 100.