Joseph's Journal--December

He's cruising on furniture, putting little fingers under the door to the lego closet in hopes of finding something good to eat....and still not sleeping through the night!

Christmas Day

Midnight Mass

For weeks Anthony has been practicing the responsorial psalm for the Christmas Vigil Mass, only to find out a week ago that he was supposed to have learned the one for Midnight Mass. He cheerfully accepted this news--and the challenge--and worked very hard on his recorder all week to learn the tune of the new psalm. At Mass he was given a special seat with the musicians and played beautifully according to Bill.

Christmas Eve--Decorating the Tree

Doing more by 9 am...

Well, by 9 am tomorrow anyway.








Here is my Christmas Eve to do list:

• Exercise
• make pie with Maria
• make sweet potatoes for tomorrow
• make dough for rolls with Thomas
• make tortilla dough with ???
• make cranberry sauce with Anthony
• wash and iron church clothes
• move the craft table into the nook to act as a sideboard for Christmas dinner
• call the UPS store to deal with a goof they made
• cut the kids' nails (and the cat's too if I can catch him)
• do laundry with the kids
• buy a space heater
• give C, J, and JD a haircut
• thaw the turkey
• make dinner!
• decorate the house with the kids
• decorate the tree with Marc, Bill and the kids
• play piano and sing along with Anthony while he practices his recorder for Midnight Mass
• copy picture files from desktop which I thought had crashed yesterday
• make stuffing
• sew myself a Christmas skirt?
• shower

My spiritual preparations have been more simple:

• You can't sing Psalm 95 --the psalm for Midnight Mass--repeatedly without reflecting on the words
• Listen to Cat Chat (Sing along: Lord, I want to prepare my heart, so that I can fix my eyes on You!)
• Offer the little frustrations of the day for my wonderful friends and family

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Feel My Pain

Anyone who has heard me moan about what bad spellers my kids are, consider this conversation:

Thomas: Mom, can I play EWTN kids on the computer?

Me (opening the browser for him): I guess so.

Thomas: I don't know how to spell "EWTN."

Christmas Tree Hunt

I admit, I find the Christmas tree farm fascinating.










How cool is it that there is a special measuring stick for Christmas trees?
Here, Anthony and Cecilia determine the tree is 6ft. It was 5 after we cut it.













We got to try out a two man saw.
Thomas, Anthony, Bill and Charles worked together to cut the tree down.













I always thought trees would be heavy, but Bill and Anthony could easily carry it back to the stand.














More specialized equipment!
Maria and James watched as the worker shook the dry needles from the tree using one machine, and then as she pulled it through the netter, Thomas asked why she didn't do it backwards (think of trying to deliver a breech baby and you'll know why).




Everyone, including Joseph, enjoyed the marshmellows.

Christmas Piano Recital--Sat a.m.

Anthony started the morning with "Carol of the Bells." He played it beautifully as he always does, and it was one of the best performances of the day. He also played "Good King Wenceslas" and "Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow." Thomas followed with "O, Come All Ye Faithful" and "Joy to the World" which starts with some lovely sixteenth note runs that always make me hold my breath in anticipation. Then the boys played "Hey Ho, Nobody Home" in a trio with Maria. Despite the challenges playing in a round (some rehearsals were absolute train wrecks), they did an excellent job. Maria took a breather and later played "Silent Night" very sweetly. I know she is more comfortable playing at home than in front of a large group so I was very proud of her for performing with such poise.

Big Families

I've shared before some of the comments Bill and I have gotten about the kids. Today I'm shamelessly linking to my friend Michelle's blog since she knows how to imbed movies and I don't. If you are from a big family, know a big family, or parent a big family, I think you'll enjoy this version of the "12 Days of Christmas." I got a big laugh.

Editing to add this article that Bill just sent me: Mother of 13 Gives New Meaning to 'Army Strong'. Do you think they're all hers?

Preparing for Christmas

There has been a lot of running around lately, but I don't think we've accomplished all that much. The kids put out my clog for St. Nicholas on the eve of his feast (Dec. 6), and the next morning Charles was the one to find the gifts. St. Nicholas knows that our kids are all about the Christ in Christmas, so he brought a Scriptural Rosary book, a gold dollar for each child to put in the Jesus stocking, and some chocolate coins with his name on them.

This year we decided that the money that the kids earn for their good works throughout Advent would be put in the Jesus stocking (the place we put our family's gift to Jesus) to be donated to a needy family. Each year the Mapson family (Bill's mom's side) donates money as a group, and one family member is responsible for finding a family in need. I love this tradition, and Bill and I were excited to get the kids involved too. We set a goal of $60 for them, and good works are worth $.50 each. There is gift matching for the kids who donate allowance, so with their enthusiasm, they had made their goal in about 3 days. Even Joseph got in on the action.

Our kids and another family had an art class planned which worked in cookie decoration as a project, but the other family got sick. Then I looked around and realized that we have all been fighting a stomach something for a week or so, and this morning there was a turning point...mine seems to be taking a turn for the worse. There was cookie decorating last night with no supervision or picture taking, and this morning James dumped some leftover sprinkles on his yogurt when I wasn't looking.

This weekend there is more running: the older kids have a recital, we'll go out to cut a tree, God willing, and maybe someone will even finish the Christmas shopping and shipping...by the way Catherine, your gift is very cute, but it will be late.

Happy Birthday to Marc!

My brother Marc came for a visit last weekend, and we had a birthday party for him since he had just celebrated a big birthday.

We had never had a pinata, so the kids were very excited and helpful. Anthony stuffed it with candy and confetti, and Thomas was the one who finally broke it open even after being disoriented by "dizzy bat". Marc never got a turn to take a swing, which he was fine with, but everyone else did.

Afterward everyone traded candy before we had a taquito dinner with all the "trimmings." ;)

Marc asked me to make Mom's chocolate bundt cake with chocolate glaze, and after a little huffing,




and puffing,



he did get down to business and blow out all of his candles.

HAPPY 40th, MARC!