Seven Quick Takes

1 - Phil's back on the show and all is well with the world. The funny thing about that whole hullabaloo is that the night before Facebook exploded with beards-of-support my daughter was donning her own facial hair.

Her school Christmas concert had the theme "Faith, Family, and Facial Hair," which is a bit of an inside joke from the first all school Mass following the tornado that went through town in November. Some of the older kids dressed like the men from Duck Dynasty and sang "Hairy Christmas and a Happy Happy Happy New Year" and at the end of the concert all the kids k-8 put their mustaches (or beards) on and sang an homage to our pastor, who himself has a 'stache.

The whole evening was super sweet. It was so great to be at a school program with real Christmas carols, talking about Jesus (along with Santa), and prayer. I think the evening was also really good for the community, since so many of our school families have lost their homes.

2 - Speaking of L's school: I helped with her class Christmas party. I was in charge of the craft. We made pretty candle holders with tissue paper, glue, and little nativities that I stamped and then cut out until my hand cramped. I had a whole spiel planned to talk about how Christ is the Light of the world, how He shines in us, how when we look at the candle we can think of how He is the Light that shines on the people in darkness. Buuuuut that spiel was never given and I guess we can just hope they got it. 

3 - I wasn't sure how to spell the word "spiel", which can also be spelled "schpeel." So of course I googled it and learned that the word is a Scottish term for game and word in the Yiddish prison culture. Who knew?

4 - Getting ready for Christmas we had a snow day and a cookie baking day. 

The snow was a hit, even if that carrot and hat never made it on a snowman's head.

 My nut, egg, and dairy free cookies were not, even if they look super pretty.

5 - The week leading up to Christmas was crazy. On Tuesday Ben ate fudge with nuts, which landed us in the E.R. On Wednesday, one week before Christmas, I finally had money to do my gift shopping. Thursday JF was sick. Friday night Ben woke us up by vomiting on Travis. Saturday Travis was in bed for the day and I discovered Resa was sick when she threw up all over JP, poor baby. Sunday it was my turn and Monday was L's. Fortunately by Christmas Eve everyone was well enough to go to my mom's. 

I know some people have been really sick but ours was just a 12 hour bug that hopped from one person to the next. It wasn't fun, but I know others who have had it a lot worse. 

6 - Here's the family in our Christmas best, posing after Mass. JFs is holding the gift that our pastor gave every member of our parish. Literally every person who comes to Mass on Christmas Vigil or Christmas Day receives a gift. In the past he has given the Bible, the Catechism, a book of prayers, a book on Mary, Three to Get Married, and this year he gave everyone Rome Sweet Home and a CD from Lighthouse Media. Isn't that awesome?!

And here's a little picture of one of my gifts. My mother in law pre-ordered me a copy of Jennifer Fulwiler's Something Other Than God.

7 - Kendra was really super sweet and included me in her Thank You notes 7QT. I cannot believe that Kendra has only been on the blog scene for a year. (A year!) Her fondness for zombies, her excellent taste in pop music, her generosity, and despite her dislike for SLP - she has become one of my favorite bloggers and I'm glad to have her as a friend.

HOWEVER! Kendra, you really should have included some music to read by in your 7QT. May I suggest, muchas gracias a Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, official music for writing Thank You notes.

If you haven't read her post yet I encourage you to first click on the music link and then click on over to Kendra's, which you should do because she's doing a baby blanket and a copy of her new book give-away. JP and I will tell you that she makes the best baby blankets!


Thanks, Jennifer, for hosting! I hope you fell better soon!