Monday Musings--November 1st, 2010--The Feast of All Saints

Right now...6:00 and dark.  Una is out doing her morning chores.  The house is quiet.

This weekend...was pretty exhausting.  I had been planning the little Halloween party I do for the kids every year, since we don't have a neighborhood and I don't want to get into driving somewhere for the kids to go Trick-or-Treating, and suddenly I have sick kids on my hands, just in time for the weekend.  Not super sick, but sick enough that I knew my nephews would not be coming to take part, which was a bummer for the kids and for me, since I put a little extra effort in thinking they would be coming.

Having kids feeling pukey and listless made me think of what one of the Fathers of Mercy recently said in a homily about Christians being tested more vigorously just before great feasts and solemnities.  Saturday was a day full of minor disasters, thankfully none of them involving trips to the ER or major appliances dying.  And Bret did bring home Yum Yum, our new pig.  A very good trade for the five worthless (to us) roosters we got rid of last week.

Yum-Yum II, the new gilt

Anyway, everyone rebounded enough by Sunday morning that we were all able to get to Mass (thank you, Lord!).  After lunch and some rest--I couldn't nap, but was so tired I dozed lightly for nearly an hour--we strung up our bats, the kids got into their costumes, and I put out the punch (I used this method for putting a frozen hand into the punch and the effect was ghastly!) and cupcakes.  Then we played a few rounds of the ever-popular Halloween Bingo, printed out a few weeks ago.  Then we played "Pin the Head on the Headless Horseman" which I made last year.  I put a sheet of mylar over it so that the tape on the back of the heads peels off easily and it can be reused for years to come.  Then I made all the kids go out to play while I hid the clues for the treasure hunt, the highlight of the party.  I hand them the first clue, and they have to follow about a dozen or so until they are finally led to the "treasure"--bags of candy, naturally.  An example of one of the clues:

Black as night, and cold as stone,

On me you write words white as bone.

This would lead them to the schoolroom blackboard, behind which they would find the next clue.  I always place the clues so that the kids have to run back and forth through the house.  It's more fun that way.  So, they find the stash and then go and watch a movie.  With the VCR broken, all the Scooby Doo movies were out, so I let them watch something on the computer instead.  Where we live, streaming video isn't so good, and there is a lot of time spent waiting for things to reload.  Not ideal, but the kids used the breaks to eat more candy.  And that was it.  I had a bit more planned which we didn't get around to.

Some plans for the week...I need to pay some bills and fill in my big dry-erase calender for November; I have to order some more Christmas things and a thing or two for Gabriel's birthday, which is at the end of the month.  I need to help Una work a bit on her Christmas gifts for her brothers. I have a bunch of bananas to turn into banana bread; finish the ATC cards for the exchange.  And I need to make dental appointments for the kids and go to a doctor's appointment myself on Friday, which is also the day Bret has to pick up our apples ordered from the food co-op--three bushels of Fujis!

If I find some time for myself, I want to...work on some handmade Christmas gifts myself.  I have such a long list of things to knit, craft and sew that I really need to take a realistic look at what I think I can accomplish between now and Christmas. And I need to start making my baking list for the holidays...

Special prayer intentions for the week... My friend Marilyn sent me this prayer for the elections in an email:

O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord,
Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.

We thank you for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to you.

We thank you for your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged
And recognized as higher than any human law.

We thank you for the opportunity that this election
year puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation,
Their response to you requires that they be politically active.

Awaken your people to know that they are
not called to be a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world.

Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth.

Awaken your people to a commitment to justice
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin,
And not one moment later.

Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of your kingdom.

May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Something that makes me smile...

My gang.  Gabe's scarecrow didn't get done, so he opted for "a motorcyle guy", and Batman won out over St. George for Adrian.

If you care to join in here, just grab the header image for your post and link back here.  Have a wonderful feast-day and a great week.