Monday Musings--November 29th, 2010

Right now...5:35 a.m.  I'm done with my prayers and reading, and the house is cold and quiet.  I don't usually turn up the heat until the first of the kids awakens.

Nights haven't been good around here.  I tend to get to bed too late (after 10, which is late if you set your alarm for 4:45 a.m.), Gemma wakes up screaming at least once every night, Dominic always comes into our room to sleep on the floor at some point (last night he was in pain--apparently a molar is coming in) and Adrian sometimes wakes up when Gemma does and instead of coming into our room, he just lies on his top bunk crying, "I can't sleep because of Gemma!"  Some nights Bret and I are out of bed 3 or 4 times...oh well, it won't last forever.  There will be rest enough in the next world, right?

This weekend...was even more hectic than usual!  Thanksgiving was here at our house, and so that meant the typical cooking and cleaning to be done in preparation.  We tend not to go overboard with the food, as it is not meant to be a celebration of gluttony, but there is variety and abundance.  It was a nice time, and the weather, which threatened to be cold and stormy, held out and instead was only cool, cloudy and windy, but not so much that the kids couldn't go out.  In the evening we watched Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (with Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara) from Netflix.  It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Friday was awful, but only because I spent nearly the entire day online doing Christmas shopping and looking at cameras to replace my limping Fuji FinePix S7000.  Living in a rural area, I do almost all my gift shopping online, and I really work at getting the best deal I can.  Still, sitting there all day until I was nearly cross-eyed was absolute torture, and it put me into a fairly sour mood.  My mother-in-law left for the airport after having been here for 3 weeks, and I was actually sorry to see her go.  She is easy-going and the kids never upset or faze her, and I couldn't believe how quickly the three weeks passed.  Gemma really loved her, and I think the feeling was mutual.  It is hard to think that it may be a couple of years before she is able to come again, as Hawaii is quite a long distance.

On Saturday we went to a wedding.  It was wonderful, a real family affair, with many large, Catholic families and babies in attendance.  It is these celebrations within our community--in our case, our church--the baptisms and First Holy Communions, the weddings and funerals, that bind us together.  We share in the great moments of one another's lives.  It was lovely to see a young bride and groom standing on the threshold of a life together.

Sunday we went to an early Mass so that we could have some time to prepare for Advent.  I had to dig out my ribbons and trimmings to decorate out Advent wreath, and I had to locate the Advent calender I purchased last year.  In the evening, we lit the first candle and played Christmas music in anticipation of our Lord's birth (thank You again, Lord, for letting the CD player recover from its near-death experience!) and ate delightful German cookies from Aldi.

Some plans for the week...oh dear, I have so many phone calls to make and the checkbook to catch up on.  We have school, but I don't know how much will get done this week with all the catching up I have to do.  Today I need to bake a cake and wrap gifts for Gabriel's 8th birthday tomorrow, on the feast of St. Andrew. He is such a sweet, easy-going boy, my only phlegmatic, the one who is so easily overlooked because he is so undemanding.  He deserves the best birthday ever.  I also have fabric washed, ironed and ready to cut into new Christmas stockings, a St. Lucia doll to finish and Christmas cards to make with the kids...

If I can find time for myself, I want to...work on a scarf I am making as a gift and cast on for a couple of other knit gifts.

Some prayer intentions for the week:  for April, who is due to have our Goddaughter any day now (she was due on Thanksgiving!); in thanksgiving for the graces received recently; for greater devotion and an increase in faith, hope and charity as we enter this new liturgical year; and for employment for Bret.  He does good work and he wants to work, and he is looking for work...there just isn't much out there right now.

Something that makes me smile:  The kids playing with a tarp on a windy Thanksgiving Day...

If you care to join in with your own Monday Musings, simply grab the header image and link back to your post in the comments.  And have a blessed week!