I hope everyone is blessed with a wonderful day with family. And for those who are not able to be close to home, I want you all to know that I offered up my Christmas Mass for those who feel lonely or unloved....that you may have a peace within you that is greater than anyone on this earth can fill. May this Christmas be one of joy and new-found cheer that can only come from the best Christmas present EVER....Jesus Christ...Our Lord and Savior!!!
Today marks the first day of Christmas...one of our favorite of Christmas songs because of its deeper meaning behind the seemingly frivolous gift giving..."On the FIRST day of Christmas my true love gave to me...a partridge in a pear tree!" Today Jesus comes to us as a gift from Heaven...He is represented in this song as the partridge and we are His true love! He loves so much that he would come down to earth to be born in a manger and later die for us to save us from our sins....this is the true message of Christmas! The partridge is used as the symbol for Jesus because the partridge is known to be a "valiant bird willing to die for its young," along with the pear tree that represents the cross.
Once again, I will post what our plans are for the day and will try to update if there are any changes and add pictures in the evening.
We will be up with the Radiant Dawn, but not to open presents. That's right...no gifts today...Jesus is the only gift we need to make our day special. We have already placed our extra nativity scenes out, including one under our Christmas tree. We have not added the baby Jesus to the manger because we have hid them around the house. Each child must find a baby Jesus to add to the nativity scene. We have three nativities that are played with throughout the Christmas season. We also have several nicer ones that are placed throughout the living area downstairs.
UPDATE: They say they noticed the new angel right away, but I did not hear a single thing about it until late into the afternoon. They did like the addition and acted out many of the angel stories that we had read over the last few weeks. So much fun to watch them!
We will then come home and make our Christmas feast. A few years back we decided to try something fun and choose a different culture to learn about and create a meal based on what would be eaten in that country for Christmas. We have had many enjoyable meals in this fashion. One of the favorites is a seven course meal. So, the boys and I planned and will do this again this year.
I did convince them to pick simple courses (I hope) that are not too time consuming. I am hoping to work on the courses while the turkey is roasting in the oven. Here is what we have planned:
- Appetizers: Candied Jalapeno Cream Cheese with crackers and Sausage Balls
- Soup Course: Fully Loaded Potato Soup
- Fish Course: Smoked Salmon and Shrimp Platter
- Sorbet (palate cleanser)
- Main Course (Entree): Turkey (along with Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus Spirals, Butternut Squash and Rolls)
- Cheese Course: Various Cheese and Olive Platter
- Dessert: Apple and Peach Pie
I am hoping we can go for a Christmas walk after our meal. This will depend on two things...the time and the weather! It looks like a serious storm will be coming through tomorrow. We will see what happens. We also have some other activities so I will let you know how it all goes tomorrow.
UPDATE: Well...we had an eventful day....We did enjoy our visit with the nuns. I can not tell you how peaceful this visit is for our family. The nuns especially enjoyed the newest member of the family and Zaira liked them too! You never know...maybe a nun in the making! We did hear an awesome song song on the way to Mass this morning....it should be our theme song during this season! It is called "This is Christmas" by Kutless. It was like we knew the lyrics before we heard it....I like songs like that!
Then we came home and began our very full meal...I have to tell you...we made to the 5th course and we were FULL...and that was after reducing the appetizers and combining that course with our fish course! I think that this idea is just ludicrous...who would EVER need to eat that much food! SO...we decided we would carry over the last two parts of the meal until tomorrow....we will have a modified cheese course at lunch and dessert will be like an afternoon tea. That does not even include all the leftovers which we will have for dinner or freeze in quick soup packets.
Also, after many attempts at her first meal of solid foods, I finally gave in and gave her some mashed up turkey, potatoes and green beans. I had hoped Michael would be the first one to feed her but she just could not wait another 3 weeks. I had tried to appease her with small tastes here and there but it was just not satisfying her. SO...I really thought she would eat what was given to her...but she did not like it! LOL! She gave me a funny look...smacked her lips and then decided she had enough. You just never know with babies!
The big change in our plans for the day were the call to the sheriff's department. I know...sounds crazy but we actually had someone on our property using the bank of our pond as a berm! The shots just seemed to get closer and closer to the house...I was trying to decide what to do when my neighbor called to tell me that they were shooting into the pond and I should call. What fun! The sheriff did come and he thought it was our neighbor...I am not sure but after he spoke to them the shooting stopped.
Between the shooting and the storms...we never got our Christmas day walk. Maybe we will find another time to go around and enjoy a good tromp through the woods.
I would just like to say that I am proud of boys...they love this holiday...when the wind was blowing hard gusts...Brendan would call out "Jesus is coming!" It became the shout out for the day...if the outside doors did not get closed tight and the wind blew it open..."Jesus is coming!" and we would sing "Happy Birthday!" The best part...no gift wrapping frenzy that ended in a let down. We were exhausted from the day that was filled with great times and love. The best gift that can be given...all around!
I missed Michael's call this morning, but we did get to chat on-line. I spoke to Amanda and she is doing well, and she will be home to celebrate next week. I also got to talk to most of my siblings today. It was a nice beginning to the Christmas season.
Happy Birthday, Jesus!!
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