St. Andrew Novena

St. Andrew Novena

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
in which the son of God was born
of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight,
in Bethlehem,
in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, O my God!
To hear my prayer and grant my desires,
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and of His blessed Mother.
Amen.

It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew (30th November) until Christmas will obtain what is asked.

Imprimatur: Michael Augustine, Archbishop of New York
February 6, 1897

Loveliness of Advent Fair

It's a lovely time of year in our homes! Jenn has captured so many lovely ideas in her Living Lives of Loveliness Advent Fair. Brew a pot of peppermint tea(Nicholas likes his with eggnog instead of cream and he's our resident advent expert) and pay Jenn a nice long visit.

Stockings Hung with Care

It was an almost forgotten advent tradition. The phone call to Land's End. I used to be a major catalog shopper, back before I was a major internet shopper. One year, I called Land's End and ordered three monogrammed stockings. Two years later, new baby at my breast, I called again. And then again. And again, every two years, until there were seven. Last year, I hung those stockings and thought with a twinge of sadness how perfectly they fit in the spot we'd chosen--no room for another. A month later, I was pregnant! So, this year, I ordered a stocking for Karoline. But I ordered the one with the snowmen and not the angel. The girls learned of this mistake and protested loudly. Apparently, the family tradition is that the girls all have stockings with angels. I didn't know that two stockings made a tradition. Seemed like a nice tradition, though. So, it turned out that I had to make a phone call after all. And the very kind lady on the phone said, "A baby at Christmas! How lovely!" I kid you not--after a year of blogging loveliness permeating this pregnancy, she said "lovely." Lovely. And the whole conversation reminded me of this column, written in 1999. It was the weekend following Thanksgiving. My husband was traveling. I had nearly finished my Christmas shopping. And I had spent a couple of hours on the phone, bouncing back and forth between various members of my extended family; the first of several rounds of Christmas coordination calls. I was trying again to plan our Christmas celebrations, taking into account the visitation schedules of siblings and step-siblings. I was determined to have the perfect Christmas this year: everyone together to celebrate (except those who wouldn’t be civil to each other) and a revival of some fond traditions of childhood Christmases (without stepping on the toes of people who have found new spiritualities). In my mind, all these criteria could be met. This could be perfect. I hung up after round one, my head and neck tense, my soul weary. It didn’t feel remotely like Christmas and I had serious doubts that it would this year. I had one more call to make before I would call it a day. I needed to order a stocking for Stephen’s first Christmas. All my children have monogrammed needlepoint stockings and he would too. I called the catalog company and placed my order. "And I want to have it monogrammed," I said. "What should it say?" inquired the calm voice on the other end. "Stephen," I replied, tears springing unexpectedly to my eyes. "A baby at Christmas," she said. "That’s what it’s all about isn’t it?" In this space over the course of this year, I have reflected often upon how Stephen has shown me that God is bigger. He is bigger than any plan I have and He is bigger than worry or anxiety. I am a planner and God has shown me this year that only His plans are the perfect ones. Thoughts of Stephen at Christmas brought thoughts of another Christmas baby. I am quite sure that Christ’s birth wasn’t exactly the perfect Christmas Mary planned. I cannot even imagine a donkey ride nine months pregnant, in the throes of early labor. Caves full of animals stink. Hay makes me sneeze; I wonder if at least one person gathered on that night wasn’t wheezing. And in the tired, hazy, sweet hours after childbirth, when most women want to rest and just gaze at the fruit of their labor, the holiest woman of all was visited by smelly, dirty strange men and their sheep! The Blessed Mother was truly the ultimate gracious hostess. Exactly who is coming for Christmas? The Son of God. I think that I am the perfect hostess called to juggle the needs and wants of competing interests. I think I have to find the perfect gift for everyone on my list and wrap it in the perfect paper. I think we need to stick to the traditional twelve course Italian feast or I will disappoint my late grandmother. (Truth be told, my grandmother would have been so thrilled with all my children, she wouldn’t have cared about food at all.) I think I have to have a perfectly decorated house that smells of Christmas, despite my asthmatic children. Advent isn’t supposed to be a marathon of materialism and merrymaking. Christmas isn’t also known as "the feast of cooking, cleaning, and shopping." Christmas is a time to be Christ to one another. It is permission in a largely secular society to witness to the wonders of the Lord. In reality, the only thing perfect about Christmas is the Christ Child who longs to find shelter in our hearts. I am not Martha Stewart. I am an innkeeper. I am preparing a place in my home and in my soul for the Savior of the World. I need to be so grounded in prayer that Christ’s peace overflows from me to those in my home. Let the visitors come. Let them come whenever they want and stay as long as they want. I will make the house warm and the food filling, but above all, I will make certain that the Holy Infant is here. He will be the reason for our celebration. If He can cause the lion to lie down with the lamb, He can handle Christmas at my house. Despite all the other things on my list, I must make time for earnest, fervent prayer, because I know that I can’t do this under my own strength. I must invite the Baby. The only perfection here this year will be the Baby. Because a Baby at Christmas is what it’s all about.

What the ESPN guy does on his day off

It's ESPN Monopoly! Happy Birthday, Mike!

Thankful Thursday

It's been a pretty amazing year and God has smiled on me abundantly.

1. I am so thankful for my husband, who works hard for our family.  I'm thankful for his tenderness, for his joyful openness to an abundance of children, for his wisdom.

2. I am so very, very grateful for Karoline Rose. There were some dark days and desperate prayers before she became a part of our lives.  With her, I see so beautifully the mercy of God and goodness of His plan. Every day, every moment of her life has been filled with grace.

3. And then there are the other seven!  My children are a joy to me and I am so thankful that I get to spend my days (and nights) in such wonderful company. I love living and learning with them.

4. Words can't really capture how grateful I am to Tim and Janette Smith, who work cheerfully, tirelessly, and generously to make the Real Learning forums a place of genuine community for me and hundreds of other families around the world. These are truly wonderful people and I ask all of you to say a prayer thanks and ask God to bless them this year.  And, of course, I'm thinkful for all the other people who share so generously and make the forums such a beautiful place.

5. I'm grateful for Catholic Heritage Curriculum, Five In a Row, Catholic Mosaic, and the dear friends who helped me put together this booklist. Thanks to all of them, and the wonderful world of Catholic homeschool blogging, our family's life is full of good things.

6. I am grateful for Little House authors, both those of yesteryear and those of recent history.  My life has been touched and shaped and changed by Laura and Lissa.  And I'm grateful that, for me, even when the cover of the book is closed, I have a forever friend. This is a two-fer.  It was Lissa who persuaded me to blog.  And it was Lissa who launched this blog when I was way too sick to write, never mind begin a new pubishing endeavor. And she was so right about all the good this blog and the blogging community would be for me.

7.  I am grateful for ESPN and especially for Monday Night Football.  (more on that later.) For now, let's just say this job has perks--this is a 3+ pound football from Jacksonville.  Karen and Lissa, it's chocolate! Never again will I say my husband doesn't bring me chocolate.

8. I am grateful for the Communion of Saints.  When people ask the inevitable "How do you do it?" question, this is the answer.  I am particularly thankful to St. Therese, St. Anthony, the Blessed Mother and (indulge me here on the canonization thing) John Paul II.  They worked together in my life recently to bring about some pretty amazing miracles.

9. I am grateful to all the people who have been so kind to me and my family throughout my pregnancy and postpartum.  We have received wonderful meals, beautiful gifts, and bouquet upon bouquet of heartfelt prayers. I am still overwhelmed when I think about how blessed I am to share friendships with such good people.

10. I'm grateful to know what it is to be truly healthy and well, in body and spirit. And this Thanksgiving, I'm particularly thankful that my mother knows the feeling, too.