yesterday and last night in pictures

bunuelos for breakfast

mexican wedding crescent cookies to share

handmade gifts for Veronica's Home

las posadas

a beautiful moon

trees and lights

watching my baby swing-dancing with girls

latin lady roses and the Virgen of Guadalupe

last night i took my oldest son to a Las Posadas celebration with his TUFF(Teens United for the Faith) group. we were doubly blessed as it was also the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

my dear friend and her husband, who are always so hospitable in opening their homes once a month to this bunch of teens, shared a story about these latin lady roses that i thought was important enough to pass on:

yesterday, while shopping for some roses for the little altar she set up for Guadalupe, she wasn't really finding what she wanted from the roses on display, wanting things to be just perfect for Our Lady, so she asked if they had any more in the back. the clerk told her she could come with her and peek in the crates they had, so she did and while looking at rose, after rose, she found these (and aren't they beautiful?) well, she said she'd take them. the clerk, not knowing what they were for, told her, "did you know these are called latin lady roses?" and my friend was astounded for much like Juan Diego, here she was, experiencing her own little moment with Our Lady and some roses, on a cold December day!

old carol

Know then dear brother,
in these

Christmas hours,

Sorrow, like snow,

will melt if He but smiles;

And if He clothe thy wintry path with flowers,

Amidst thy mirth think on His thorns a while.

little girl

little girl, you are so great because:

you tie ribbons around the necks of three very fat kitties

and sing them Christmas carols

you always have a skip in your step

you have the cutest feet you make tiny presents for your little brothers' St. Nicholas to "deliver"



and you'll run with me down long rocky paths just so that i can try and get the perfect shot of the setting sun.
thank you, LORD, for the way that having her adds a bit of pink and purple to an otherwise blue sea of laundry...............and for all the many different ways that she colors my world.

wordless wednesday

i have seen this post title around the web and hope no one minds that i am borrowing it!

today was all orange

i don't know why some days i notice certain colors more than others, but i do and today there was a lot of orange. and some yellow of course. there is always yellow because, well, because it is my favorite color.

father and son: a nativity story

does anyone else just cry their eyes out when reading this book. i was overcome with tears yesterday while reading it..........i actually found it at big lots for $3.00 and i bought it for my god-children because it is such a beautiful story.

around the world with Our Lady and the Child Jesus

we are kind of going along with Catholic Mosaic and their around the world with our Lady theme, but without the lesson plans because we just can't afford them right now. we read the story from the book about the Child Jesus and then we read corresponding pages in the atlas which pertain to the particular country we are studying, the apparitions of our Lady in said country and the kids do notebook pages on the patron saint, various facts, plants, animals and flowers native to the country.

we have started and are almost finished with our flags of Ireland.

little boy sewing is always intense, but immensely rewarding.

we also read this story:



this has been really fun. well, at least for those of us who could stay awake! i guess there is just something so soothing about stories on cold, cloudy lazy days......this was saturday.






this has been perfect advent "school".

it requires a lot of one on one time,

snuggling on the couch and the main focus is on Jesus and Mary.

the mitten ornaments

well, it was time to say good-bye to all of the little mitten ornaments today.
they are on their way to their new homes.
i hope everyone will enjoy them as much as i do.
they were fun to make even though i really am not into "mass producing".
i guess they are each different in their own way.
in the end i backed them with black dotted swiss and it looked great!

immaculate

"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made anything, from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was made......Now, therefore, ye children, hear me: blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord." (~Prov. iii)

Thanks be to God.

BY THINE Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy.

(3 times followed each time by a Hail Mary, 300 days indulgence)

making way

hope every one is taking the time to make way

for our Lord in the quiet recesses of your heart

during what very easily gets to be

such an overwhelmingly busy

season. after a very holy and peaceful

mass i came home and did some embroidery

on my advent calender. i am determined to

finish it yet........but i'm off to bed as we have

mass at 7am, which is seems so early when it is

cold outside and you have to be somewhere.

goodnight.