the past few days..........

Christ's Mass

these were the highlights of my day.

hope you all have a blessed ChristMas too........

a CHILD is born

The Proclamation of

the Birth of Jesus Christ

Today is the twenty-fifth day of December, unknown ages from the time when God created the heavens and the earth and then formed man and woman in HIS own image.

Several thousand years after the flood, when God made the rainbow shine forth as a sign of the covenant.

Twenty-one centuries from the time of Abraham and Sarah; thirteen centuries after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt.

Eleven-hundred years from the time of Ruth and the Judges; one-thousand years from the anointing of David as king; in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel.

In the one-hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; the seven -hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome.

The forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus; the whole world being at peace, Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and nine months having passed since His conception, was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary.

Today is the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

Christmas Eve Daybook

Outside my window..........alternating clouds with sun

I am listening to.......Christmas carols, of course!

Towards rhythym and beauty..........I am cleaning up and decorating, despite the fact that we won't be home tonite

I am thinking about..........how it is almost time

I am thankful for...........this beautiful season, the gift of God in the form of HIS Son

In our schoolroom.........it has been transformed into a Christmas room: lights, a tree, books, quilts and pillows for snuggling and reading the Christmas story

I am wearing........a long brown-knitted sweater, teal long-sleeve shirt underneath, with jeans and converse tennis shoes with butterflies on them

From the kitchen...........sugar cookies and white-texas sheet cake

I am creating..........a few finishing touches on handmade gifts: a stocking for my godson, ornaments for my mom, grandma and aunts, a pop-corn and cranberry garland and some rag-balls

Towards a real education..............measuring for cookies, sorting clean socks for my little one, keeping track of the timer so we don't burn the cookies, need I say more??

I am going..........to start getting stuff ready to take to my parents house, we are spending the night and going to midnight Mass

I am reading..........mostly children's Christmas stories

I am hoping.........my washer will be fixed soon, REALLY fixed

Around the house.........a washer that is still not working, a dog with a hurt leg, cookie and craft messes, great-grandma spent the night, lots of little ones underfoot

One of my favorite things...........all of our twinkling lights

A few plans for the rest of the week............finishing some presents for Epiphany, crafting that couldn't get done during the holy season, a park day with our homeschool group-we are the Holy Innocents-so we'll celebrate that feast together, sale-shopping for a little boy who has grown out of all of his pants, finding some time for myself

Here are some picture thoughts I am sharing...............

the blanket stitch

since i discovered the blanket stitch, while reading this book, i quite often use it for hand-quilting, partly because it is so easy and partly because it makes things look soooo pretty. look at those cherries......they look like you could eat them! this was a gift for a friend who just had twins!

and since she will be busy do lots of nursing i made her this light little coverlet. baby a is home now, but her brother is still in the hospital, so i will give him his gift when he comes home.

i often felt like my children were being smothered whilst nursing under "blankets", hence my sweaty headed babies, but this is a light cotton material with a flour sack dish towel for the top. the cherries are felted and the stems are green grossgrain ribbon.

my sewing machine is behaving very badly, so i don't know how i will possibly get all the things i need to sew before Christmas done. my washer also decided it doesn't want to cooperate either, but somehow this doesn't bother me as much! my husband has decided to fix it himself and we have a saying around here that pertains to my husband and his fixing of things and it goes like this:

if it ain't broke, FIX it 'till it is!

speaking of cherries............

i was actually able to finish these before things got too bad. one pair of dolly diapers down and two to go.........it is sure hard to keep things a secret from my darling daughter. after having spent two nights with nannie and papa, she is home. i must go and take advantage of the little window of time i have left before she wakes........good-bye!

inside out braids

this little girl is very dear to me.

her mama was my cousin, my friend.

and every time i look at her face i am reminded of her mother

and how her life was cut short almost two years

ago when she was brutally murdered.

yet another very senseless tragedy,

her death was, for our family,

for these children she left behind.....

there are many shattered,

tattered pieces of broken hearts

left behind.....

and with wounded spirits,

little by little we struggle,

sometimes alone and on this day, together,

to pick up those pieces, trying to make ourselves well again.

trying to make sense out of death and life,

things which we have no power over, yet we still concern ourselves nevertheless.

so the only thing i could come up with is this:

make the effort to fill your days with little acts of great kindness and love.

we cannot control much, but we can control this aspect of ourselves, our lives.

being a mother is hard, there are always so many things to be done,

but we must always pause and take time for the little things.

i can't help but think that when we are gone,

those are the things that will have mattered most.

the day that i was asked by my auntie,

to come and do hair for a very special day,

for a very first piano recital,

i gladly made two inside out braids in the hopes that somehow

that small act would make the day better for both of them and maybe even for me too.

i went home, with my own little daughter in tow, a box full of ribbons on her lap and i thought about how often she is with me, not aloof like the boys kind of are,

always busy with bicycles, rocks and sticks.

and i thought about how this is my legacy to her.

it is the same one that my mother gave to me.

it is a legacy of love and goodness.

the legacy of a Christian life, making good out of evil.

spending the time we are given on this earth doing the will of God,

despite the circumstances which quite often befall us.

some things are consequences of our own choices, others,

simply because they are the will of God.

i once read somewhere that our lives are like the piecing of a quilt.

we sew with what we are given, we don't always have control over

what kind of material we are given.

sometimes the material is less than favorable,

but in the end we can still make something beautiful for God.

so during all of my oh-so-busy days

i will try to remind myself that all of our moments are timeless.

they go with us into to eternity:

every thought, word and deed.

i will try to remind myself that life and each day that we are given is a gift.

the SON is always shining somewhere

and i am so thankful that He came to earth

to share HIS light and

to share with me, with us, HIS legacy of love,

without which,

this life, this world, would be devoid of anything beautiful and good.

and i am thankful that HE has shown me there is

beauty in something as simple as a pair of

inside out braids......

magical mini forest

with a little crafty inspiration from here and here

we made some trees using branches cut off

of a tree someone threw away

(on the side of the road)

and brown clay for the trunks.

soon all of the the tiny animals came out to enjoy the fun

white pom-pom snowballs, glitter, and sequins were added for

a wintry effect.

it seems there isn't much in this house that isn't

covered in glitter and sequins these days!

santa and the fairies soon brought presents and magic.

and in the end this little magical mini-forest

made for some great imaginative play!

mary did know

after reading this i have respectfully removed the song mary did you know from my playlist.
i apologize because i, too, should have known better. i was just overly emotional the other day when i heard it and the words about her kissing the face of God and HIM being the Great I AM, made my cry profusely and so i succumbed to the temptation to sort of like that song. the only funny part about this whole thing is that i had the hardest time finding that song sung (grammar?) in a manner that i found pleasing...hmmmm....maybe that should've been a clue!

Mary, Queen of Heaven.....please pray for me.