Christmas Octave Day 7

Last night during regular pregnancy insomnia, I was particularly bothered thinking at length about the children's shoes. I made the family such a good, utilitarian shoe area in a corner of the garage. It has shelves. It has baskets. All the socks are there too. So why is it so hard to keep the children's shoes there? We arrive back, we pull into the garage, I tell everyone that they must deposit shoes and socks before they can come in. 

Yet still, shoes and socks flung around the house plague me because I can't be ever-present, I can't always be there for shoe removals. Searching for shoes and suffering tantrums because a particular shoe has gone missing--who wants more of that?

I also moved the coats into the Shoe Area on a row of hooks (to the left). And yet rogue coats find their way flung on chairs and on the floor (gasp!). How can I stop this?! It was important questions such as these that kept me awake last night.

Meanwhile, the hats, gloves, and scarves remained in the front hall closet . . . across the house from the Shoe and Coat Area. I decided in the middle of the night that this situation had to be remedied. HAD TO BE. So when I padded downstairs at 6:00 a.m., the first thing I did (even before drinking coffee) was move all the hats, gloves, and scarves into the garage.

I felt better.

Evidence that Mama takes her children with her to prenatal midwifery appointments is finding her four-year-old palpating the belly of the willing toddler, and then using a toy fishing pole as a fetoscope.

If you are unfamiliar with what a fetoscope is, see here.

For a somewhat festive New Year's Eve dinner, with Mama's very limited cooking energy, I prepared pork tenderloin (pre-marinated from the grocery store, cooked by Chris), roasted potatoes, butternut squash soup (from the deli), homemade macaroni and cheese, and green salad (from the salad bar at the grocery). I sometimes feel plagued by guilt, that I couldn't be a big family with many kids and buy all this expensive, pre-made food on difficult nights, so why should I be so LAZY as to do so now? But I try to remind (convince) myself that these are still the Early Years with no big helpers yet and that I need to take one season at a time. What a holiday will look like when we have older children will be different--in what ways I guess I shall see!

This was the second annual tradition (I am hoping to set) of celebrating New Year's Eve with chocolate fondue. Above are kids who really want to be eating their chocolate but are tolerating Mama being trigger happy with the camera.

Source of information about the Christmas Octave

December 31; the Seventh Day of the Christmas Octave, Sylvester I, Pope

Opening Prayer from the Liturgy:  “Lord, help and sustain your people by the prayers of Pope Sylvester. Guide us always in this present life and bring us to the joy that never ends.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

In your Bible: Matthew 16:13-19; The Keys of the Kingdom

Catechesis: On this, the seventh day in the octave of Christmas, Holy Mother Church remembers St. Sylvester I, pope and confessor. Pope Sylvester reigned as Pontiff for 21 years, was a friend of the Emperor Constantine and endorsed the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325.  Some refer to Sylvester as the “peace Pope” as he became pope shortly after the end of  centuries of bloody persecution.  Like many of our early saints, legends have arisen around his memory:  he is said to have freed Emperor Constantine from leprosy by baptism and killed a “ferocious dragon” that was contaminating the air with his “poisonous breath.”

Activity: Have you ever stopped to think about where we would be without our Church?  What if we lacked the opportunity for reconciliation, Confirmation or Holy Communion.  What if we lacked the gift of our faith - the faith that has been passed down to us from the time of the Apostles?  What if we lacked a Supreme Pontiff and the world was ruled by the tyranny of evil, selfishness and hatred? Today, pray fervently for the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, and for his collaborator, William Leo, our Bishop [or whoever your local bishop is! --KTL], and pray especially today for the person - parent, grandparent, priest, religious brother or sister, catechist or friend - who first taught you your faith.