{SQT} Gaudete Sunday Edition

1. Christmas in Atlanta

We traveled to see the grandparents to celebrate Christmas a little early. For this trip, I tried a new technique of writing out my packing lists and handing them off to the oldest three kids to pack themselves. Future step: pairing up older kids with little buddies to see if the older ones can pack for the little ones!

At the Georgia Visitor's Center

At the Georgia Visitor's Center

At the Georgia Visitor's Center

At the Georgia Visitor's Center

My mother-in-law creates a picturesque home regularly, but it's really like something out of a magazine at Christmas time.

Family joy!

She set out the most darling snacks for the grandchildren: homemade hot cocoa and jaunty little snowmen made out of marshmallows and pretzels.

We enjoyed a Christmas dinner feast and the opening of gifts on Saturday.

On Sunday after Mass, we went to lunch with the godparents (where I forgot to take pictures!) and then the grandparents took Chris and the oldest four children to see Christmas with the Atlanta Master Chorale (again, no pictures!). It was a really beautiful, traditional choral concert.

2. Baking Day

Some years my Christmas baking has only consisted of letting the children cut cookies out of those silly pre-decorated tubes of dough. This year, I woke up having caught the terrible respiratory illness my three littlest boys have had for a week, so only due to the great help of growing-up children, we were able to bake for real, although I noted that it took the entire day and filled every crack of time.

With my supervision, the girls mixed a double-batch of cookie dough right after breakfast, and then we chilled it during the morning while everyone did their music practice.

Thomas (3) was blessedly silent for ten minutes and it turns out the reason was that he was eating scraps of cookie dough. When he saw me seeing him, he said smilingly, "No see me!"

I was trying to have the baking part done in time to serve lunch, but it was not to be. So, we were rolling, cutting, and baking as fast as we could, but I arrived at the lunch hour with both counters and the kitchen table surfaces covered.

What to do? I scrapped our albeit simple lunch plan and directed all the children to eat cold cereal and milk out in the (chilly) sun room. Improvise, adapt, and overcome.

I laid down the littlest guys for nap time and one of our music teachers arrived for our Wednesday afternoon lessons. I laid out all the cookies on parchment paper, into which I divided (using Sharpie pen) territories for the children.

Like the United Nations, I stood there and managed negotiations before decorating could begin. "So, you want to trade one bell for a circle? Sir, do you agree with this trade? And you ma'am, you are seeking an angel? Does anyone have an angel to offer in exchange for this heart?"

Then, each child got to cycle through and decorate cookies while the children were also cycling through their time with the music teacher. It worked out well.

However, my kitchen floors did, in fact, look like I had left five children unsupervised (I call it "independent") with eight bottles of decorating sugar and 60 cookies.

I am certainly not Suzy Homemaker, as evidenced by the fact that I tried to be "her" and planned a slow cooker meal for the day, knowing how my kitchen would be tied up all day. But did I prepare the slow cooker meal in the morning? No! (How often has this happened when I have attempted a slow cooker meal? Many times!) Thus, the end of the day came with no meal, no plan, no ingredients, and no ability to cook anyway because the kitchen was still covered in cookies . . . so I ordered pizza and felt bad about myself.

3. Vienna Boys' Choir

My dad purchased our older children tickets to see the Vienna Boys' Choir at the Halton Theater for Christmas!  I desperately wanted to be the parent to escort the children to this event, so I medicated myself enough to go and enjoy myself. (It was the first day of the cold and I know from watching the boys that it seems to get worse, so I wanted to go down fighting!)

We very much enjoyed the pre-show entertainment in the lobby, watching Musical Heirs, a homeschool choir of 200 (a subset of whom were singing) here in Charlotte. My older children now have hopes of auditioning! (What activity would we cut in order to fit that in?!)

Watching Musical Heirs

We sat in the first row of the balcony, which I thought was wonderful.

Our view: ultimately every seat was sold out

4. Making a Meal

On Thursday, we made a meal for a mom who just had her eighth. Years ago, I used to make several meals for others per month, but I rarely make them anymore as, honestly, it's everything I've got to feed my own eight family members.  I've organized the meals ministry for my parish for about ten years and I've become very familiar with a phenomenon I did not understand in the beginning: at a point, mothers of very large families come to me tearfully and ask to be removed as a volunteer from our ministry because they can't manage more than to feed their own and they feel so badly about not being able to do more for others. I completely understand now!

When I do manage this corporal work of mercy, it's because I have older kids who pitch in to make portions of the meal and kiddos like Margaret (7) who occupied my little boys while I cooked all morning by making egg carton caterpillars with them! I also have a husband who almost always drives the meal over for me, just like he did this time.

Thanks, team!

5. Ice Skating

On Friday, our whole family went to the ice skating rink with probably neatly a dozen of our fellow homeschooling families. There were a lot of full-sized vans in that parking lot! This is always such a fun gathering and we appreciate the family which has organized it for years now.

John was mostly always a blur with his pals.

Mama and David staying warm and cozy

6. Movie Recommendation

This week, we watched "A Bear Named Winnie" and can recommend it!

"Discover the true story behind author A.A. Milne's beloved children's character in this tale of the remarkable friendship between a Canadian soldier, and the cub that stood as a symbol of friendship and hope in a world plagued by war. It was during the early days of World War I that 34th Fort Garry Horse Division veterinarian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn (Michael Fassbinder) purchased a small bear cub and named her Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg. Though Coleburn's fellow soldiers repeatedly warn the Lieutenant against taking Winnie with him to the gathering point in Valcartier, Quebec where Canadian soldiers are gathering to be shipped overseas, the presence of the young cub among the troops serves as a ray of hope to the soldiers faced with the prospect of war. After traveling with the soldiers to Salisbury Plain in England, Winnie is placed in the care of the London Zoo when Harry's regiment is shipped off to fight in France. As the specter of war looms heavy in the conscience of the citizens and children of London, Winnie becomes the star attraction at the zoo. When a man named A.A. Milne brings his young son to visit the zoo, the story of the bear and her friendship with a far away soldier inspires him to create one of the most beloved characters in the history of children's literature."

It's a rare movie that is live action (not cartoon), appeals to both boys and girls, masculine (due to its setting in World War I) and feminine (due to the love we feel for the baby bear), and is totally clean: no references to sexuality, no foul language, nothin'! All my children ages 3 to 12, as well as both parents, enjoyed it!

There was one tense scene that made my sensitive 5-year-old concerned. There is a battle scene in which there are some explosions, with clouds of dust, and then a dead soldier and a dead horse are seen (bloodless both). Then one soldier becomes very brave and runs off into a cloud of explosion dust to defend his men, even though he knows he is outnumbered, and we hear the enemy's machine gun fire presumably killing him. (It's a noble scene of bravery that made me tearful.)

Right now, "A Bear Named Winnie" is available for free with Amazon Prime Streaming.

7. What Else Remains?

I think all the gifts are purchased. The cards were sent. The house is clean.

Tonight . . . plan the Christmas meals and place the grocery order

Saturday . . . wrap all the gifts, shop at Costco

Sunday . . . Mass, decorate the tree

Monday . . . Christmas Eve! Midnight Mass!

Christmas . . . A day of joy!


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