Christmas Joy

Our family celebrated a wonderful Christmas.  Our usual tradition is to attend Midnight Mass as a family. Our parishes Midnight Mass is the real deal -- starting at the strike of midnight and lasting until the wee hours of morning, the joy of Christ coming is palatable.  Trumpets sound as we joyfully celebrate the Christ Child.

This year, with a few family members feeling under the weather and Christopher scheduled to serve his first ever Mass at 7:30 AM, we had to forgo our tradition.  I was sad to be missing one of my favorite Masses of the year, but was excited to celebrate Christmas with my son serving at the alter.  So well before sun up, Christopher and I headed out into the deep and glistening snow.  Our short walk to the Church in the silent darkness was a wonderful reminder of the dark cold night when our Savior came.  The moon was full and the snow shone in its light.  It was really beautiful!

And my favorite part of Christmas was seeing my little boy serving.  He was so sweet!

And after Mass, we got this nice family photo.  We never get good family pictures, so this was quite a gift!

(All photo credits go to my AWESOME new Nikon-- Christmas gift from my parents and Andrew!!)

Buried in Yarn and Frosting

It's the final push -- so much to get accomplished before Christmas!  The kids and I made two batches of cookies this morning and they both turned out well.  This is a big deal considering the lack of gluten, egg, and dairy they contain!  We still need to cut out the last bit of sugar cookie dough and frost the ones that are cooling right now.  Fun, fun!

I am buried in crafts right now, as well.  I need to get moving or some people on my list are going to receive half finished items, which isn't very exciting.  Opening a half finished glove and a ball of yarn on Christmas morning might bring laughs, but probably not much gratitude!  Maybe I can included knitting needles and offer a free lesson?  I could start a whole new market "Finish Your Own Christmas Gift"

I think it'll make me millions.

Oh Christmas Card

I am finding it ridiculously difficult to get five kids to smile all at once.  Do you think half dressed kids are inappropriate for a Christmas card??  Because I really like this bottom picture.  The top one is nice, but Andrew took it with his phone so it is a bit fuzzy.  (Or maybe it's "vintage".  I can pretend I took it with my old school SLR 35mm)

Do I even have time to do Christmas cards?  Talk about procrastinating.  No wonder the Church, in Her mercy, gave us twelve days of Christmas!

Fun Feasting!

Oh my. Aren't these little girls the cutest?? My nieces were princesses at our Gaudete Party last night.

A great time was had by all. We were a bit low on numbers, due to weather, sickness, and general bad advertising by the party planner. (ahem)

And now we have an abundance of food. I guess I won't be cooking for a while - woo!

And a joyful Gaudete is follow quickly by a Happy Santa Lucia today! I didn't have the energy to do the full early morning baking and wake up, but some cinnamon rolls might be in order later today. Especially given the beautiful snow fall, afternoon baking will be so cozy!

Gaudete!

Rejoice! Light your pink candle!

Taking a quick moment from party prep to print some activities for the kids. I love Gaudete Sunday! I hope you find a moment to Rejoice today!

A few fun Advent links:

Coloring Sheets

More coloring!

And these totally amazing Creches!!! (thanks, Jessica!)

Despite a few glitches -- like a husband who drank the party beer and a ham that wasn't a ham, we are hoping for a joyful Gaudete!

Where did the time go?

I can not believe that it was a whole SIX months ago today that our sweet little Avi was born! The time has flown by.

I have never known a child so dearly loved by her siblings! People always seem to think that children are going to be so jealous when the new little one arrives. I think this is just a culture-driven fallacy. This little girl is so loved that she never gets a break! But she loves her older siblings and doesn't mind (too much!) when they dote on her.

And rarely is she set down. In fact, just today, I layed her down and when I came back some unknown older sibling had set her up in a sitting position and she could stay in it for quite a while! I don't know if I should be sad that she learned to sit with no one noticing or happy that she is snuggled so often that she never really had the opportunity to practice!

Happy Sixth Months, Sweet Baby!!

brics for Mary

We took the kids for ice cream last night to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Not only a fantastic solemnity worth celebrating, but also the "name day" for Bella Concetta.

In this fuzzy pic, the kids have polished off their ice cream and are playing a game with Andrew.

We went to this super cute ice cream shop called brics in Indianapolis. It's in an old train depot and was very charming, albeit in a modern way.

It was a fun and cozy way to celebrate the day!

We're Alive!

Wozers. This is one neglected little corner of the internet! Is anyone even reading anymore??

My cute kids did their own impromptu photo shoot the other day. I'm not sure where PeterXavier was...probably causing trouble. Hopefully it didn't involve the knife drawer.

Holiday madness has ensued. I always decided to make way more gifts than I can handle, but we are enjoying the challenge. The kids have really taken to it as well, so it is fun to all create together!

Our little Avi, as you can see, isn't so little anymore! She is charming us everyday. Her siblings love her to the point that I sometimes have to ask them to stop! She is almost six months old now (what?? NO way!!), outrageously interested in the world and delighted to be alive. She can almost sit up and I am fearing that her immobile days are waning.

This last photo pretty much sums up my life. I'll let it do the talking.