7 quick takes

1 - I like David Crowder's voice.  A little raspy.  And then I like even more that it comes out of this thin little man with ridiculous hair.  There's been some buzz about DCB's newest album, mostly because the Protestant band's latest album is called Give Us Rest (A Requiem Mass in C - The Happiest of All Keys).  I don't know why people are so upset about them calling C the happiest of keys... 
 
Oh, or maybe because people are afraid he's going the way Rich Mullens and Audrey Assad went - to Rome.  Shoot.

2 - Do you listen to Relevant Radio?  Usually I don't - especially in the mornings.  But when I get a tip on a good show I like to dig around in the archives.  Today's Morning Air is one show I dug around for.  The second hour features Msgr Deptula from my Diocese talking about Archbishop Sheen.  The third hour features Kate Wicker talking about glorifying God with our bodies.  She also mentions the Behold Conference several times which is cool.  You can find the links here.

3 - Speaking again of the Behold Conference - let me just say it's amazing all the things that are coming together so wonderfully.  God's Hand is definitely guiding all of us through this process and it's such a blessing to be a part of it.  I sincerely hope you can join us.

4 - This picture is a little old but I wanted to share it with you.  Usually St. Nick only comes to our house on his feast day but this year, well, you can read for yourself:

In case you're wondering, St. Nicholas brought Lydia this letter, some dress-up shoes, and some more gold coin chocolates. 

5 - In a related "parenting success" story, James was wearing some pajamas that were a little too long.  As he walked around the living room Lydia, who is 3 and 1/2, started singing, "Pants on the Ground."  I asked; she learned the song from me.  So proud.  *tear*

6 - Last night I slept for ten hours, having gone to bed at 8:30pm.  By 9:30am I was so tired I had to lay down.  I napped this afternoon.  And I'm still super tired.  I also have a cough.  Ugh.

7 - Lastly, I want to warmly welcome to the world Lucy Anne, who was born to our friends Michael and Susan on Wednesday and Elijah Nathan, born to our friends Margaret and Nathan.  I am so happy for our wonderful friends who have all just entered the lovely, crazy, beautiful world of parenthood!  Please join me in thanking God for Lucy and Elijah.

chocolate loving tricky girl of mine

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

This morning my family found that St. Nicholas had visited our house last night. (He comes for his feast day, not on Christmas Eve.  It's a special arrangement we have with him.)  In our stockings my kids found new winter pajamas, markers, and golden chocolate coins.

The kids have had a lot of feasting today - lots of chocolate - and I just let them each have two more coins to hold them over until after supper.

Upon finishing hers, Lydia asked me if she could play church. 

"Of course, sweetie!  That's a good idea!"  I was so proud.

"Well, can I have another chocolate coin to be Jesus Christ?"

No, sweetie, you cannot.  Though that is very, very clever, you cannot.

how I pull off St. Nicholas

I received this comment, and I think it has a lot of good points and good questions.  I'm going to repost it here, and respond.  I know that many of my friends have gotten rid of Santa and just have St. Nicholas visit their home during the holiday season.  I would love for you too to respond and share how you make Catholic culture jive with the rest of culture - I think it's important that we not ruin other kids' Christmases filled with Santa, elves, and reindeer!

How do you deal with the culture, the friends, the strangers, preschool, asking your child what they want from Santa? have you been a good girl for Santa? is Santa coming to your house?



When they are in school are you going to tell them that there is not a Santa from the North Pole? Is it okay that they tell their friends that? I have not told my 3 year old anything about Santa, but she knows from others. We talk about Jesus' birthday, but it almost confuses me how to fit in the birth of Christ, St. Nicholas, and Santa?? How am I suppose to explain it all to a 3 year old.


I hate the idea of making a big deal of Santa, but I also feel like I can't escape it??


What are your recommendations?
 
My Answer:
What we do is explain that other people call St. Nicholas "Santa Claus". When Lydia sees pictures of Santa she calls him St. Nicholas. Also, we tell her that he lives in Heaven with Jesus. That hasn't been challenged yet, but I guess we'll just tell her that some people think the North Pole is Heaven, but we call it Heaven.


I don't have a problem correcting Lydia's understanding of St. Nicholas.  Ex: "Some people think St. Nicholas lives with elves, but really he lives with angels, Mary and Jesus."  My hope is that when my children talk with Santa-believing kids they will say the same types of things.  "At our house, we call Santa St. Nicholas."  It will take training, of course, but I think it's important not to mess up the traditions other families are doing, while teaching my children to be little apologists.  Then if little Sally goes home and asks her mommy about Santa's real name it's up to that mom to do whatever damage control she wants - just like I have to do damage control.  But when kids still believe in Santa/St. Nick (just different variations) there is little damage control to do.

If a grandma tells Lydia that Santa left some gifts at grandma's house for her, I instantly say something like, "Oh Lydia, wasnt' that nice of St. Nicholas?!" I don't want to "ruin" everyone else's fun - because Santa IS fun - but I do want to slightly edit it so it can fit into what is important to our family. And usually, grandma will then refer to Santa as St. Nick when around my kids.

For people who don't know my family (store clerks, nurses, etc) I say things like, "We celebrate Advent before we celebrate Christmas." or "St. Nicholas fills our stockings for his feast day on December 6th." A nurse recently told my kids that the vent was a camera that Santa watches to make sure kids are good. I said St. Nicholas watches us from Heaven so he knows how he should pray for us.

About this comment:  "We talk about Jesus' birthday, but it almost confuses me how to fit in the birth of Christ, St. Nicholas, and Santa."  This is the very reason I took Santa/St. Nick away from Christmas completely.  I didn't know how to do it, either!  And by consolidating Santa and St. Nick - well that made things a lot easier.  Now, I'm slowly easing my way into all this, but I do hope that through the years we can spend equal amounts of time talking about St. Nick, the Immaculate Conception, Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Lucy - all saints with feast days during Advent.  My hope is that will make St. Nick just one of many saints who help us get ready for celebrating Christmas, minimizing his role in our household even more.  I mean, as great as St. Nicholas was and is, his rightful place is waaaaay behind Jesus - and I think St. Nick would be the first to agree to that.

All of this can be hard, and I know I don't do it perfectly.  In fact, we have a loooong way to go.

I would love to hear how other people work with St. Nicholas to keep Christ the center of Christmas.  How do you address the issues the commenter mentioned?

My open letter to Santa Claus

Dear Santa,

First, may I call you St. Nicholas? I'm much more comfortable with that name.

So St. Nicholas, now that the holidays are over I'm writing to tell you that I'm very concerned. I mean, what happened? For hundreds of years you were this beloved saint, a bishop who loved children and saved three sisters from a life of prostitution. You supposedly punched out a heretic at the Council of Nicea and then proclaimed the Truth. You were cool before cool was a word.

But now you're seen as just being a fat guy in some silly red suit. Sure, people think of you as jolly and an all around good guy, but you've been stripped of all your coolness and left as little more than a large elf who gives overindulged kids whatever they want for Christmas.

I've been thinking about it all and I guess it all began to shift with Clement Clarke Moore's 1822 poem Twas the Night Before Christmas. It's a sweet poem; I'm sure you remember how I had it memorized as a small child. Yet, it removes all of history and Christianity, pretty much changing the very essence of who you are.

Then Coca-Cola got hold of you and there was nothing left of the man you once were.

So I want you to know, St. Nicholas, that things are going to be different in my home. Of course my kids will "believe" in you! You're a real person! A saint in Heaven! But, with all due respect, I don't want you coming to my house on Christmas Eve. And I don't want you giving my kids an overabundance of presents. I would quite prefer if you came the night before December 6th and filled their stockings. That way, on your feast day (the 6th) we can talk about you and celebrate your life as a holy man who lived for Christ. Christmas morning my husband and I will give our children a few presents, and we'll even give them another gift come Epiphany, as we discuss how Christ is the True Gift of Christmas, and how the Wise Men gave what they had to Christ to honor Him. Maybe the Epiphany presents will consist of sacramentals? I do need to think about that one some more. Any ideas?

Also, I don't think we'll be making any more trips to see you at shopping centers. Instead, I would like to invite you, Bishop of Myra, to come to our house for a St. Nick party. I'll invite all the kids I know and when you come, dressed with your miter and crosier instead of a hat with a pompom, you can ask the kiddos what they're doing to prepare for the birth of Christ, instead of asking them what they want for Christmas. My hope is that this will help my family keep Advent, as we prepare ourselves for the Incarnation, and also shift the focus of Christmas away from you and back to the Infant Jesus.

I think this is a win-win situation. My kids will (hopefully) learn more about you as a saint, will see Christmas being less about presents and more about Christ, and will grow up rooted in the traditions of their beautiful faith. And you will regain some dignity in the way you're represented and I'm quite confident you'll rejoice in the way the glorious feast of Christmas is refocused on our Lord and Savior.

If you have any ideas or suggestions I am definitely open to hearing from you.

I am, most respectfully, yours sincerely.
Bonnie E.

P.S. Please pray for me and my family and give Peter a big hug.