...Christmas time is here...

It's been a stressful but fun week. Paul arrived on Wednesday evening to visit and we've had quite the festivities! Hurrah! And now, I'm sick with a whiny scratchy voice. Hurrah again. Here's some photos that capture the past week:

My Kindergartener Kiddos...
I got weepy watching them sing and perform the Nativity.

Paul!!! Yay!

Merry Christmas from the JVs!

Our tree Fraiser, awaiting the coming of Jesus.

cool christmas factoids...

ORIGIN OF
"THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS"

An Underground Catechism

You're all familiar with the Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" I think. To most it's a delightful nonsense rhyme set to music. But it had a quite serious purpose when it was written.

It is a good deal more than just a repetitious melody with pretty phrases and a list of strange gifts.

Catholics in England during the period 1558 to 1829, when Parliament finally emancipated Catholics in England, were prohibited from ANY practice of their faith by law - private OR public. It was a crime to BE a Catholic.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" was written in England as one of the "catechism songs" to help young Catholics learn the tenets of their faith - a memory aid, when to be caught with anything in *writing* indicating adherence to the Catholic faith could not only get you imprisoned, it could get you hanged, or shortened by a head - or hanged, drawn and quartered, a rather peculiar and ghastly punishment I'm not aware was ever practiced anywhere else. Hanging, drawing and quartering involved hanging a person by the neck until they had almost, but not quite, suffocated to death; then the party was taken down from the gallows, and disembowelled while still alive; and while the entrails were still lying on the street, where the executioners stomped all over them, the victim was tied to four large farm horses, and literally torn into five parts - one to each limb and the remaining torso.

The songs gifts are hidden meanings to the teachings of the faith. The "true love" mentioned in the song doesn't refer to an earthly suitor, it refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge which feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, much in memory of the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered thee under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but thou wouldst not have it so..."

The other symbols mean the following:

2 Turtle Doves = The Old and New Testaments
3 French Hens = Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
4 Calling Birds = the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
5 Golden Rings = The first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
6 Geese A-laying = the six days of creation
7 Swans A-swimming = the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
8 Maids A-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 Ladies Dancing = the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10 Lords A-leaping = the ten commandments
11 Pipers Piping = the eleven faithful apostles
12 Drummers Drumming = the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed

--Fr. Hal Stockert 12/17/95

SOURCE: http://www.cin.org/twelvday.html

the Little Women of Billings

I feel the holiday spirit coming closer and closer as each day of December goes by. Last night, we had a no-power evening - which literally means no use of electricity (with the exception of water, plug-in radios/alarm clocks, and our heat - I guess those are a lot of exceptions) and we celebrated a Spirituality Night. Katie and Megan prepared good Advent reflections and we even made a fresh Advent wreath, complete with fresh evergreen boughs and the purple and pink candles. We even lit the first purple candle for the first week of Advent.

I think what brought me the most joy was singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs - in opera voices, chipmunk voices - you name it. It was a scene out of Little Women and I was genuinely happy to be in the company of my roommates. I felt a warm tingly feeling just looking at everyone around the table, throwing green boughs around and creating a massive mess on our kitchen table and floor. We also got a fresh cut Christmas tree whom we named "Fraiser" since he's a Fraiser Tree. (I was totally talking to our Tree saying, "Hi Tree!" and it brought fond memories of dear Tri. Awwwwwww)

Tonight was also another joyful time. In lieu of St. Nicholas Day, Erin and I stuffed our roommates' shoes with goodies - Hershey kisses, festive sprinkles, special chocolates and coffee, and hand-written ornaments. Then, in the midst of our top secret mission, Courtney came down the stairs for her nightly trip to the lou but didn't seem to notice anything! *phew*

These two nights - this is where I felt most like myself... first night - being a complete fool and singing joyfully, even if I was off-key or didn't know the words, and getting surprises ready.

Awaiting His coming...

Onward, Christian Soldier.

Do I go on or do I turn back? Go on...

I'm well into my fourth month of being a JV and I am still lost, confused, saddened. I wake up some days feeling like this is the right path, this is where God led me and this is where I am meant to be. And then there are other days, I feel this pain in my chest like my breath has been taken from me and all I want to do is yell but all I can do is swallow that air.

It's a dichotomy of emotions. It really is. And yet I know this is where God wanted me. I'm just being challenged in a way I predicted... but I didn't realize how painful and exhausting it would be.

I miss the things that make me passionate about life --- my family, my friends, retreats, mission trips, club activities and performances... But I just have to have faith.

The way I see it, faith is more of the ability to persevere than perfect it. And that is one of the hardest things to do. God doesn't ask us to be perfect...maybe He doesn't want us to be. But He hopes that we persevere and grow in our faith. And sometimes, the perseverance is the more exhausting and challenging part of this journey called life.