Feast of the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord

Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and might cleanse to Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works.
Letter to Titus

Advent was the beginning of the Church year, when we (hopefully) prepared ourselves for Christ, to be acceptable in the Eyes of God, so that when He comes He may gaze into our eyes and we may gaze back in return and there find mutual love.  It was the few lowly shepherds who lived simple lives who had prepared themselves for the Savior, who were ready when Christ was born, to gaze at Him.... with him... in a deep fountain of great love.  And this is how we should see one another.... with great love.  To look at each person.... every person.... they way God does.... as a soul made in His Image and His likeness.  But how often we look at each other with the eyes of man and see only little gifts, little talents, little charming attributes,  little irritating attributes, little uglinesses, little faults.  God looks at us lovingly and longingly as the beautiful soul that He created.  Because in the soul of each person is the image and likeness of God Himself.  How can that be since so few are God-like?  Well, it is simply the way it is.  And so often we want to blame and point and accuse others of being sinful when in reality it is we ourselves.  We who are not being saintly. The mark of the saint is joy.  So, may we all be blessed this Christmas season with great love, that our joy may be full.

♥ . Julie

Tis the Season

 Eh... what's up doc?

 Just before Bilbo's long overdue haircut I brushed his hair straight down. Then I burst out laughing as I recalled one of our priests saying long ago, "I wonder what is to become of that hair?"

 Well, I've got the answer.... he'll become a Duke of Hazard.

 Marigold seems to have regressed to her infantile days

 The tree was decorated this week.

 And some major playing was going on in the snow banks. That's my 6 foot son next to that pile which soon became a hobbit hole

 Yeah, lotsa snow.

 The Hobbit hole

 The Hobbit hole that I have not been in for fear it would be a "take two" of Winnie the Pooh at Rabbit's House.

If only Lady Modesty had these shiny icicles she wouldn't have to worry about cherubs on the roof! :D

Prayers

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you, and for all who do not have recourse to you, especially the enemies of the Church and those recommended to you. Amen.

I ask you to please say this prayer for a special and urgent intention.  Would you be so generous as to say this prayer for a week or whatever you might be able to find yourself capable of.

Blizzardy and Blustery

 We woke up to quite a bit of snow.  By 7:30 nearly everyone was outside rebuilding their snow fort.

 

 They used my wheelbarrow to make big blocks for their fort. The snow is so thick and wet and heavy that it made for great packed blocks of snow.

 Baby Jesus was not yet added to the outdoor manger but I really had to bring the little statue in when it just seemed so cold in its hiding place.

 By noon it looked like this. Sam had shoveled about a foot of snow.

 Aragorn and the 2 oldest boys, much to my irritation, decided to head out and take care of the animals over at the barn.  We had seen the plows go by 3 times. I thought that was a rather suspicious thing. Well, it was just the neighbors down a ways who plow for parking lots in town had to plow their way to the parking lots, hence the only place around here that has been plowed is right in front of our house hahaha.  However, after their house they ran in to some 3 feet of snow and had to take an alternate route.

 Atop one of the round bales.

 They made it back safely enough so that was good.

 Meanwhile inside we are trying to get some cleaning done. Frodo was working on windows, I'm not sure I was keen on the idea of straddling atop one of the beams to do so.

He also worked on a wooden "Sting".

We shall see how we fare tonight with snow and wind... we're due for another 5 inches.  At the moment we've gotten about 18 inches here.  And all that in about 20 hours.  It's a time to remember to be grateful for a warm house, albeit it... noisy house.

Our Hobbit 2 Cents

Since we are absolutely snowed in with a lovely blizzard, perhaps I can finally finish this post.... but with so many of us opinionated selves over here... it will be a long one. But can one spend too much time reflecting on such topics as The Hobbit? Methinks not :)

 

I must say, "Great job Peter Jackson!" to the superb Hobbit Movie.  I took the girls in the morning and yes, they went dressed up in their hobbit attire and no... no one else did.  So I think that was just a ficticious story or old wives tale (or in this case an old priest's tale) to get a little chuckle at our rather enjoyable expense haha.  Some people chuckled, at the theater, others said, "Aw, that's cute".  We had the nicest young man wait on us as we picked up some popcorn. At the time I was wearing a Miraculous Medal as my usual medal was still at the jewelers being repaired.  The young man said, "I love your medal!"  Now, he has definitely gone into my "to pray for" memory bank.  Later he was noticing the girls' attire and said, "Not going to see the Hobbit or anything like that?" I laughed and said we were and that in fact have been counting down for forever, "We are pretty sad."  He laughed and said, "It's alright, I'm pretty sad too." Kindred spirit!  Some day we'll meet again in Middle-Earth :)

Now, there might be spoilers in here so if you don't want to know anything about the movie then just look at the pictures and don't read anything :)  but if you haven't seen it by now then I guess you won't mind spoilers! 

I must say I loved all the characters, they were all just unique in themselves, carried their own personalities and just were plain old splendid. But I think my favorite was Thorin Oakensheild... he was dark and sinister and had experienced the pains of life at battle that molded and formed his character. And then the beautiful scene after Bilbo had saved his life was just splendid.  I got a little moist in the eyes..... though from the book I know it doesn't last hahaha    But I also liked the way he carried himself.  So that said, I also loved the ever joyful and cheerful Balin who was also devoted to Thorin and was with him in the days of the old battle. 

It was also delightful to meet up with so many of my old friends from LOTR's like Gandalf, Frodo, Elrond, Galdriel....

I think Aragorn's favorite character was the Goblin King hahaha.  I found myself just staring in awe at this monstrosity.  That is not a beard up there on his face, it is one giant blob of flabby-flab.  I think it more fitting that he be called the Fat Globule King.  You've just got to see it to believe it.

Sam said he wasn't sure who is favorite character was or his favorite scene... He's a 16 year old boy so we'll let that slide for now! "I dunno" seems to be the phrase of the day these days.  It amazes me that boys of such ages can know absolutely nothing yet have opinions on everything... hahaha (if you have a teenage boy you are laughing, if you don't you are sitting there saying, "Huh?")

Following the movie, Frodo dreamt that the orcs were coming in the various doors of our house and we were battling them out.  We are certainly heroic.

Frodo's favorite character is Dwalin on the left (with the tatooed head?!). I couldn't help include the ever-joyful Balin.

Eowyn dreamt that night that there was a troll in the basement of our church and he was trying to catch and eat us.

Eowyn's favorite character is Radagast the Brown.

Galadriel had a dream that night that the boys got to go see the Hobbit for a second time and she didn't.  It was very unfair.

Galadriel's favorite was Kili (on the right) while Eleanor's favorite character was Fili (on the left).  I will admit they were a charming pair.

Eleanor

Rosie's favorite is also Kili.

We were totally and completely the movie theater tourists.  But you must admit, they did a great job on their costuming.  I, on the other hand, wishing not to be confused with a beardless dwarf opted to go un-constumed.

On my way out I discovered even more Hobbit posters that I wanted to get pictures of but I knew I was really getting ridiculous.

Although Bilbo didn't go to see the movie in the theater, he did dress up to go to his Hobbit Birthday Dinner. His only comment was, "I thought we were going to see the movie."  Ooops.

Bilbo received a little Bilbo character from Auntie for his birthday.

No... Pippin did not wear this get-up to the movie!  But it does look like the makings for a new super-hero... and this is much better than super-heros that wear their undies on the outside of their leotards!  It might be noted, too, that Pippin has lost 2 teeth, one on bottom, one on top, giving him a rather interesting look... but it seems to suit him.  (It might be noted I have never heard of children losing teeth cock-eyed like that but with 11 children we're bound to come up with new ideas... even if it is just teeth). The children are calling him Gollum... who had only 9 teeth according to the Riddles in the Dark

I see that I somehow missed getting a picture of Merry.  He wore a brown vest and brown cloak.  He dreamt that night that he was killing orcs.  (I'm glad he was on the good side.)

Merry and Pippin said their favorite part was "the big chin part".  That would be the Goblin King.  (I think there is something not quite right with the male population in this house.)  But their favorite character was "the little guy who rides in the swing".  During the part with the Goblin King, the one who is to send messages out to the Pale Orc that Thorin has been found.

Poppy:  Hobbit of brute strength.

These are our Denny's collector's cards. I told the children they are worth alot of extra work to earn one of these :)