31 January 2014

SQTF 75: Feasts, Football, and Sweater-weather Fun

I
Oh, that warm weather spoiled us... I suppose it must be getting warmer again everywhere else, because we woke up to -5 F this morning. And it felt SO COLD, which is absurd, because on a typical year I'd be so happy that it was practically 0 instead of pushing -50 right now. We felt like such wimps this morning, shivering as we walked out to the car! Time to wear the heavier coats and mittens again.

II
The dip in temperature really could have waited a day; if it were the weekend, Matt would be home and we could take turns bringing Little Bear outside to go sliding on the snow hill. (These grownups are definitely bigger wimps than the toddler when it comes to spending time outside sledding.) Below zero, since I have yet to find a way to keep a scarf on him, I prefer to only let him play outside for short stretches of time; adding on the time it takes to get in and out of gear, I usually only want to do it once or twice a day! He would be so happy to spend hours on the hill, though, so when Matt is home tomorrow maybe we will each take him out a few times.

III
Happy feast of St John Bosco, apostle to youth! I'm so glad Little Bear and I made it to noon Mass today. To be honest, I didn't plan to; I had a meeting at 12:45, I needed Little Bear to be fed and happy at that point so I could send him with my mom, I didn't want to be in town for hours and hours, the timing was all wrong... But God must have really wanted me to be there for the rosary and Mass, because at 11 o'clock I looked around and realized the house was clean, supper was under control, and the child was fed and standing by the door holding his boots. It doesn't get much clearer than that!

IV
I need some new ideas for ways to keep Little Bear awake in the car when we are driving home around nap time. Okay, what I really need is a garage, so that I can let him stay asleep in his car seat and just leave the car windows and the door into the house open so I can hear when he wakes up. But absent that, I need ideas. It's a huge problem when Little Bear falls asleep on the way home, wakes up while I'm carrying him into the house, and decides that those ten minutes counted as his nap for the day.

V

Behold, the furthest extent of my arts and crafts skills. I'm so glad Little Bear isn't old enough to be disappointed yet... At least he has aunts and uncles who will have fun helping him make stuff as he gets older. Seriously, though, he has had so much fun with this "telephone," even though he doesn't really understand the point of it yet. And maybe he never will... how, in an age of wireless, am I going to explain to him that the voices go through the string? We don't have a landline at all, so he won't have any frame of reference for what a tin can telephone is imitating.

VI
Super Bowl Sunday is coming up! I'm not all that attached to either team, although Seattle is the team most adopted by Alaskans as "local," and I remember cheering for the Broncos in the last years of John Elway's career. The game was always a day for a party growing up, though, and this'll be the first year Matt and I are hosting. I'm sure that, by Super Bowl party standards, it will barely even count; my family is driving over during halftime to watch the second half of the game, so that Little Bear can nap through the first half, and most of my siblings who'll be present will probably spend most of the time in another room playing board games anyway. But it's still enough of an excuse to make guacamole and hummus and other fun food! And I really do enjoy watching football.

VII
This coming Sunday, February 2, is Candlemas; bring some candles to Mass to have them blessed! The day celebrates Christ the Light of the World: we will hear the Gospel reading containing Simeon's prophecy, calling Christ "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." In 638, Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, described the importance of Candlemas and the blessing of candles: "Our bright shining candles are a sign of divine splendor of the One who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of His eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ." Candlemas falls forty days after Christmas, which is the length of time Mosaic Law proscribed that a women should wait and purify herself after giving birth before she presented herself in the temple---thus the day is also known as the Feast of the Presentation.

Have a great weekend! For more quick takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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