devil's beatitudes

A friend of mine cut these out of her church's bulletin and shared them with me..... food for thought.

The Devil's Beatitudes

• Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, or too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians - they are my best workers.
• Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked - I can use them.
• Blessed are the touchy who stop going to church - they are my missionaries.
• Blessed are the troublemakers - they shall be called my children.
• Blessed are the complainers - I'm all ears to them.
• Blessed are those who are bored with the minister's mannerisms and mistakes - for they get nothing out of his homily.
• Blessed is the church member who expects be be invited to his own church - for he is a part of the problem instead of the solution.
• Blessed are those who gossip - for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.
• Blessed are those who are easily offended - for they will soon get angry and quit.
• Blessed are those who do not give their offering to carry on God's work - for they are my helpers.
• Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister - for he shall be with me forever.
• Blessed are you who, when you read this, think that it is about other people and not yourself - I've got you too!

a definition

Christmas

• In which I get (even more) addicted to chocolate
• why Lent has to happen

hope yours was, too

Our Christmas was just. plain. wonderful!

This year, more so than any other year, I saw a new beauty, a deeper character in my children on Christmas morn. They were actually more excited about what they gave than what they got!

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There were so many heartwarming or funny moments that it would be too hard to remember them all and record them all... so here are a few snippets.

The kids set their alarms (yes, my kids have to set an alarm for Christmas morning) for 7 a.m. We went downstairs and saw what Santa brought... my favorite thing was a note that said,

"Dear.... (kids)...

When you go to Mass this morning,

remember to thank the Lord for

the very best gift of all: the Christ child.

No one loves you more than He does...."

Then we ate breakfast, went to Mass, came home and opened one another's gifts. It was so nice to see the thoughtfulness and generous spirit in each of them.

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Another really nice moment was the day that King took the kids to the zoo and my mom (who spent Christmas with us) and I went to lunch, then shopping, then a movie (The Blind Side). We went to Atlanta Bread Company and they still had Christmas music piped in. How nice that it was 2 days after Christmas, a time when most retailers are looking to the next big holiday, and they still had all their decorations up and they were not only playing Christmas music, but it was the Christian form of Christmas music... y'know: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, We Three Kings, etc. And unless I was just there at the right time, there were no Santa songs, praise be! So, shout out to the A.B.Co!

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One of the things the kids received this year was a trampoline. Number 2 is having a BLAST on that thing. It doesn't matter to him that it is 34 degrees outside, he is out there jumping away. I want to try to get on it... yes, I am a bit fearful that I will either break it or end up in the E.R. (Redneck's last words: "Hey, yawl, wah'chiss!") Yeah, well. We'll see.

ps-

Because Christmas is officially 12 days long and BEGINS on the 25th, despite what we are told by the retailers, our cards will be mailed sometime before Epiphany, I promise.

peace

Nativity Silhouette

Our family has at long last slowed down to enjoy the last few days of Advent and to welcome the Christ child. Our prayer for all of our family and friends is that Christ's peace and love will fill each heart.

In all things and at all times, praise Him.

is it worth it?

When people you love, people who used to be close, no longer speak, no longer love or even like each other, continue to hold grudges against each other... it is beyond sad. You feel caught in the middle. You love each of the sides. But it tears you apart. It kills a part of you on the inside.

You want to be the peacemaker. You want to say just-the-right-thing to make them love again. However, it is impossible to be the peacemaker. This is something that they must do. All you can do is to pray.
Pray that one day, before dying, they will be able to reconcile. One day, before Christ makes them do it (because you KNOW He will... and talk about humiliating! That'd be worse than going to the Principal's office.)

We should all take the time to think about people we hold grudges against. Is whatever happened worth being kept out of Heaven? It is hard to tell someone that you are sorry. Especially when you think the other person is to blame. But, wouldn't this season be the perfect time to extend a generous spirit of peace... an olive branch even?

roundabout and roundabout and roundabout we go

Well, my kitchen is spotless all thanks to a wild boar.

Y'see, wha'ha happened wuz.... a friend of ours, a hunter, gave us a package of wild boar meat. Three packages of wild boar sausage and one package (6) chops. King used one of the packages of sausage at breakfast the other day. It was quite good, very lean. Not too gamey. I have never cooked pork chops, because I'm not a huge fan of pork. But our friend said it was easy, so I gave it a whirl.

The chops were beautiful. However, when they cooked.... my house took on a very very gamey + oily/fry smell. When I went upstairs to go to bed, the really really really gamey, oily/fry smell was up there, too. I could barely sleep. I don't do well with "stank" as I have quite the sensitive nose. (Put it this way, when I was pregnant with number 1, King and I were traveling to Florida and I told King that I smelled water.... half mile later we crossed over a creek.)

Ennyhoo.... long story short, this morning I awoke to find that the smell was still there. It started a cleaning spree... we washed cabinets, ceiling fans, floors, windows, stove top, counter tops. The kids vacuumed and mopped the whole downstairs.

King was planning on making a fruitcake this morning, but his plans were delayed just a wee bit. I just couldn't have him cooking in such a smelly kitchen, y'know?

Now it smells like fruitcake.

*sigh*

:/ Can't win for losing.