Seven Quick Takes, vol 21

#1.  Merry 12th Day of Christmas!  Or Happy Epiphany!  Well, we are waiting till Sunday to celebrate it, but it really is too bad.  I am not a follower of the old calendar in most instances, but Epiphany should really be today, okay, people?  There seems to be to be no point to the "12 days of Christmas" when the 12th day is a random Friday of no significance and not the Epiphany.

 #2.  We have been so busy this Advent and Christmas season,

 making gingerbread houses

 reading Christmas books

 working with Nativity sets

 decorating our house

 painting Christmas doorknob hangers

 having a Christmas Eve hot chocolate picnic

 singing Happy Birthday to Jesus

 and opening gifts.

Our days have been happy and blessed and full.  Yet, I felt like I took a deep breath yesterday, realizing that it was the first day in three weeks that I could look at the calendar and see blank spaces.  The busyness has slowed and the festivities are settling back into normal life.  It was (and is!) a good and blessed Christmas, but I am grateful for future days and evenings at home. :)

#3.  We had two birthday celebrations in the Octave of Christmas.  Rosebud turned 4 and Sunshine 2!

Rosebud choose a kitty cake after seeing pictures of Turtle's 4th birthday cake, and she got to decorate it with jellybeans herself (Mommy added the whiskers).

Sunshine had cupcakes for her birthday,

 and got a dolly stroller for her "beebees" that she loves so much.

#4.  Then the next day, after all this partying and food-making I put my slaves to work scrubbing the floor,

 especially the littlest one.

#5.  A few days before Christmas I got an early Christmas gift that was one of the best I've ever gotten.  My grandma gave me her piano!  She has been promising me that I could have it for several years, but finally we figured out how to squeeze it into our house, and got the truck and the friends to help.  It is amazing to have it and I love relearning to play it!  The girls are all very happy with the piano too, though ground rules were quickly set about when and when NOT to play the piano! :)

#6.  In other happy Christmas gift news, D. got me these rain boots

I love them!  I can't wait till it rains . . . 

#7.  
This past week the girls and I visited the most amazing and beautiful Christmas display of Nativity scenes!  If you live in my hometown (and even if you don't!) you should go and see it!  There is an older priest that collects and displays these countless beautiful Nativities, tapestries, paintings, carvings and images around the building where he resides as chaplain.  He gives a tour of his collection whenever you ask, usually after the noon mass.  My favorite part are the Nativity sets.  Each one is better than the last.  Every set is decorated so reverently and with great attention to detail -- there are backdrops, sparkling stars, Christmas trees and hand-made stables.  There is moss and snow and water fountains.  There is even a snow machine!   Some displays have little fluttering silk fires, the kings have real fur on their collars, the camels are draped in tapestries and beads.  There is every kind of animal coming to visit the Christ Child from cheetahs to hedgehogs and moose to chickens.  It is simply enchanting!   Better than any secular Christmas-light show you will ever see and totally worth the effort to go.  I can't wait to go on the tour again next year! 

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