Christmas Mass – Children’s Mass

In our Parish on Christmas Eve the evening mass is (traditionally) known as the “Children’s Mass”. 

Is it because Christmas is about the celebration of Christ’s  being born (as a child)??  Is it because a lot of the focus of Christmas is about children??  Is it because on Christmas Eve the kids are so antsy and squirrely that they need anything they can to help distract them from the impending arrival of Santa??  Is it all of the above??

During Children’s Mass – the children of the Parish are asked to participate in the Mass (procession, readings, gifts, etc).  One of the highlights of the mass is the “Living Nativity”.  Usually comprised of the littlest of the children (who can not read or participate in any other way), the “Living Nativity” consists of shepherds, angels,  the Three Wise Men, a Joseph, and a Mary. 

This year, #4 of 4 was asked to do a reading, and #5 of 5 was asked to play the part of Mary!

The “Living Nativity” lasts from the Procession to and through a blessing of the large Crèche upon the alter. (A few short minutes).

In reality, the only time 90% of the parish can actually see the “Living Nativity” is during the procession (the first two photos below).  In what is most likely “bad forum”, I snuck up the side isle of church, and crammed my large frame into a tiny crevice where I was able to sneak the remainder of the photos you see below.

The Mother of Five and the remaining children not involved in the mass were unable to see the “Living Nativity” from their seats.  The photos were the only way we could enjoy the scene.  There was one other parent up there with me - I presume by the angle of the photos she was taking – she was “Joseph’s” mother.  (I hope I was not too much of a distraction for Fr. Yanta!)

As always, our Parish Priest, Fr. Timothy Yanta, did a OUTSTANDING job dealing with all the kids while providing  inspirational leadership to his parish!  We are a blessed parish (and school) to have Fr. Yanta as our Priest and spiritual leader!  I can not say enough about what a WONDERFUL job he does!! 
(Thank you Fr. Yanta – if you are reading this!!  Thank you for ALL you do for us!) 

 

(Left to Right)

#4 of 5 carrying a candle during the procession.

#5 of 5 as Mary, with Joseph, and our Parish Priest Fr. Timothy Yanta

#5 of 5 as Mary, with Joseph, and our Parish Priest Fr. Timothy Yanta

 

 

(Left to right)

Fr. Yanta directing “Mary” (#5 of 5) and “Joseph” towards the Crèche.

“Mary” (#5 of 5) and Joseph placing the figurine of the Baby Jesus in the Crèche.

 

 

 

 

(Left to right)

“Mary” (#5 of 5) and Joseph placing the figurine of the Baby Jesus in the Crèche.

Fr. Timothy Yanta initiating the beginning of the Christmas Eve Mass with a blessing over the Crèche.

 (…and no, I am not marketing any sort of “Father of Five” branded shepherd hooks – my watermark just seemed to fit well in that spot…)

 

 

 

 

(Left to right)

A photo of a portion of the cast of the “Living Nativity” as seen from our seats (in the back end of the Sanctuary).  Sorry about the poor photo quality

#5 of 5 back at our seats, (and before changing out of her costume) upon completion of her duties as "Mary”

The Story of Snoopy

This story / tradition goes back ten... maybe twelve years now (to be honest, I have lost track).  The opening scene is in a recently opened Kohl's Department Store.  While out Christmas shopping together, the Mother of Five, and the "Mother of the Father of five" noticed a drawing being held...  First prize was a vacation trip.  Second prize was a set of four Minnesota Vikings tickets.  The Mother of Five put her name in the drawing, (truthfully) hoping to win the Vikings tickets. 

Fast forward about a week or so... 

I answer the ringing telephone, and am asked if this is the residence of the "Mother of Five" (only she was "mother of three" at that time).  I answer yes.  The caller asked to speak to the "Mother of Five".  I tell the caller that she is not home.  The caller asks if I am her husband.  I answer yes, I am.  The caller asks me to have the Mother of Five come into the new Kohls store and claim her prize.

Prize??  WOO HOO!!!  Pack our bags, we are going on VACATION! (Or at the very least, we are going to a Vikes game!!)

I thanked the caller, and advised her that the Mother of five will be stopping in.

When she returned home, I told the Mother of Five that we had won the contest, and that Kohls would like to see her ASAP.  The Mother of Five headed off to Kohls to lay claim our bounty!

After claiming our prize and driving back home again, I watched the Mother of Five get out of, and walk around to the back of the car.  She opened the trunk, and hauled out the LARGEST stuffed Snoopy (wearing a Christmas collar) that I have EVER seen! 

The Mother of five brought the monster sized stuffed Snoopy in, and told me that we did not win the Vacation Package, that we did not win the Vikings tickets, but we did win the "consolation prize" - The huge stuffed Snoopy that was used as the store display for holding the box that contestants stuffed their entry forms into.  I am sure it was mentioned somewhere on the back of the entry form (in tiny print) that the Snoopy would also be given away to some "lucky shopper".

I know what you are thinking at this point, so let me clear this up.  This Snoopy was NOT what I would categorize as one of those giant "carnival quality" stuffed animal...

No, this Snoopy is what I would consider a pretty impressive "commercial quality" stuffed animal.

Snoopy was an immediate hit with the boys.  Because they were so small (and it was so big) they could climb all over him, and actually sit on (and snuggle up in) Snoopy's lap.  What were we going to do with this thing? we asked ourselves.  We discussed our options, and decided to keep him through Christmas, and follow up after Christmas by donating him to a organization that could use a monster sized stuffed Snoopy.  When Christmas had come and gone (and we started packing up the Christmas decorations) the boys asked us if we could hang on to Snoopy for one more Christmas (which we did).  "One more Christmas" turned into a third Christmas, then a fourth Christmas... Somewhere along the line the girls (child #4 and #5) came along and Snoopy's presence became an integral part of Christmas in the FOF household.

  

 

This year, my in-laws went out of state to visit the Mother of Five's Brother and his wife (henceforth to be known as BIL#2 and SIL#2) and their two sons (henceforth to be known as Cousin-M (age 4) and Cousin-C(less than a year old)).  Since Cousin-M is such a huge Snoopy fan, the Mother of Five brought our Snoopy to her parents house.  She asked her parents about the possibility of bringing our Christmas Snoopy with them to "visit" Cousin-M and Cousin-C during their visit. 

Grandma and Grandpa did indeed bring Snoopy with them, but warned Cousin-M ahead of time that Snoopy wanted to come for a visit, but really wanted to be able to come back home to our house.  Cousin-M understood, and welcomed Snoopy into his home.

 

Snoopy was as immediate a hit with Cousin-M as he was at our house!  They spent the week together.  They played in a playpen, read stories, played toys and games together...   Cousin-M even introduced his (regular sized) Snoopy to it's "Daddy Snoopy".  They made memories of their own!

When it came time for Grandma, Grandpa, and Snoopy to return - Cousin-M made sure Snoopy's son (his Snoopy) got an opportunity to say goodbye, and (through BIL#2 and SIL#2) sent a note along with Snoopy - thanking us for letting him visit, and asking about the possibly of Snoopy's return to their house next year!!

 

 

Dear #4 of 5, #5 of 5, #2 of 5, #3 of 5 and #1 of 5 Thank you for letting Snoopy come to my house.  I hope he can come back another day. Love Cousin-M (and it was signed with a big letter “M”, written all by himself!) - - - - Daddy - Will you come back to see me again? Love Snoopy your son.

 

(copy of the actual note that came home with Snoopy)

I foresee many years of Snoopy in our Christmases.  Between our children, our nephews, and (potentially) future grandchildren - Snoopy will not be going anywhere...  He will have a guaranteed spot in our living room or family room for MANY YEARS to come!

It's truly amazing how something (like Snoopy) can be transformed from an almost "let down" (thinking we won a much bigger and more valuable prize) - and something we had to try to figure a way to "get rid of", into something that has become a beloved part of our Christmas, and one of our biggest family traditions!

A tradition with more (sentimental) value than we could have predicted, and more value than either (or both) the Vacation prize package or the Vikings Ticket Package could have ever equaled...

Christmas 2007

First of all, as many of you may have noticed - I have been absent here since before Christmas. I did not even really send out a Christmas Wish - but rest assured, you all were in my thoughts and good wishes for Christmas (or whatever Holiday you celebrate).

But, now it's almost over.

Christmas 2007 has come, and is almost finished.

We have one "event" left - Christmas at the in-laws. Originally, we were going to get together and celebrate Christmas when two of my wife's "out of town" siblings were going to be "in town". Unfortunately one of the two were able to make it, but we kept the date anyway. This will be Christmas 2007's last hurrah, and that takes place on Saturday.

Well, in the past I have mentioned some of the downfalls to working in the field I do. This last week has been the exact opposite! This week, I was able to enjoy one of the upsides to my job, and it's rotating schedule. My days off this last week were Wed, Thurs, and Friday! That means, I have had a blissful set of days off, spending time with my family, and with my children!

I have had three glorious days filled with non-stressful time playing...

American Girl Dolls with #4 and #5 of 5... (Nikki, and "Julia" (Nikki came pre-named, "Julia" came without a name, and #5 of five (3 year old) had to come up with her own name.)) Nikki and Julia came with enough accessories to keep these girls changing clothes, hats, shoes, diapers, etc for quite some time... (They have yet to stop)

Legos... LEGOS ROCK!!

Helping #3 of 5 assemble and play with the"City" (Police and Fire) sets he received - FD Hovercraft, a ladder truck, with a and pull behind rescue trailer / zodiac rescue boat, police motorcycle, fire / resuce helecopter, squad car, and "paddy wagon" (do they still call them that???)

Helping #2 of 5 assemble and play with the "Mars Mission" sets he received - Alien Mother Ship, Recon Drop Ship, MT-31 Trike, and the Alien strike

You cant forget watching #2 of 5 play his "Age of Empires III" game, all the kids play the new DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution) game, the Pirates of the Caribbian Life Game, and the Rubix Revolution.

Then, there was setting up my wife's new countertop convection / toaster oven (I cant find a link), filling my new Sansa e260 with enough music to choke a horse!), and programming the new family Remote Control. (No one knows how it got under the tree, the "To / From" tag only said "Just try and loose this one")... This is still a family mystery! I wonder who could have done this?? (Grin)

These are just some of the highlights of a few of the things I spent time doing with my kids this past week.

As I reflect back on Christmas, I can see that we have much to be thankful for, and as I complain about life in general, I can see that I have no true basis to complain. I have a wonderful life. I have great children, a loving wife, a nice home, and (by no means am I wealthy) I do have the means to keep my family afloat, and even enjoy a few nice things for Christmas.

Today is my last day off, and I start back to work tomorrow morning at 3am, and start in a week full of overtime... Nothing like jumping back in with both feet forward... (Or, jumping into a wood-chipper - feet first)...

My next read.

For Christmas, I got a new book.

"One Man's Wilderness"
By Sam Keith

The the story of Dick Proenneke.

Who is Dick Proenneke? CLICK HERE, HERE, HERE, heck... Dick Proenneke (Alaskan Adventurer) is ALL OVER THE WEB!

To properly enjoy this book I need a cool, calm, and quiet setting while I read (much like the setting of the book). That rarely happens at home, and seldom happens at work... I'll wait for a set of days off in January or February where I can have a day or two of some peace and quiet...





I was turned on to this book by when PBS aired three specials on Alaska. The first one called "Alone in the Wilderness" (The story of Dick Proenneke - and documentary about this book), the second (I forget the title - but I will find and add here) is about the Alaskan Wilderness, and the Narrator does a lot of flying over the wilderness in special plane, and the third "Grizzly Man" The story of Timothy Tredwell (another Alaskan Adventurer and bear enthusiast). If you have not had the opportunity to see Grizzly Man - I highly recommend it! It contains an adventure story with some underlying humor in it (you will have to see it to understand) and the captivating beauty of the Alaskan wilderness... Once you start it's hard to look away.

The Crawl Space

I have had a pretty busy weekend.

For the first time in almost a month, my days off were not taken up with plans. Thanksgiving was great, and thanksgiving dinner was one of the best I have had in a long time. Michele did a great job!

Since Thanksgiving, we got out all the Christmas decorations. Our decorations are stored in the "crawl space" under the steps of the house. It's a small storage area with less than half the height of the rest of the room.

The first several years we lived in the house, I would crawl in, and wear out the knees of my pants, as I was crawling directly on the cement floor. Most cement floors are abrasive, and because of that, I would pretty much ruin what ever pants I was wearing. After we finished the basement, I had carpet remnants left over, and laid them out in patchwork on the floor to kneel on. That worked ok, but the remnants would move all around, and only covered a small portion of the space. As I would drag things out, the remnants would slide, bunch up, and block my ability to pull (or push) out the bigger or heaver storage containers.

This summer, one of the local Menards stores was closing, and moving down the street. As they did this, they put their merchandise on clearance to get rid of it and not have to move it. As Michele and I meandered around the store we found boxes of adhesive carpet squares. It was the perfect solution. We picked them up and decided to store them away (in the crawl space) until Christmas time when we would have 75% of the crawlspace cleared out, and installing them would be easier!

Fast forward 5 months, and I had forgotten all about the squares. As we got out the Christmas Decorations, we "found" the squares, and made plans for Saturday to get them put in. I spent a large portion of Saturday getting them put in!

Before (more like during) and After photos

I ending up being about a box short (we bought what Menards had left at the time). Also, tired of hitting a hot light bulb hanging WAY down below the ceiling line, I have decided to upgrade the lighting in the crawlspace. So Monday or Tuesday I will run to the store, pick up some more tiles, and some upgraded lighting. I will update this post when that is complete.

I also have a couple of other posts to finish up. I hope to have them finished by Wed.

David.