Family

Extreme Life Makeover

I used to love watching Extreme Home Makeover. It always included a feel good story. So, I was happy to see it was coming back. I watched the first episode tonight and it didn’t disappoint. The story was about a family who lost their husband and father, 3 years ago. He was also a pastor. […]

Epiphany House Blessing

Today we celebrate the day when the 3 kings arrived to witness and worship the baby Jesus. The church offered blessed chalk and a prayer to take and bless our homes. I had heard of the tradition, but had never done it. I went home, read the prayer and marked the lintels of my front door […]

Thinking of 2025

Coming to the end of the year gave me good reason to reflect back and look forward as perhaps many people do. I have seen several suggestions and ideas of how to do this. It is helpful to me to process through and write things down. I’m going to try to make it simple – […]

Holy Family

As it does every year, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family the week after Christmas. The Gospel was Luke 2:41-52 – the only account we have of Jesus’ childhood. The family was in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. But on their way back, travelling in a caravan, Mary and […]

The Little Mermaid

As a Christmas gift for my granddaughter, I got tickets for the live performance of The Little Mermaid at our local Fine Arts Center. Tonight my daughter in law, granddaughter, my sister and I all went to the show. It was a true musical with very little dialogue – mostly singing. For many of the […]

A Different Christmas

After much anticipation, Christmas arrived. Yesterday I kept myself busy cooking and baking and delivering goodies. I made my mom’s Christmas bread which she made every year. This year I was on my own. I asked her for help particularly to determine if the dough was the right consistency. It did turn out a little […]

God’s Present

I have been trying to stay in a positive mindset over the past couple days even as I seem to be very emotional. I have decided to just let the tears flow and perhaps at some point they will go dry. I have been listening to Advent music while I make yummy treats. The lyrics […]

Tiny Tree

When I started thinking about decorating the house for Christmas, I knew I didn’t want to display the same artificial tree that I have put up for the past 10 years. My parents enjoyed it as it was pre-lit and rotated so you could admire all the decorations. I enjoyed it too for several years. […]

The Madrigals

Last night my sister and I attended the Madrigal Banquet and I have been pondering it all day. It was held at a castle nestled back against the foothills, which belonged to one of the founders of the city. It had many technologically advanced features for the time such as an elevator and a steam […]

Hot Cocoa Bombs

In the past, my daughter in law has made amazingly beautiful and delicious hot cocoa bombs. She wasn’t going to do it this year, so I thought I would give it a try. I did enlist her help, however. She came over this morning and showed me all her tricks. A few hours later, we […]