Hodie Christus natus est!

Our Christmas with Modest Mama and her family continues. We attended Christ's Mass at a Byzantine Catholic Church last night. It was a bit hectic getting everyone out of the house. We are four adults and seven kids, including two toddlers. We made it but I'm not going to lie, it was pretty ugly getting there.

When we came home, the kids went to bed and the adults wrapped presents and prepared things for Christmas morning. Then it was off to bed. There's no sense recounting the morning in writing. I'll just use pictures.

Here's the crew:

James, age 7

















Isaac, age 6 (just turned!)

















Allison, age 5




















Henry, nearly 4



















Frances, age 2
















Margaret, nearly 2

















Gigantor!


















The Mamas and the Papas:





































































And our Christmas morning:

We've arrived!

The first leg of our trip is behind us now. We drove from Austin to Little Rock last Friday. We stayed in a motel that night then drove on the next morning to Nashville. After a night in a motel there, we made our way to church. We visited an Anglo-Catholic parish in town, St. Andrew's.

This part is for Uncle Leon. We showed up at about 9:45am for a 10am service and immediately discovered that they were holding a special joint confirmation service with a nearby parish at 11am. So we had an hour to hang around the parish hall, which was just like old times at Our Saviour. We watched the odd assortment of folks drift in and out. Anglo-Catholics and Southerners are all about oddball people. Bishop Ackerman was there to confirm, which was fun. We got a chance to speak with him before the service--we were a whole hour early! The two priests of the parishes holding the joint service were both SSC as well and acquainted with our own Fr. Tanghe.

The next day, we drove to Kentucky to visit some family friends there. A former professor from my undergraduate college and his wife had become friends with my mother in law, Cathy. She watched their kids when they lived in Redding. They have since moved on and we stopped in to see them on our way. We stayed the evening and then left the next morning after breakfast.

They have three kids. The eldest is a boy, about 13 years old. He and Frances were fast friends, which was hilarious. She kept wandering in to the kitchen to ask us, "Where is him? Where is him?" He loves little kids and spent the evening chasing her around like a monster. It was fun to watch. At the end of the night, our girls collapsed into bed with their two girls, who are 9 and 11, I think. They were supposed to sleep on the floor but they ended up snuggled up into bed with their new friends.

Monday, we drove on to where we are now, Latrobe, PA. We are here to visit friends we knew in Atlanta and haven't seen in two years. So far it's been a lot of fun. They have four kids, around the same age as ours, and they all get on very well. I might have more to say later but for now, we're just really enjoying relaxing and spending some time together. I should take some pictures. Good idea. Let's do that.

Meet Charles

Each of our girls has a blanket/bear. This is a parenting key for us. The children need to learn to self-soothe, sooner rather than later as far as I'm concerned, and the blanket bear functions as transitional object. It's good for comfort and for sleeping. They suck their thumbs and snuggle up to it.

Anyway. Allison has a Winnie the Pooh. Frances has a little pink bear, officially named Tillie but she calls it Tee-tee. Jude had a pink bunny. We bought it before he was born--before we knew he was a boy, actually. The girls named it Rosie.

Rosie isn't working for our boy. It's too much bunny, not enough blanket. It's not really that snuggly. And so we went on a quest today to find a replacement.

We came home with Charles. Meet Charles:






















I'm pretty sure Charles is a dog. Allison picked him out. I named him. Allison wanted to call him Cha-Cha. I don't think so. Jude can call him whatever he likes but for now, I'm calling him Charles. It has a nice, stately ring to it.

Jude and Charles already get along famously. He took a lovely nap together snuggled up with his new friend:
























Let's hope this eases his night-waking.

Godzilla.

I bet you've never seen a yard flamingo like this. I pass this house every day when I pick Allison up from school.

Who's on first...

Allison: Someone told on me at school today.

Me: Oh, really? What did you do?

Allison: I told on someone.

Me: You just said someone told on you.

Allison: She did.

Me: But then you said you told on someone.

Allison: I did!

Me: I'm confused.

Allison: Mommeeeee!

Me: What did you do again?

Allison: I told you! I told on someone.

Me: Ahh....because she told on someone?

Allison: Yes.

Me: Who told on you?

Allison: Helena.

Me: Because you told on....?

Allison: Veronica.

Me: I'm with you now. So what did Veronica do that you told on her about?

Allison: She told on someone.

Me: Okay just hold on a minute. You told on Veronica because she told on someone? And then Helena told on you for telling on Veronica....for telling on someone?

Allison: That's what happened.

Me: You think ya'll should stop telling on each other for silly reasons?

Allison: Actually, Helena called me a tattletale. And she told on me.

Me: She called you a tattletale and she told on you?

Allison: Yes. I didn't think it was very nice.

Me: Who was Veronica telling on again?

Allison: I don't really remember.

Me: What did they do?

Allison: I'm not sure.

Me: But you're sure she shouldn't have told.

Allison: Well, calling people tattletales isn't good...but neither is telling.

Me: Right.