Pretty Happy Funny Real

~Pretty~

We visited James Madison's Montpelier a couple days after Thanksgiving. The grounds were spectacularly beautiful especially since it was one of the last warm days of 2011. 

 A race...

...to catch...

...her older sister! 

~Happy~

What could be a more fitting epithet? 

~Funny~

In this house, pens have an uncanny habit of walking away. In an effort to forestall this, my mother labeled the pens that she uses (as you can see below).

Upon discovering said pens one day, my sister and I formulated a theory that like an anti-theft device, if anyone besides my mother used the pens they would explode. 

Well, as you can see below, I had the opportunity to test said theory just the other day... 

I think we were right. :)

~

Before exploring the gorgeous grounds of Montpelier, we had the opportunity to take a tour of the mansion...

The little one payed strict attention the whole time and upon spying the statues of James and Dolly Madison after the tour, exclaimed, "Mommy, Daddy, look! Dolly Madison is my mom and James Madison is my dad!"

She then proceeded to sit on her "new dad's" knee and read with him. ;)  

~Real~

What is wrong with this picture? 

I made a batch of orange poppyseed muffins for St. Nicholas' feast day... and then it struck me...

A) It's been nearly two weeks since Thanksgiving and the turkey and gravy recipes are still on the counter... 

B) I am probably the only person in the world using a basket of cosmetics and dental supplies (yes, that is toothpaste) to prop open my baking book. 

hmm. Definitely a reality check. 

(The muffins turned out really well, thanks be to God, and I was able to serve them with dinner. On a side note, if you're interested in a new baking book, I highly recommend Baking: A Commonsense Guide.  I haven't found a bad recipe yet! ) 

Zealous Thieves

In many Catholic households the night of December 5th is particularly exciting because, in anticipation for today, we put out a shoe in hopes that St. Nicholas will visit and leave us a gift (usually in the form of sugary goodness that is candy...). If you are a good child then you receive a gift and if you are naughty then you would get carried away in Sinterklaas' sack. This is a very old tradition that sounds very familiar to us. As Catholics, let us not forget that "Santa Claus" is actually a 4th century bishop and not a mythical, fat, jolly, gift giver.

One of the things that I find fascinating and hilarious about early Christianity is the way in which they treat the saints (i.e. when they are deceased). Let me illustrate my point. St. Nicholas died on December 6, 345 and his body was buried in the cathedral in Myra (modern day Turkey). There his body laid intered for seven hundred and forty two years. That is until some Italian sailors decided to steal the relics of the venerated saint and transfer them to their port city: Bari, Italy. That's a great idea! Only the Italians would think of stealing the body of saint dead for almost a thousand years. That's not the real irony though. St. Nicholas was even made patron of sailors. This is the ultimate example of "good can come out of evil" because after they intered the holy saint in Bari a renewal of devotion to St. Nicholas spread like wildfire (St. Nicholas is also the patron of fire...) in the West! Surely we are recipients of this renewal even today.

So if you think that a Saint of the Church has not been receiving enough veneration lately consider stealing their relics and bring them to your city. Hey, you never know.