Saturday, December 23, 2006

Your reading glasses...

Emma: Daddy, Daddy! I have your weading glasses. I've been keeping them safe for you.

Daddy: busy with the lap top absently responds, "Hmmmm?"

Emma: Daddy!! Daddy! I have your weading glasses! I've been keeping them safe for you.

Daddy: Hmmm, oh, okay Emma.

"CLINK"

Sound of the protected reading glasses landing at Daddy's feet as Emma, glad to relinquish them, tossed them across the room at her father. They survived. Read more!

The Answer to the riddle of the chairs...

...to why the chairs are all laying down on the floor around the dining room table.

I loved the many guesses, esp the idea of some funny game having been played. Sadly that is not the reason as much as I love it. Rather it is Amanda that solved the riddle and so, wins an invitation to Christmas Dinner, (Of course, it helps that she is the oldest child in the family and already planning on coming home)

The reason the chairs are all on their backs is to keep 20 month old Elsa safely off the table.

She has learned how to move, push, arrange and climb on chairs and loves to dance on the table! And today I bought a Christmas gift for the family... a baby gate.

So today, the chairs are all on their four legs. Read more!

This Christmas Adam...



...my family and I add to Father's blessings (below), my family's prayers for you and our gratitude to all of my readers who have been here for us this past, and very difficult, year. You have been here for us spiritually and some of you financially. God Bless you all and thank YOU for your PRAYERS as well as any physical assistance you have extended to us. God has been good to us this Christmas, gifts from different sources have generously appeared, as if from no where, and our children will have a wonderful Christmas. You have all, one way or the other, made room for us in your inn, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

God Bless!
Christi, Hugo and their twelve blessings.
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Borrowing from Father Corapi again


Christmas is one of the greatest of our religious feasts in the Catholic and Christian world. It is in itself a most beautiful and joyous time. Existentially, it is a paradox, however, because large numbers of people suffer terribly at this time of year. Why? I suppose there are a lot of reasons, but one is that depression—one of the Enemy’s greatest weapons—gets the better of many of us. The world can be a cold place, and rejection and isolation in its various forms takes a terrible toll on humanity.

As Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem there was no room for them with their relatives, nor at the inns.

It was cold, dark, and desolate that night, and there was no room at the inn, no room that night for the Holy Family. After two millennia has anything changed? Is there indeed room in the inn of many human hearts and minds?

Countless people are alone at Christmas. They remember Christmases of days gone by-- families gathering, warmth, midnight Mass, gifts, good times and friendship. Now they are alone, aged in many cases, not so aged in others. The bitter cold of that long ago night when there was no room at the inn takes hold of them.

Often the greatest things are born of suffering and rejection, if only we can see that the preface of victory is battle. Out of the cold indifference of that long ago night in Bethlehem was born the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He had Mary and Joseph, the cave, and the animals to keep Him warm. He was doing His Father’s will. That was enough.

This Christmas allow Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to fill you with the warmth of the Father’s love. Thank God for the gift of His only Son. Then go out of your way to radiate that love to someone who is most in need of it. A kind word, a little gift, an invitation to an elderly or shut-in person to come to dinner, etc. goes so far. Love is like fire. It illuminates the darkness and transmits heat to those around it.

God bless you and yours this Christmas, and forever,

Fr. John Corapi


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