Twas the Night

A few days before Christmas last year I saw in front of an HEB a young woman with an infant. She was just standing there, with an outstretched hand. She had her head low, trying not to make any eye contact. I was taken aback at that moment, and since I was with company, I didn't stop to ask what she needed. As I walked past by her into the store, I decided to get a gift card at the checkout and surprise her when I get out.. But by the time I was done shopping, she was no longer outside the store! frown emoticon I looked around for her, but she was gone. I was sad and upset with myself that I didn't approach her before. I ended up giving the store gift card to an older man I often saw on the way home at a traffic light.

Tonight something similar happened. In front of a Walmart I saw a father with two school-age boys with a sign. "Family in need" is all I was able to read on their cardboard as I entered the store. Again I was with someone, and didn't stop to think how to best handle it. I knew I would not take long inside, so right away I knew I'll get them a gift card. But alas, they were not there fifteen minutes later. :(( A deja vu moment! A security guy was walking around and he probably told them to move away. When will I learn, I thought! 

The HEB from last year's story was just a mile away, so I felt I should drive over there to see if someone is in need there. And there they were, the same family, dad and two boys!!! How awesome is that! When I pulled to the curb, they were just folding their sign as a security guy was telling them to move along. I asked them if that was them in front of Walmart and offered the card. The boys were all giddy! They all thanked me, we wished Merry Christmas to each other, and then parted with smiles on our faces. Even the security guy had a grin. smile emoticon
One minute later, and I would not have found them there. 

My Christmas miracle!

Christmas in February?

This poinsettia is still holding up two months after Christmas. The other 3 that I got at the same time are still alive, but don't look nearly as happy as this one. It didn't receive any special treatment. I don't know, maybe it's the basket!

I actually picked them up at my work when they were taking holiday decorations down, so they were already sitting there for a month or so. 

Christmas Is Here!

Or should I say: Christmas Is Here?!

Where did this month, this year go?!

I really was not in the pre-Christmas spirit this month. It started with the car thing, which happened on the first Sunday of Advent. The next two weeks were packed with stress and drama. Looking for the car, making decisions, pressure of finite time with rental-car, having to think about it every day, knowing that Zoran will be leaving soon and I would have to make the final decision myself,.... Then the stress of Ciro being worse and worse, taking him to the vet, feedings, nightly seizures, lack of sleep,....

It dawned on me that Christmas was almost here on the fourth weekend of Advent, when my mom arrived and had me box the presents she brought, and I didn't even get her anything! I realized this year we have the longest Advent, with Christmas day falling on a Sunday, and was greatfull for that extra week to try to get into the spirit.

On Saturday, I made myself finish decorating the tree and putting up the lights outside.
On Sunday, we went to the Christmas concert at the Capitol.
On Monday, I went to reconciliation and to the Celtic concert at the Cathedral.
On Tuesday, mom went with me to that same concert.
On Wednesday, I did some Christmas shopping.
On Thursday, I went to see some weird Christmas lights displays on the 37th street with my friend Joe.
On Friday, mom and I drove through some neighborhoods in Round Rock, like we did last year, that had great lights and even synchronized with music.
On Saturday, we did some baking and I went to Midnight Mass at the Cathedral.

Packed week! I had to force myself to do some of these things. I was going to have as good of a time as I make it.

Christmas day was rainy and cold, perfect for staying inside and relaxing. We had a late start (since I didn't get to bed till 2am) and took our time with coffee and breakfast. Opened presents. Cooked a nice meal. Sipped some wine. Cleaned the fridge to fit all the food. Watched some movies.

It's still hard to believe that in just 3 (!!!!!!) days it will be 2012!

Where. Did. The. Year. Go?!!!

Christmas With the Family

Oh what a wonderful day it was!

I went to the Midnight Mass at the Cathedral, which started with Carols & Lessons at 11PM. Even at 11 the church was almost completely packed, and I barely managed to squeeze into one of the last few empty seats - the benefit of entering the church solo. People who arrived just ten minutes later had to stand on the sides. The church was warm, decorated, people dressed festively, and four priests plus the bishop were celebrating! And I got another little present from the Holy Spirit...loved it! :)

I didn't get to bed until 3am. My godmother called me just after 9am on Christmas Day. I was just waking up, but am so glad we got to talk, even for just a brief time. Then I got up, put some logs in the fireplace, and mom and I had our long morning coffee together. Then my brother got up and joined us. He bought several gallons of special milk and started making some cheese, four different kinds over the next couple of days. Mom made us some puffy pastries and we had breakfast at 1pm. We were in no rush. Then, we opened our gifts, taking turns. Mom's luggage still didn't arrive, so we will have another round of presents, hopefully by the New Year's Day.









As I cleaned up all the paper and put away the presents and boxes, mom took a nap, and Zoran continued with cheese making.

In the late afternoon we went for a walk in our neighbourhood. It was very cold, around 40F, but sunny and crispy, just as the Christmas Day in Austin should be.

When we got back, we turned on the fireplace again, and watched the Christmas story on the TV. It was I think the 5th repeat of it on that day, so we watched it in pieces and finished some time later that evening. Then we all got cozy on my long couch and Zoran setup up for us to watch a movie on Netflix. It was an Italian movie, about a middle age man who for a few days got to take care of his elderly mother and three other old ladies. We though our mom would enjoy it, and she did. I made us plates to sample the food we made the day before, and also try Zoran's two cheeses, and sipped on some beer, which mom rarely gets to do. It was such a lovely evening, just sitting together like that, next to the fire, leisurely snacking on 'meze' food, and watching that movie that somewhat relates to where we are in life today. I just kept thinking how I wanted to savor that warm, happy moment.

We actually never had a real dinner that evening. We were so full on just that finger food. But we did make some room for desert. :) Christmas Chocolate Log.

Oh, what a glorious, peaceful, memorable day this was!

Christmas Lights

I love it that some people spend weeks, even months, planning for and setting up their Christmas lights displays. I like to be done with it in couple of hours on my house, but I appreciate someone else's effort and love driving around neighbourhoods looking at those displays. KXAN put up a Holiday Lights Map to help us onlookers navigate.

Mom and I drove around few neighbourhoods in Round Rock. It was nice a warm, so we could drive around with our windows rolled down. It was nice to see neighbours come together and decorate entire street, put trails of lights on their lawns, even string lights from side of the street to the other. Some had lights synchronized to music, and a sign in the yard let the visitors know to which frequency to tune to. Our favorite was from http://ListenToOurLights.com (they asked me to remove their address).



1626 Belvedere Place


http://ListenToOurLights.com

Joyful Sunday

Since Christmas Day this year falls on a Saturday, Advent this year is exactly four full weeks long. The Gaudete ("rejoice" in Latin) Sunday marked the half-way point.

This whole year I feel has gone by so quickly for me, and it is also true during this season. Since my mom is coming in a few days, in order to spent more time with her, I wanted to finish up several tasks before that: clean the house, decorate, buy and wrap the presents, and other mundane chores. Preparations.

This third Sunday of Advent, is just a little more special than the other days of Advent season, which is otherwise of a penitential character. The Church rejoices on this Sunday in the nearness of the Lord's coming with additional signs of gladness. In my household, the Christmas tree is put up, decorated and surrounded by presents on this Sunday.

This year a group of us also went to a nursing home to sing Christmas carols to the residents there. My friend Norma volunteers at the Hearthstone nursing home, so she arranged for us to sing during their lunchtime. We've been caroling there for the last couple of years, and last year it was actually on Christmas Day. This Sunday worked out really well, because more residents were there and more people were able to come sing than last year. My friend Irene invited half of the choir from the St. Albert church, and they did an awesome job harmonizing! The hour and a half went by in no time.

Images of Christmas

Merry Christmas!

"No, Not At This Place"

She went from one place to another, but they kept saying "No, we don't' have it here."

I pondered today Mary and Joseph's journey for a place to stay as I went from one place to another looking for ....cabbage leaves!.

Apparently, they are a hot item this time of year, and very few stores carry them at all. I must have visited more than half a dozen places and called a few others, but just kept hearing "Sorry, we don't have it here any more."

I, too, had to make use of the other alternatives that were available...

Gaudete Sunday

Since my family didn't celebrate Christmas while I was growing up, I don't have any inherited holiday traditions. So, I try to establish some as I go along. Which is not always easy when you live in a single-person household.

During the Advent season, I try to focus on the internal preparation, but at the same time outwardly building up the anticipation of Christmas season (with a focus on season, not a day). As the title of this book I recently heard of "Happiness is an Internal Affair" suggests, I try to remind myself that the joy of this season does not come from all the outward signs.

The first Sunday of Advent (Hope) I put up an advent wreath.
That is all the decorating I want to do for that first week. I say a blessing and light the first candle during dinner, if I set it up early enough. Most years, the start of Advent catches me off guard, with how quickly it has arrived, that I take the wreath out of the box just at the end of the day. I don't even get a chance to take all other boxes down from the attic. It happens during the next week
I am usually very hopeful that this year I am really going to work hard on spiritual preparation. I think of new ways to spruce up the faith life this season.

The second weekend of Advent (Faith) I try to put up the lights on the house.
Somehow, the weather always seems to be really cold, rainy or windy when I do this. I often realize that a week has gone by without much internal preparation. The lights represent my renewed faith to allow the Lord to slow me down and let Him into places of my life that need His coming the most.

The third Sunday of Advent (Joy) I have reserved in the last several years for putting up and decorating a Christmas tree.
I get all excited about this one. Just like that pink candle we lit on this Sunday is slightly different, I make this day just a bit closer to Christmas and less about waiting. For those few hours while spreading up those tree branches, putting up small tree lights, and working on a pattern with ornaments, I allow myself to listen to just Christmas music. (I try to avoid Christmas music on the radio, flip the stations to find something else, until Christmas season, but by then most of them stop playing it.) I put a small nativity set under the tree, and hide the baby Jesus until His birth on Christmas. This year, I may have started another tradition. I invited my brother and his girlfriend over for dinner, and I made a feast out of it. I made my favorite whole grilled trout, "Restovani" potatoes, carrots, asparagus with lemon butter, spinach and strawberry salad, and my signature "birthday" cake. We had great wine, exchanged gifts and placed them under the tree, and ended the night with a cute movie.

Yeah, I think I like this new tradition. Spending this Sunday with the family adds even more happiness to this joyful Sunday.

Last Day of Christmas

This year, Advent and Christmas went by really fast. Although I felt I was gradually getting prepared through Advent, days after December 25th went by in a fly. But Christmas season this year had a grandiose finale on Epiphany. The three of us went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert on Sunday evening. I've been wanting to go to this concert for few years now, and I made sure to get the tickets on the first day they came out on sale. It was spectacular; 3 hours of great music, wowing light effects, lasers, and fire bursts! We had seats really high on the balcony, but it allowed us to see the full effect of the displays these effects made on the ceiling and the entire arena. I was pleasantly surprised that mom enjoyed it so much. :) She was clapping and rocking, and even had her favorite singer!
Another bombastic event that evening happened after we came back from the concert.
At about 11.45 PM, 15 min after we got back to the house, we got a loud knock on the front door - it was a police officer. His first words were "Did you just come back from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert"? My first thoughts: Did we do something on the road and he was following us; Did something happened at the concert and we were witnesses he chased down? Then he says: "I just called your cell phone, but you were not answering..." Wait, my cell phone?! Where did he get my cell phone number? Only a handful of my friends have that number.
At that point we invited him to come in, because this was going to take a while. :) He then explained that a neighbour who was jogging late that evening noticed that our front door was wide open, called the police, and he came over to check. I apparently forgot to lock the door after turning on the Christmas lights outside right before we left, and the wind must have opened it. He came in, went through all the rooms, checked all windows, and nothing was broken or appeared missing. Our laptop was sitting on the couch, very visible, and his conclusion was that since it has not been stolen - nobody was in the house trying to rob us. He then looked at phone number list on our home phone, dialed the first person on the list, who happened to be one of the only two of my friends who knew we were at the concert, Amanda. She gave him my cell number, (Thanks, Amanda!) but of course it was off. I am glad I didn't listen to that message right as we were driving back, because I would have been really worried. So, the nice policeman just locked the house and circled around the neighbourhood waiting for us to come back and tell us all that.
My mom felt uneasy after that incident, but I felt at peace. At peace that we have nice neighbours who would call the police when seeing an open house, more nice neighbours who didn't come in and took our stuff while the house was open, and nice police officers who went through the house to check it, thought to call someone from my phone list, and waited that late for us to come back. I love being a homeowner in a safe neigbourhood!