Week ending 28 diciembre

This is the last Week Ending linkup (thanks, Wanda, for having hosted it!), but I'll probably keep doing week ending posts because they're a good way to mark the passing of the seasons around here.

However, this past weekend was very quiet - on purpose. For quite a few years I have taken the last 2 weeks of the year to for reflection, for getting ready for the new year, and for general restorative purposes. Which is why I haven't posted anything for what seems like ages although it's really only been a week. But of course the week contained all the events surrounding Christmas day, including a wonderful long vigil mass on Tuesday and Christmas dinner with Padre as the guest on Wednesday.

The last week of Advent we listened to the Messiah every evening:

We can never get enough of this wonderful treatment of scripture in music. And of course, it's a great addition to the Easter season as well (I believe it was actually written for Easter performance). Assuming that you don't have 2 hours to listen to it right now, I urge you to click on it and hit the YouTube button so you can mark it over there for future listening. Same with the link below!

We discovered that the tradition in Mexico is to have Christmas dinner around midnight after the Tuesday night mass, but we just couldn't imagine staying sufficiently alert to try it, so we stayed with having Christmas dinner on Wednesday after the noon mass.

On Wednesday evening we listened to "A Christmas Carol" with Lionel Barrymore - a Christmas tradition in our family from the very beginning, only now instead of listening to the original records (78s) we play it on YouTube:


Today I decided to use the saint's name generator that Jen created, although I'm still trying to figure out how to deepen what I'm learning from the saints who have already become part of my life. Anyway, I was given St. Margaret of Hungary, who - surprise, surprise - had a life much like Santa Rosa de Lima (my patron saint). I still haven't come to an understanding of the severity of the practices that they followed, other than to know that during the times that they were alive, there was a cultural acceptance and even approval of bodily suffering that we don't accept in our times. I do understand their desire to do whatever it took to unite themselves to Jesus and to show Him their love.

I need God to show me what it is He wants me to learn from these two saints.

Another great activity to do at year-end is to spend time discerning what word will be your banner for the coming year. I haven't done this yet, but I plan to before the end of the day tomorrow!

And I'm still wondering if I'll actually get around to doing a year-end "letter to family and friends" post. Stay tuned!