Engleberts in Missouri [miz-er-ree]

Today is the Feast of the Holy Family.

Steve had to work this morning and Jon apparently required an enormous amount of sleep and couldn’t drag his body from his bed, so Violet and I went to mass alone. We were laughing about how we didn’t have a family today on a day meant for family togetherness.

I was giving Violet the elbow, along with grins and nods, throughout the mass today because the readings and the homily were littered with admonishments for children to love and obey and honor their parents. Violet gave me a little grimace every time but then she got a little of her own back with the part about wives obeying their husbands. brat!

Since today is devoted to the Holy Family as a model for the Christian family life, spend some time with your family today. Play a board game. Have a special meal together. And if you don’t live at home, call your parents - tell them how much you care for them and how much you appreciate them. And last but not least, wash the dishes for your mother.

We made it back from the mall with 1 DS Game, 2 Webkinz thingies, 3 pair of shoes, after 4 hours of shopping and… a pair of golden earrings.

Violet got her ears pierced.

I don’t know how we can top the fun of yesterday.

Why yes, that is Steve beating the children. And yes, that is a festive roll of gift wrap being used - it is Christmas after all.

For the 5th day of Christmas we could celebrate St. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury - today is his feast day. Maybe we’ll be able to find a copy of Becket at the library or Blockbuster.

Probably we’ll head to the mall to spend those Christmas gift cards and moola. A trip to Icings has a nice ring to it.

I saw this on Dooce. That guy could be replaced with any one of the people who live in this house.

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

You know the story… Herod hears about the birth of the King of the Jews from the Magi and gets paranoid that he’ll lose his throne. Solution? Ask the Magi to tell him where Jesus is so that he can worship him too all the while plotting to kill him. Sneaky. When the Magi don’t come back, he sends out his henchmen to kill all the male babies that are about the same age as Jesus.

There are a lot of different customs out there for celebrating what is also known as Childermas.

My favorite has to be to be the custom of beating children on this day, in order to remind them of the sad and unjust end of those poor innocent children. I’ve mentioned this to Violet several times (followed by evil cackling). She’s not too keen on the idea but I’m really leaning toward it [evil cackle].

Another custom, long ago in the days when Christmas was less child-centered, was to indulge children with treats and parties. There’s been plenty of that - no sense overindulging!

A more recent custom is allowing the children to have the lead role in the family for the day, leading the family prayers, making decisions about family activities for the day, having the place of honor at meals, and so forth. I’m good with this one as long as it also includes all of the not-so-fun stuff that goes with “being in charge” like cleaning up dinner and sending me to bed early.

It’s definitely a great time to give thanks for all the children in our lives, whether in our immediate family or our extended families. And it is a good day to tell them how much they are loved and to revive the ancient custom of parents blessing their children at the end of the day.

An easy blessing:

Hold you child’s head in both your hands. Sign a cross on the child’s forehead with your right thumb and say “May God bless you, and may He be the Guardian of your heart and mind—the Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.”

JSYK, December 28th is widely regarded as the unluckiest day of the year, so today is probably also a good day for staying home in bed and certainly you don’t want to start any new ventures today!