What is "Christmas"?

I asked my 8-year-old, "What is Christmas?" her answer was profound, yet predictable. She's been enrolled in Catholic school since kindergarten... "Christmas is Jesus' birthday. " She replied. "God sent his only son, the infant Jesus, to save the world on December 25th. We remember and we celebrate! We give gifts to remember that Jesus was our gift from God!" The answer almost sounds canned, but my little girl believes, body and soul, and so do we.

I grew up much differnet. I grew up in the land of "secular Christmas". It was a holiday, when "Santa Claus" brought gifts to children who were good all year. When I was 8 years old, it didn't involve going to Church. We tried to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. We woke too early. Our parents allowed us to rifle though gifts that the elusive fat man brought us in the middle of the night. We ate a big breakfast. We spent the day playing, napping, eating... There was really no mention of Jesus, God, the real meaning behind the day.

I love the story of St. Nicholas. I think it ties nicely into Christmas traditions. I also think it's very sad that many children in the US grow up not knowing, or not really understanding, that Christmas, at it's roots, is a birthday party... it marks the birth of Jesus. As cleche as the bumper sticker "Keep Christ in Chistmas" is, I think it's a true reminder to all of us. Before we get cosumed by trees, lights, gifts and Santa, let's take a moment to remember what this season is really all about.

We're linked to Parents.com

Found out today that the blog has been linked to Parents.com for a snippet I gave on the toy that Pope modeled for Toys R Us. How very exciting!

We've been busy with school, dance and swimming. Soccer and cheer has concluded and it's not been too soon for me! I always feel like we're going, going, going...

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday and we'll have a relatively small crowd this year as my parents and Mike's father will be joining the 4 of us. I still envy folks who have big family gatherings for Thanksgiving. I hear about the 30 or 40 relatives all getting together at one place! Must be marvelous!

How about you? What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Hurricane Sandy

By now you've all heard about it. Hurricane Sandy made landfall Monday in Atlantic City, NJ barely 50 miles from where we live. When you consider how huge the storm actually was, that's WAY too CLOSE! Remarkably, we survived unscaved. Thanks always to God, our protector. Our hearts go out to the many families, many of whom we know personally, who were affected by the storm. 

A satallite photo of Hurricane Sandy as it barreled towards the East Coast on Monday.

Damage in the neighborhood.

A before and after of the fun pier in Seaside Heights... the once popular rollercoaster was tossed into the ocean.

We want to thank our family and friends for your love and support in the wake of this natural disaster. Again, I assure you, we are fine... everyone is safe and alive and that's all that really matters.

Another super-busy weekend

Our weekends have been manic. Absolutely chokful of activites and this past weekend was no acception. It started off with another dance performance at another local Fall festival on Saturday morning. The Princess did an amazing job! The we ran over to the parish church for altar server class. It's something the Princess has wanted to do forever, but requires the first holy communion first. Many parishes do not take servers until 5th or 6th grade, but our parish priest invited the Princess as a 3rd grader... quite an honor! After class we all went back to the festival. We napped in the afternoon, so as to get ready for the Pope's big soccer game "under the lights!" He had a blast, and so did we! It was fun to see him so excited.

The Pope shoots on the goal!

Under the lights!



All my besties at soccer!

Sunday, we went to Mass, dropped the Princess off to cheer at her midgit football game and then I went a Coach(tm) Bag Bingo. I didn't win a bag, but I had a great afternoon with my girlfrinds. 

Sorry we haven't been blogging...

Things around here have been CRAZY busy! Non-stop action, but (mostly) fun stuff! The princess had her, first ever, performance with her dance troupe! There was trouble with the stage, but they danced in front of the fire station, for a large crowd, so it all worked out!

All Saints Day preview

White Cane Photos

The Pope upon introduction to his first white cane.

Walking the boards at the lake, summer 2012.

At a Christmas party 2011

Another Christmas party 2011... so handsome!

Early Spring 2012... a new and improved cane that folds!

Summer 2012 at the State Fair. He's very sensitive to bright light now.

Summer 2011... he hadn't had his cataract surgery yet. No glasses. But we still began working with the cane.

I like this one... confidently navigating the stairs of the train station.

Running down Station Avenue on a crisp fall day 2011.