A Visit from St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas visited our house last night in honor of his feast day today.  Like many mostly German Catholic families, when I was growing up, St. Nicholas would leave candy and a small toy in our stockings on the night before his feast day.  This was a tradition my mother carried to us from her own childhood.  But we never did talk about the historical St. Nicholas.

So it's only in the last few years that I've learned, mostly from friends, that St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (in modern Turkey) who, amongst other things, anonymously gave money to keep a poor man's daughters out of a life of prostitution.  He also punched out a heretic at the Council of Nicea.  The Church honors him as the patron saint of children.

So this morning we found a Christmas sleeper and book The Stable in Bethlehem in Elijah's  stocking. I feel St. Nick may have overdone it this year.  But, how do you give an infant candy?  However, he did provide circus peanuts for Daddy while Mama got two kinds of gummies.

I think we may have to continue the tradition of Christmas books on St. Nicholas Day.  It seems like a good way to incorporate him into Advent even more.  But maybe he will pair it with candy next year.

The In-Betweens

For a long time, now, I've been wanting to read more about the Church.  I don't have many local Catholic friends and apart from being a lector in our parish, I haven't been super active in church, which I realize is my own fault.  I hope the reading will help me increase not only my knowledge, but also strengthen my faith.  I'd like to read about church leaders, church teachings, lives of saints, and apologetics.

The problem is, I don't know where to start from a background of having read very little outside formal settings.  I also get extremely bored with nonfiction very easily.  A few years ago, I read Milestones by Pope Benedict XVI.  But I don't remember much of it. 

Therefore, my new resolution is to read nonfiction between whatever other books I pick.  Right now, for example, I am between books.  I just finished The Lost Wife which was amazing and I'm waiting for The Atlas of Impossible Longing to come in through the library.

My current book between books is Pope John Paul II: the Pope I Knew So Well by Caroline Pigozzi.  It is a small but entertaining biography written by a woman who spent time narrating the Bl. John Paul the Great's activities for her newspaper Paris Match.

Like I said, it's small and almost lighthearted, so it is a fairly benign introduction to the world of Catholic biography and theological writing.


Anyone have suggestions on where to go from here?

My Lucky Streak

It started with The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone.  When I picked it up off the shelf I was reluctant to start reading it.  At 748 pages the fictionalized biography of Michelangelo, a subject I never felt special interest in, intimidated me.  When I finally made my way through it and came to the end, and read the last words, I was more depressed than normal to finish a book.  I wanted it to keep going.  The story is immensely detailed, from artistic techniques in the 1500s to the people Michelangelo consorted with.  I loved every page, even if I did have some trouble with the Italian names.

And no, I haven't watched the movie yet.

I decided after that I need something a little lighter.  So I moved on to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.  The strange premise intrigued me: I couldn't help wondering how the author was going to pull it off.  The odd format took a little getting used to.  After the prologue it reads like a biography interspersed with sections from "Lincoln's journals" about his vampire hunting escapades and companions.  In the end, I actually really loved it.  You have to be able to totally suspend belief and put aside what you know about Lincoln's life and just go with it.  The narrative is clever and the book moves quickly.

And I don't know if I will be seeing the movie at all.

I've had a used copy of How the West was Won sitting on my shelf for probably close to two years.  Everyone knows how much I love Western movies.  I wasn't sure what I would think of a Western novel.  Turns out, I liked it quite a bit.  The story follows a family moving out west, how the various members become involved with the people they find there, and how their lives shape the places they live. I love the way Louis L'Amour wove the stories together and kept everything cohesive.

For a change, this book was adapted from a movie--which I haven't seen yet.

I don't really remember what drew me to People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, other than the cover art was beautiful and the story seemed interesting.  It is historical fiction in a way, following the mid-1990s rediscovery of  an illuminated haggadah in Sarajevo.  A haggadah, I learned, is the book containing the prayers and rituals Jewish families use at the Passover Seder.  This particular haggadah is special because it has illustrations, and dates from the 1400s a time when Jewish people were not illustrating these kinds of books.  Anyway, while that part of the story is true, the rest of it was invented.  The narrative involves a modern manuscript conservator who is consulted about preserving the damaged book.  The story flips back and forth tracing an invented history of the book backwards beginning of course, during the Nazi occupation.  The story is incredibly interesting and entertaining.  I had to check Wikipedia a couple times to sort out the factual parts from the fictional ones.

This has not been made into a movie.

Unfortunately, my lucky streak came to a halt recently.  After finishing People of the Book, I picked up The Hobbit in anticipation of going to see the first movie in December.  I had avoided reading The Hobbit for a long time, and now I know why.  I was so bored that I got to about page 50 when the traveling party was put into sacks by trolls and decided that was as good an ending as any, and put the book down.  I hate quitting a story that way, but I could not muster up the energy to keep going with it.  I'll probably end up seeing the movie anyway.

Down on the Farm

The nursery is finally so much put together that I'm calling it done.  And Elijah's only 4 months old.

Come on in.

A long time ago...like, back when we decided we were going to pursue adoption, I decided the nursery theme would be "farm animals."  I love the wall appliques, they were just what I wanted.  And the ducky on the hamper was actually a present to me a long time ago from a friend of Anne's.

The glider was a $25 garage sale purchase.  The reason all the nursery furniture is white is: I wanted a white bookcase that I could paint with our favorite quotes from books.  It turns out my painting skills kind of suck, but I love it anyway.  The two quotes you can see are "Cry God for Harry, England, and St. George" from Shakespeare's Henry V, and "And the tree was happy," from The Giving Tree.  There are also lines from Tale of Two Cities, Richard II, Hamlet, I Robot, The Story of Ferdinand, Peter Pan, Julius the Baby of the World, Jane Eyre, The Christmas Carol, The Princess Bride, Sharpe's Fury, Agnes Grey, Through the Looking Glass, and The Gunslinger.

For reasons I don't fully understand, when we brought Elijah home, I became a crafting machine.  I blame Pinterest.  I couldn't find a cute reasonably priced farm mobile, so I thought...I can knit, I'll just make the mobile.  The pig, chicken, and sheep are cute.  The cow looks like a giant weasel.  When he's done with needing a mobile, I'm going to keep the first three as toys in his room, the cow's going in the trash.

The rocking sheep came from a garage sale as a birthday present from my in-laws, who also bought the bookcase for my birthday.  I love it, seriously, a rocking sheep.  The shelves are filled with farm animal stuffed animals.  The top shelf has something which is actually directly from Pinterest, it is the alphabet framed with the 'E' in blue, and the bottom says "is for Elijah."  I love it.  Above the window to the left is his name in painted letters, but I couldn't get it in the picture.  The wall to the right are 3 closets, the middle one has his dresser in it.

And that's Elijah's room.  Hope you enjoyed the tour!

A Few Things

Things that are hard:

Keeping up with this blog while working third shift and taking care of my son.  Can you tell?  I've been back to work since my last post and in all that time I haven't found a moment when I had the time and energy to update.  We've just come through the two most trying weeks of life since we brought Elijah home.  And my least favorite part about them has been:

When other people have to step in to help take care of Elijah.  We are really lucky to live close to both my parents and Nathan's parents.  We are also lucky that they are all crazy about our little guy and don't mind watching him for us.  That said, I hate it when I have to ask them to.  If being back at work has done anything it has made me more aware of time.  I only have so much time at home with him now, and I want it all.  So what if I've only slept 2 hours in the last 24?  I want my baby, damn it.

Taking care of the house.  Not in general, mind.  Just while I was on thirds.  I would get home from work, feed the baby and take a nap with him.  After that, the days are kind of a blur of playing with him and wishing Nathan would get home.  Then, when Nathan got him, I dragged myself up to bed to sleep until I had to wake up for work.  House chores kind of fell away.  I washed bottles only when we didn't have any clean and the laundry definitely piled up untended.

Admitting how happy I am to be on seconds.  I love third shift...love it.  I love the hours, the work, the people.  Everything about third shift is great.  Or was.  But now, I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to be working from 3 to 11.  I get to sleep like a normal person, and wake up at a normal hour.  I get to play with my son and not have a haze of exhaustion keeping me from enjoying myself.  I am so happy to be on seconds.

Things that are great:

Elijah's progress.  We went out for a birthday dinner tonight and as we sat at the table, me holding Elijah, my plate started sliding towards me.  I looked down and his tiny hand was clamped around the edge.  He has started rolling over and can sit relatively straight for periods of time, while he's supported.  He laughs--my favorite sound ever.  He has started vocalizing a lot more and we think he might be starting to get a tooth.  And he sleeps through the night for the most part.  He's just great.

Nathan.  I have Nathan.  How lucky am I?

Getting books for my birthday.  All Our Worldly Goods by Irene Nemirovsky and Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton.  Yes, that last one was for Elijah, but I don't care.  I love it.

Doctor Who.  Nathan used to tell me I should watch Doctor Who.  He said I'd love it, but I ignored him, because it seemed like such a strange show.  But he was right.  I started watching it when Elijah was about a month old and we were still spending quite a bit of time in the sun room.  I love it.  More than I've loved any show for quite a while, I love it.  And in case you have any Doctor Who background and you're curious: 9 is by far my favorite, but I also love 11.

English folk music: Kate Rusby, June Tabor, Seth Lakeman, Eddi Reader, Smithfield Fair, all great.  Can't get enough of them.

My favorite things

There have been a lot of new experiences and ideas going on lately and I thought I might share some of my favorites.

I've never liked pie much.  However, last shift rotation, one of my coworkers brought in a cherry pie and I had a slice.  I loved it! Since then I've made two myself.  I just buy premade pie crusts and cans of filling and make it that way.  Maybe I'll have to try making my own crust one day.

Nathan asked for clothes for Christmas and I was happy to buy them for him.  I realized, though, that I haven't gone out and bought clothes for myself probably since college.  Back then, my style was what I call, "15 year old skater boy."  I wore a lot of T-shirts and jeans.  Well, this year I worked some overtime Christmas eve, and there was also some holiday pay on the last check, so I decided to take the extra money and spend it on adult clothes.  Mom and I went to Old Navy, where the extra money went much farther than what I spent on Nathan at Christmas.  By far my favorite things I bought are my new jeans. When we walked in, I went straight to the 4-short size, because that is what I've always been.  Not so this time.  I bought two pairs of...wait for it...size 2-short!  I have never been a size-two before.  I haven't done anything to earn it and they probably just made their sizes bigger, but the tag says "2" and that's all that matters.  Not only that, but the legs are just exactly as long as I need them to be.  I'm not trying to brag, but it does make me feel good.


One of my Christmas presents was a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  Nathan and I talked about going up to the store in DeKalb one day before I hopped on their website.  I love the Barnes and Noble website.  I picked out three books The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Agony and the Ecstasy and Chesapeake.  I chose to order them used, which means I could afford all three and only go $.88 over my gift card total.

Several years ago, I read Wicked by Gregory Maguire.  I was entranced.  Then, Son of a Witch came out and after that A Lion Among Men appeared.  In the mean time I read his other books for adults and loved them all too.  About a month before Christmas I was reading a People magazine and saw Out of Oz listed in the book section as the last book in the Wicked series.  I put it on my Christmas list for my mother-in-law and received it.  The two middle books are good, but not as good as the first.  But this one, this is every bit the book Wicked is.  I love it.

If you've never seen my engagement ring, I'll tell you what it looks like...it's an oval cut sapphire with three diamonds on each side of it along the band.  I love it.  Diamonds have never been my thing and blue is my favorite color, so the sapphire is perfect.  Nathan told me for our anniversary this year he wanted to get me sapphire and diamond earrings to match it, but I don't wear earrings and I'm not about to start. (even though it was an incredibly sweet thought).  Instead, for Christmas, he got me a sapphire and diamond pendant necklace.  It's beautiful.  It is an oval cut sapphire surrounded by diamonds.  One of my coworkers mentioned that it looked like the Duchess of Cambridge's engagement ring.  And it does a little.

At first I didn't even know what it was, and then I resisted it as long as I could because, to be honest, it is a strange concept.  But one day I couldn't hold back any more, there were just too many cute, intriguing and interesting ideas out there.  I asked for an invite to Pinterest.  I have been hooked ever since.  It is a weird idea, just to post images out there and move them around.  But I think it's cool that there is a whole community of people willing to just share and inspire others.  I have more boards than I thought I would and I think I pin a little too much, but I can't help it.

Liberated Bookworm

I am what could be called a bookworm. I read...a lot. Towards the middle of last month, I began reading Sarum, by Edward Rutherfurd. It uses a group of fictional families to chronicle the history of England, especially the south western city of Salisbury. For anyone who enjoys English history, it is a great book. It is also 1033 pages long. I've been impressed by the speed of my progress through it, and should finish hopefully this weekend.

While I have been enjoying the story and characters thoroughly, I have also, during this month been collecting other books and compiling a list of books to read when I finish, but none of the ones I have seems right. When I finish something of the magitude of Sarum, I always feel an incredible sense of liberty.

I can read anything I want and it doesn't have to be 1000 pages long. But, every time I try to think of what to read next, I feel unsatisfied. Right now the list of possibilities includes: The Man from St. Petersburg; All Things Bright and Beautiful; Last of the Mohicans; American Lion; To Kill a Mockingbird and The Thorn Birds.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

Oh, small towns

I've read recently my sister's and a friend's accounts of living in a small town, silly little things that happen and make the place kind of seem more like an extended family. Well, I recently had my own experience that I would like to add to this collection.

My mom and I were out walking to the library the other day when a neighbor lady called from her screened-in porch, "Kathy!" That's my mom. "I was up at the library the other day, but couldn't remember the name of the book you told me to read. And now that you just use your cell phones I couldn't look you up to call you."

"It was Garden Spells," my mom replied.

"That's right," said the neighbor lady.

"We're on our way up to the library right now, I'll check it out for you."

"Oh, you don't have to do that."

"No, it wouldn't be any trouble."

"How nice, thank you."

We got to the library and Mom picked up the book and told the librarian who it was for and she checked it out on the neighbor lady's card. Then we walked home and Mom stopped along the way to give it to her.

And this, my friends, is what living in a small town is like.

A Woman Without a Country

Ever since my siblings and I were very young, my parents have encouraged us to read. We could stay up later at nights if we were reading and the Easter Bunny always brought us candy and books.

I think that's why these days, if I'm not working on at least one book, I feel rather like a woman without a country. I feel lost and only partially there. This is why, a week before Christmas, with several books on my several lists, I went to the library. I had finished "Dragon Waiting" which I recommend if you're into alternate historical fiction and I couldn't get through "The Real History Behind the Knights of the Templar." I returned them both to the library and picked up "Reading Lolita in Tehran" something I had wanted to read for a while.

I don't know if I'll finish it before Christmas, but I couldn't bear to go a week without reading something.

Books on my Christmas lists:
The Tale of Despereaux--read it, loved it, have to have it
A Lion Among Men--Read the first two in the series, love them, have them
Peter Pan--One of my favorite books of all time