The First Official Stanbary Christmas in MN!

Until this year I had not spent a single Christmas in MN. I always went home to WI to be with my family and celebrate "our traditions". This year, it was finally time to try and begin our own family Christmas Traditions here in MN.

We spent a couple hours on Christmas eve day doing some last minute shopping. It was not so fun. Then we went to spend some time with Jeremy's family and eat some cheesy broccoli soup, taco, dip, meat balls, and treats! Yumm! We exchanged gifts with each other and enjoyed getting Risa's creative and fun stockings with goodies inside.

Then Jeremy, Augustine, and I headed to Holy Spirit church in St. Paul (our home parish) for their vigil Christmas mass. It was lovely and Augustine did pretty well - we even got seats!

Although we weren't to hungry we decided to stick to our plan and go out to eat. Something that is a rare and special treat for us. Bucca de Beppos is right down the road from us and we've wanted to try it for some time so we decided to go there. It had a very holiday feel to it and is a really fun Catholic Italian restaurant - there is even a round "Pope Table" featuring our current pope.

Augustine kept busy sucking ice chips off the table (gross right?) while we waited for food. We had a delicious meal of caprese salad and pesto pizza and had our order of pasta to go. We were excited to get Augustine ready for bed and our huge screen movie playing. Augustine was in a great mood and helped Daddy set up the big screen movie!

Christmas Eve was different this year but also very good! We feel we are on a great path to creating our own Christmas traditions!

Christmas morning was Toaster Strudel, gift opening, and a great mix of Christmas music (thanks Dad!)!

Then we had a delicious and yummy brunch with more opening of gifts and playing with new toys.

Around 1:00pm we headed on a loooong, but sunny, 5 hr drive to WI to continue the celebrations with my side of the family!

I felt like my advent preparations helped me to really focus on the true meaning of Christmas and let go of my desires for my usual WI Christmas, and it really was a very fun and enjoyable time to share with my little family.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

7 days to Christmas ... Day 4

What's more Christmas than a great fun and funny Christmas production with a heartwarming message about the value of keeping Christmas in our hearts the year long?! Tonight I ran the Box Office at our Theatre for this show (title above) and we were sold out! Yeah baby! Not just sold out but I had to turn people away at the door!! Talk about relating to the Christmas story... that Inn Keeper who always gets a bad rep for turning away a pregnant woman... MARY the mother of GOD! Well, if your Inn is packed its packed... I bet they felt as crummy as I did tonight when people walked away with droopy sad and irritated faces at not getting a ticket. I can't say I was feeling Christmas very much tonight. I love having a sold out show. I hate turning people away, and squeezing people into a house that has more seats than people. Its rather stressful actually. I don't mean to complain but some people can be pretty rude when they don't get what they want.

Oh, well... moving on! We have been getting RAVE reviews from those who are attending our shows and that is great! We still have tickets available for tomorrow night and Dec. 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th. So, give me a ring and I'd be happy to sell you tickets in advance so that I do not have to turn you away. Please don't make me do it! :-)

With that said this daily blog leading into Christmas is really helping me focus on Jesus. As I drove home tonight I desperately wished that along with our glowing Christmas tree, in our bay window, that you can see as you drive by... that we also had a glowing sign that said, "Jesus is the Reason."

Fill my heart with peace, joy and forgiveness tonight Lord. Amen.

7 days to Christmas ... Day 2 and 3

As I start this post I see out the window a lovely soft snow is falling. I know this has been a Christmas hope for many this year and it is a wonderful way God is blessing me on Day 3 of my countdown.

A fresh snow reminds me of what it does to our blah brown winter cold. There is that pure white covering that makes things all fresh and new.

"See Mother I make all things new!" -Jesus

Yesterday (day 2) was a busy day of work and drama classes in the evening which I did on my own since Jeremy's back has been out of commission. However, we have a neighbor family that watched Augustine and they are pure joy to me! They are a beautiful family with lots of vibrancy, joy and love! Augustine LOVES, and I will repeat, LOVES this family. They have 5 kids and their youngest is 8 years old. This is the one place I can leave Augustine where he doesn't flip out when I leave or return. Last night I went to pick him up and he hardly acknowledged me before heading off to play some more... did I mention it was close to 10pm and way past his bedtime? He was not ready to go and they all played along by pretending to go "nigh nigh" themselves. I know they are so kind and loving and good to him as they are to Jeremy and I and we are so blessed to know them.

I have lots of mindless work (prepping Christmas cards) to do tonight so maybe I will celebrate the lovely snow and time of peace with watching "The Nativity Story" (I think that's the name... just need to figure out where I can find it...)

God is blessing me with peace this day and Augustine slept in until 9:30am... wonderful surprise! We also have an almost sold out show for tonight and tomorrow night, God is GOOD!

The 7 Days Before Christmas... Day 1

Today was a pretty stressful day with glimmers of hope. I can't help but reflect on the sate Mary and Joseph were in on the week before Christmas. The fear, concerns, worries and glimmers of peace and joy melted into the hope of new life and Christ's birth.

I feel like last Christmas was not this dramatic but the year before I reflect on our homeless situation. First Christmas as a married couple with a baby on the way and - homeless not knowing where we would be or where we would go. It was a difficult time.

This year, it is much the same as that year... with child and at a breaking point. Our Theatre has been doing amazing (for a start up theatre). The last weekends and those shows to come are close to 50 - 75 tickets pre-sold EACH performance! That's pretty darn great, and yet... we can't seem to get ahead... why? I know its all in the growing pains of a new business but this feels a bit more like that torture by stretching they used to do in the olden days. That torture appears to still be in practice in our home.

And yet, with all that... there is joy!

How did Mary carry a child at 9 months and ride a donkey for hours? How did Joseph deal with the uncertainty? Why does God allow pain and suffering especially when great hope is coming?!

Advent is a time of waiting... and its so clear God is asking us to wait and trust and HOPE in what is to come even when everything seems so hope-less. I am called to embrace the un-known and trust as Mary did.

So tonight, I packed up Augustine and headed to mass. Nothing gets me like an evening mass in Advent. Its like there is glimmer in the air, in the church on the streets! Yes, Augustine was a very good boy and I could focus on mass except at the end when he started singing loudly (after communion when everything is SO quiet) "Dada da da .... Tata taaaa ..." Darling. But it was so loud that I couldn't help but try to stifle giggles at his sweet innocent voice. I didn't even have the heart to shush him. He was singing in God's house and it was lovely! If the people don't sing God's babies will sing out! After enjoying Christmas lights on our way home listening to - none other than - Lion King we feasted on this rather Christmassy looking soup. It's called "Cowboy Stew" or "Poor Man's Stew" because it is so cheap to make but tonight its Advent Soup and it was warm and delicious and healthy!

Peace to you all as you wait for the great hope!