On the Seventh Day of Christmas

The Zoomlians bring to you Minions!

On the Sixth Day of Christmas

The Zoomlians bring to you: a flash mob at Air and Space!

On the Fifth Day of Christmas

The Zoomlians bring to you: Studio C!

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

The Zoomlians bring to you: A Christmas Star!

On the Third Day of Christmas

The Zoomlian Mike brings to you:

On the Second Day of Christmas

The Zoomlians bring to you: the King's Singers!

On the First Day of Christmas

The Zoomlians give to you... Christmas greetings!

Poem of the Week: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol

by Christina Rossetti

Before the paling of the stars,

Before the winter morn,
Before the earliest cockcrow
Jesus Christ was born:
 

Born in a stable,
Cradled in a manger,
In the world His Hands had made
Born a Stranger.

Priest and King lay fast asleep
In Jerusalem,
Young and old lay fast asleep
In crowded Bethlehem:
 

Saint and Angel, Ox and Ass,
Kept a watch together,
Before the Christmas daybreak
In the winter weather.

Jesus on His Mother's breast
In the stable cold,
Spotless Lamb of God was He,
Shepherd of the Fold:
 

Let us kneel with Mary Maid,
With Joseph bent and hoary,
With Saint and Angel, Ox and Ass,
To hail the King of Glory.

HT: Coffeehouse Junkie

Poem of the Week: Gaudete

Gaudete, Gaudete! Christus et natus Ex maria virgine, Gaudete!	Rejoice, Rejoice! Christ is born Of the virgin Mary, Rejoice!
Tempus ad est gratiae, Hoc quod optabamus; Carmina laetitiae, Devote redamus.	It is now the time of grace That we have desired; Let us sing songs of joy, Let us give devotion.
Deus homo factus est, Natura mirante; Mundus renovatus est A Christo regnante.	God was made man, And nature marvels; The world was renewed By Christ who is King.
Ezechiellis porta Clausa pertransitur; Unde lux est orta Salus invenitur.	The closed gate of Ezechiel Has been passed through; From where the light rises Salvation is found.
Ergo nostra cantio, Psallat iam in lustro; Benedicat Domino: Salus Regi nostro.	Therefore let our assembly now sing, Sing the Psalms to purify us; Let it praise the Lord: Greetings to our King.

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/gaudete-rejoyce.html

Gaudete

 

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

 

Tempus adest gratiae hoc quod optabamus

Carmina laetitiae devote redamus

 

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

 

Deus homo factus est natura mirante

Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante

 

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

 

Ezechielis porta clausa pertransitur

Unde lux est orta salus invenitur

 

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

 

Ergo nostra contio psallat jam in lustro

Benedicat domino salus regi nostro

 

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

Gaudete, gaudete Christus est natus

Ex Maria virgine gaudete

 

Submitted by helena.kramer.121 on Mon, 08/12/2014 - 21:13

Last edited by Ww Ww on Sat, 16/12/2017 - 19:49

English translation

Rejoyce

Versions: #1#2

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

 

The time of Grace has come, which we have waited for

Let us devotedly render Him joyful songs

 

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

 

God has become Man, and Nature is astounded

The world has been renewed by the reigning Christ

 

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

 

The closed gate of Hezechiel has been crossed

From there the Light has risen, Salvation has come in

 

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

 

Therefore, our congregation, praise Him in brightness!

Bless the Lord! Greeting to our King!

 

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

Rejoyce, rejoyce! Christ is born

Of the virgin Mary

Awesome Geography: Spain

 For our art project we did these cool Picasso inspired faces, using profile and full face at the same time.

Our active activity was Escondite, which is basically leapfrog in Spanish!

Our snack was tapas, but kid friendly tapas: chocolate covered pretzels, cheese, crackers, and fruit.

We also watched this neat YouTube on Sagrada Familia.

Wordless Wednesday: Trains at the Botanical Gardens

HT: Mxyl as a guest photographer!

Poem of the Week: Into the Darkest Hour

Into the Darkest Hour

by Madeleine L’Engle

It was a time like this, War & tumult of war,
a horror in the air.
Hungry yawned the abyss-
and yet there came the star
and the child most wonderfully there.

It was time like this
of fear & lust for power,
license & greed and blight-
and yet the Prince of bliss
came into the darkest hour
in quiet & silent light.

And in a time like this
how celebrate his birth
when all things fall apart?
Ah! Wonderful it is
with no room on the earth
the stable is our heart.

HT: Coffeehouse Junkie

Gingerbread Party

 We are old hands at gingerbread at this point!

Leena and Oob teamed together to make this cool pirate ship.

The sails are fruit leather (dehydrated apple sauce).

Choclo did this fun monster truck

We had so much extra gingerbread that Mxyl and I made a house.










Friends made a cool castle!

And the littlest friend made a tiny house of his own!

 It was a very fun party- we didn't have enough houses to have a real contest, so we just handed out prizes to everyone!

Asking for Prayers

If you would say a quick prayer for my Dad today: he's undergoing a bone marrow biopsy as I type this.  He's not been doing well, and I've been back and forth a lot lately, hence the light blogging.  My sister is back from North Dakota helping out now, and my brother is coming from Oregon next week.

Thanks and God bless you!

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!

We put out shoes last night!




And we had "Santa Hat Scones this morning.

Lots of St. Nicholas resources here.

This afternoon we are having a big party with lots of friends, games and a gingerbread contest: pictures of the event tomorrow!


 The first game is coloring a picture of St. Nicholas.

St. Nicholas was a bishop, so we cut two little slits and slid in a candy cane for his crosier.

 Then we will have Stocking Toss, where the kids tossed little bags of gold on the stockings. That commemorates St. Nicholas tossing bags of gold secretly into a house to help a family who would have had to sell their children.

Lastly,  by popular demand, we will have Punch Arius!.

The idea is to punch Arius while shouting parts of the Nicene Creed that proclaim Jesus' divinity.





This is based on the story that St. Nicholas struck Arius during the Council
of Nicaea when Arius was trying to convince the world's bishops that Jesus was not really God.

I tell the kids that they aren't allowed to punch heretics unless they became bishops and are at an Ecumenical Council.  You never know what can plant the seed of a vocation!

Hello Advent!

Shamelessly cribbing from last year, it's farewell to The Glorious Turkey and all the gourds and pumpkins, and hello to all the Advent stuff!

The thing to keep in mind is that we have now been doing the Advent thing with kids for 20 years.  In the beginning, I was looking for Advent stuff to do that would be meaningful, helpful, and fun.


Now we have the weight of Tradition, as well as the "need" to have 6 small things to do each day so each kid can do an Advent thing each day. Also, I've done it so long, it's easy for me.

Do what I did: if it looks like fun, and not too much work, try it.  If it doesn't, smile and nod.

This is what it looks like for us.


Kid 1: Open a door on the Advent House.  Inside, there are 6 pieces of candy, and a Playmobil Advent piece to put in the stable.

Yeah, the sheep is in the attic.  The kid decides where to put it.





Kid 2: Find and place the Jesse Tree ornament while I read the scripture passages.

You can find all sorts of sources for Jesse Tree scripture and ornaments.  My set are from an ornament swap organized years ago by my friend Jolene - this means I have a set of cool and creative ornaments while only having had to come up with one good idea.

As they've broken or gotten lost, we've been replacing them with shrinky dinks.  Not as cool, but doable.




Kid 3: The velcro calendar!

This was something I thought would fall by the wayside, but it has the weight of Tradition, so on it goes.


Kid 4: Lights and blows out the Advent candles and does the felt calendar.

Back in the day, it was just blowing out the candles, you know, before we trusted the kids with producing fire!




Kid 5: Chooses a book to unwrap.

We have way to many Advent and Christmas books, so I just wrap 25 of our favorites in tissue paper.  The rest are loose in the other box.

Most are religious, but some are secular, and you never quite know what you are picking!

I've found it's a good way to make sure we actually get to all of them.  As an extra bonus, it's good training for how to politely receive and unwrap gifts, as well as what to do with the paper afterwards...
Kid 6: Chooses and places an ornament.

This is one of the favorite Advent tasks!

They aren't tree ornaments, they are decorations.  It's a lovely, no stress way to decorate, and I love it that the house gets slowly more decorated as Advent goes on!



Kid 7: Well, there is no 7 to do another task, but we all do little acts of love and kindness to soften our hearts for Baby Jesus' arrival.

That's our crib (next to Love, our parakeet!), and we put a piece of hay in every time we pray, sacrifice, or make  little act of love.

Extra bonus: If you don't have time for a complicated Advent, here's yesterday's Easy Advent Prep:
A Christmas Kit

Poem for the First Week of Advent: The God We Hardly Knew

The God We Hardly Knew

by Óscar Romero

No one can celebrate
a genuine Christmas
without being truly poor.
The self-sufficient, the proud,
those who, because they have
everything, look down on others,
those who have no need
even of God- for them there
will be no Christmas.
Only the poor, the hungry,
those who need someone
to come on their behalf,
will have that someone.
That someone is God.
Emmanuel. God-with-us.
Without poverty of spirit
there can be no abundance of God.
(via Charlie Lowell and coffeehousejunkie)

Poem of the Week: Perhaps the World Ends Here

Perhaps the World Ends Here

By Joy Harjo

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.

The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.

We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.

It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.

At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.

Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.

This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.

Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.

We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.

At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.

Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

HT: Poetry Foundation 
Image HT: Politico

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

We started the day with Mass, you know, giving thanks to God!

Then we watched the Macy's parade.  When the parade was on, the Zoomlians were like this.






When the commercials were on, the Zoomlians were like this.

This always cracks me up because, when I was growing up, there was just TV with it's constant commercial interruptions.

The Zoomlians have grown up with videos and streaming, and find the commercials very annoying.

 After the parade, we went to Pop's house for family and a fabulous feast!

Cousins and Aunts and Uncles and grandparents and a truly ridiculous spread of fantastic food.

Good food and good company, lots to be thankful for!





Plus pie!






Klenda made pumpkin, chocolate buttercream, and another twisted apple.

I made sweet potato and helped out on the apple.

Thanks be to God for all of His good gifts!

Poem of the Week: Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving  By Edgar Albert Guest

Gettin’ together to smile an’ rejoice,

An’ eatin’ an’ laughin’ with folks of your choice;

An’ kissin’ the girls an’ declarin’ that they

Are growin’ more beautiful day after day;

Chattin’ an’ braggin’ a bit with the men,

Buildin’ the old family circle again;

Livin’ the wholesome an’ old-fashioned cheer,

Just for awhile at the end of the year.

Greetings fly fast as we crowd through the door

And under the old roof we gather once more

Just as we did when the youngsters were small;

Mother’s a little bit grayer, that’s all.

Father’s a little bit older, but still

Ready to romp an’ to laugh with a will.

Here we are back at the table again

Tellin’ our stories as women an’ men.

Bowed are our heads for a moment in prayer;

Oh, but we’re grateful an’ glad to be there.

Home from the east land an’ home from the west,

Home with the folks that are dearest an’ best.

Out of the sham of the cities afar

We’ve come for a time to be just what we are.

Here we can talk of ourselves an’ be frank,

Forgettin’ position an’ station an’ rank.

Give me the end of the year an’ its fun

When most of the plannin’ an’ toilin’ is done;

Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,

Let me sit down with the ones I love best,

Hear the old voices still ringin’ with song,

See the old faces unblemished by wrong,

See the old table with all of its chairs

An’ I’ll put soul in my Thanksgivin’ prayers.

HT: Poetry Foundation