Friday, December 20, 2013

7 Quick Takes Friday {Take 24} Christmas frenzy edition...

This is the weekend. The weekend that I will lose my mind and maraude around the house, cleaning and straightening, and wrapping and cooking. I do this prior to every Christmas. I will drive my husband and children crazy, but I will emerge victorious, gifts wrapped to within an inch of their life, house cleaned (hopefully of all paste-like substances that may or may not have asbestos in them) and ready to celebrate the birth of Our Savior. :0 Let us start the weekend with a bit of Catholic Librarian blog housekeeping:

-1- The winner of the Let Us Keep the Feast, Advent & Christmas edition giveaway is: Ruthanne!! Ruthanne has been notified and has already claimed her prize. Thanks to everyone for entering my giveaway! Stay tuned for a review and a giveaway of the Epiphany & Lent edition of the Let Us Keep the Feast books in early February! If you'd like to download or otherwise purchase a copy of the Advent & Christmas volume, use the discount code "LUKTFBlogTour” in the Doulos Resources eStore and you will receive 15% off!

-2- Annually, I use the Saint's Name Generator to choose a blog patron for the upcoming year. I saw a little prayer, and I do use whoever comes up, even if I've never heard of him or her before. 2013, our patron was St. Isidore the Farmer:

Interestingly, during the year, Henry took a huge shine to St. Isidore and this is now one of his favorite saints. I'd like to find the post wherein I discussed that, but Blogger's search function is currently not working, and it's driving this librarian insane. Anyway, I really felt St. Isidore's intercession over the course of the year.

So, this morning was the big moment. Our CL blog patron saint for 2014 is...

*drum roll*

St. Radegunde! (I just had to go double check that I had spelled her name correctly :0)

Upon my first viewing of her list of patronages, I am seriously hoping that I'm not about to be struck down with leporsy or some other unpleasant skin ailment and God is trying to prepare me for. ;-) But I see that she was married against her wishes to a man that abused her, and she lived with that situation for a long time before ultimately leaving her husband to join a convent (I do so adore nuns). Now, my life does not compare to this situation, certainly, I am very happily married to a wonderful man. We do not, however, share my Catholic faith, and so I'm certain that St. Radegunde can intercede for me that someday my beloved and I be united in faith. St. Radegunde, pray for us! Her feast is August 13th, right near the feast of the Assumption, one of my favorite Marian feasts of the year. *beams*

-3- Monday, I am planning a fresh post to write about my Fourth Sunday of Advent, and if I can get it all together at home (I usually blog from work, much easier; I don't have a laptop at home and have to fight for desktop time between Mike and Henry) I will have a linkup like what I did for the 3 previous Sundays of Advent. If you write about your Fourth Sunday of Advent, check back in Monday afternoon to link up your post!

-4- I take a blog hiatus between Christmas and New Years (Feast of Mary, Mother of God) traditionally every year, and this year will be no exception. I'm always back January 2nd bright eyed and bushy tailed, but blogging during that time is simply not very feasible, nor do I think you all are reading blogs actively like usual. What I am going to do is schedule a few reposts of previous holiday material for your reading enjoyment should you break away for some blog reading time amongst the holiday drinking revelry. Between Christmas Eve and New Years Day, I'll schedule maybe 3 posts. Keep an eye out for them. And I'll be right back to you on the 2nd to write all about my Christmas antics.

-5- And so what are my official Christmas plans, you ask? Well, we're staying home. We have a lot of family coming in to visit. On Christmas Eve, we get together with my mom's extended family. Christmas Day, we stay in and my immediate family comes to our house for dinner. That's where the "tornadoing" will come into play, look for the repost on that Tuesday. Good times, I tell you. Other than that, I'll be home with Mike and the kids, and we'll plan some family activities. I'm hoping to enjoy everything, and pray that the children will not drive us to drink. Anne has been sick, so that hasn't been going well so far. :0

-6- As part of my Christmas planning, packages have been arriving at our house daily. I think our mailman may soon go on strike. I have barely set foot in a store since the beginning of November, it's glorious. I shop online. For an introvert, this is Shopping Nirvana. I take my time, I enjoy the thrill of the hunt, I play with my online cart, no lines to wait in, no children yelling and making it such I cannot hear the thoughts running through my own head, I can have wine, and yet, hark! I DON'T HAVE TO TALK TO ANYBODY. This, my friends, is how shopping should always be. And so, our mail every day is an *entity*. I defend myself by pointing out that Amazon Prime shipping means that they often ship a single order in multiple boxes to get it to your quicker based upon what item is in what warehouse.

*furtive look of innocence*

-7- Finally, happy last few days of Advent everyone, and MERRY CHRISTMAS! I'll talk to you all soon!!

Check out other 7 Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary!

3 comments:

  1. I had to laugh because I did the Saint Name Generator last year and got St. Paula of Rome, patron of widows. There was no secondary patronage. It freaked me out and I kept telling my husband to be careful driving and be careful when he goes to Laredo!

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    1. Just read this - it's HILARIOUS! I chose St. Francis De Sales, but that was a few weeks ago when I updated my blog. I am going to write him up in a post I have planned in the New Year!
      xoxo

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    2. Ha! That's great. That's also why I'm afraid to do those, because I associate it with epic doom.

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