Friday, October 31, 2014

7 Quick Takes {Take 59} All about the Catholic Librarian's Halloween! edition


 -1- How am I starting off my Halloween morning?

IT'S ALL EXCITING!!!!...

Teaching. :0

I thought I was done for the semester, but another English Comp. section rolled in, and I actually volunteered to take it. And it went really good! The Teaching Assistant was tremendously sweet, bringing in candy for her students. I thought we would hear a lot of crickets chirping given how dead campus looked when I drove in this morning, and the fact that it was a 9 am class, but most of the students came. And they were attentive. They made me happy. :)

-2- "Mommy! My mask is *already broken*!"

It seems like every year we have some sort of costume malfunction, often times because the child in question (inevitably aged 2-3 at the time) rips it from their body. Moments-before-trick-or-treating-temper-tantrums are a painful reality in our house. But we persevere. ;-) This year, Henry wanted to be a Star Wars Clone Trooper, and Anne, for inexplicable reasons, chose Batgirl:

I say "inexplicable reasons" because I wasn't aware that Anne even knew who Batgirl *was*, but there you have it. Let's hope that when the time comes, she dons the costume again. Since she clearly looks adorable, no? :)

-3- Meanwhile, this is how the introvert makes it through approaching the homes of strangers at an alarming pace...

As I'm sure is utterly unsurprising to you, I find Halloween to be a bit of a stressful holiday. ;-) When you have small kids, you have two options: (1) take them out trick-or-treating and deal with the constant meet and greets that that entails, both from homeowners and your neighbors as you proceed down the street. This requires socializing. *horror!* Or (2) stay home to hand out candy, but be interrupted every minute or so having to answer the door and, you know, GREET PEOPLE, once again. Neither is a very appealing option to your socially shy Catholic Librarian.

Mike is a big fan of handing out the candy, which he does while sitting on our porch drinking beer. He enjoys Halloween, you see. :0 So I take the kids around trick-or-treating, and last year I took a hint from the other parents. Trick-or-treating for the adults, especially with a freshly tantrumed toddler in tow, is made SO much more bearable by the addition of a discreet alcoholic beverage. And by "discreet," I mean a vodka tonic tucked into a water bottle. ;-) This year, it may be a "coffee" mug of boxed wine, but no matter. The effect will be the same - a relaxed and happy Tiffany, out in the rain, having to interact with dozens of strangers.

#Bliss

#SortOf

-4- And this, my friends, is the reason why...

...for the wine, that is. I present to you Exhibit A for why I drink on Halloween night. This is from 2012, when Anne was about 18 months old, and it's one of my favorite posts of all time:

Halloween Humbug

See, I can laugh about it NOW. Nothing was funny on October 21, 2012, I assure you. :0

-5- Our beer-inspired Jack O'Lantern...

Mike and the kids carved our pumpkin last night. This is an annual tradition for them. I stay far away, as the stuff that is inside pumpkins just makes me want to hurl. It's a texture thing, ok? :0 But I think that the face turned out really good, and apparently his inspiration was the label on a bottle of Saranac Pumpkin Ale. I say that's as good an inspiration as any:


-6- Anne says 'Happy Halloween!'

With a little prompting from yours truly. :)


-7- A fiction book involving Catholics and librarians coming to their aid = heavenly choirs of angels harmonizing

This isn't a Halloween-related take, but I always include one regarding my current read, and I couldn't resist letting you all know what I have on my Kindle. Because I'm very excited about it. :0

A few months ago I reviewed a Catholic Young Adult fiction title by Laura Pearl called "Finding Grace." She's written another YA title, and she asked me to read it in its current pre-publication form. It's called "Erin's Ring," and Laura has given me permission to share this description with you:

When thirteen-year-old Molly McCormick, who has recently moved from the Midwest to Dover, New Hampshire, finds an old Irish Claddagh ring poking up out of the dirt in a garden outside her local parish church, she is immediately intrigued.  The ring’s inscription, “To Erin—Love, Michael,” fills her head with romantic possibilities.  She teams up with her new friend, Theresa Grant, to uncover the story behind the lost ring.  With the help of the head librarian at the public library, the two girls become immersed in the rich history of the Irish immigrants who came to Dover in droves during the 19th century, to escape famine and poverty in their homeland and make better lives for their children and grandchildren. 

Molly and Theresa  learn about the courage, tenacity, and deep faith that were the hallmarks of these Irish immigrants—people with names like Ann and Seamus, Cara and Finn, and of course, Erin and Michael. The young girls eagerly delve into old records tucked away in the dark corners of the library and learn how instrumental Dover’s Irish-Catholics were in getting the first Catholic church built in their small New England town. 

Molly and Theresa  set out to discover the origins of the mysterious ring, but they unearth a story that is far stranger and infinitely more touching than anything they could have ever imagined.

Oh my. I'm about 3/4 of the way through, and I absolutely love it! It's wonderful. Laura discusses the book and has a photo of the absolutely gorgeous cover art on her blog this week, so definitely go check that out! The book will be published in spring 2015 by Bezalel Books, and I will provide more details as they become available! 

Well, that about sums things up for today! I mentioned before that my dance troupe had a performance on All Saints Day, but as so often happens with these events, the date was changed. It will now be November 15th, so I'll have details about that in the next week or two. Lots of fun to come. :) I hope that everyone has a nice Halloween and a blessed feast of All Saints and All Souls this weekend. Talk to you on Monday!

Head over to Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes. :)

4 comments:

  1. Tiffany, you are a doll. I appreciate this shout-out so much!

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  2. I love the costumes! You do know Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) is a LIBRARIAN by day, right? It's so perfect!
    I went to my parents' to help give out candy to the neighborhood kids. . . saw a parent or two with a beer in hand. It probably kept them warm! Brrr!

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