Since last I wrote:
1. Yes, we’re having a lovely Christmas. Some of the neighbors kept the lights up until 2014, but it appears we’re the only ones going in for the full 12 days.
2. On the 1st Day of Christmas, we upgraded from Plague Lite to Plague Medium.
3. Using the ever-reliable “ask at the office method”, we had a successful Cat Day of Christmas. SuperHusband’s colleague seemed very, very eager to deliver her son’s gently-used cat to us.
4. So I had about 30 minutes from “Just calling to see if you guys wanted to meet the cat today” to “Here she is!”. That, because said colleague lives on a farm outside of town. I told the children that if they wanted a new cat, they had 30 minutes to clean the house. I said, “It’s okay if it looks like we’re busy, but not if it looks like we’re slobs.”
They wanted a cat, so they did what was necessary to perpetuate that particular lie.
5. She is mostly a petite, very friendly, tortoiseshell-colored cat who’s had her kitten shots, and is due for a follow-up with the vet now that she is all grown-up.
6. But she’s partly a walking 12th-day-of-Christmas present. We’re taking bets on when the kittens are due.
7. Colleague swears she had no idea.
8. I know! I said the same thing.
In other news, not-about-a-cat edition:
9. I’ve been writing a ton, but all of it offline. I’m hoping it will see light of day in a year or two. More later. Much later.
10. I’m getting wildly excited about the retreat coming up in February. Discovered that certain hymns you’d swear would be easy-peasy to find online out-of-copyright just aren’t. Luckily, there are other hymns.
I solved my previously-mentioned problem by using iBreviary’s web page to download the LOTH for the 22nd (Feast of the Chair of St. Peter – man is that cool or what?), but not before I had stumbled upon the magic green book. Read more about it here.
For the maximum of magic, you want the one for your archdiocese.
So, btw, do I. I lost mine already. It’s so small.
11. You probably already saw what I came up with for New Evangelizers for December. It’s here. Short version: When you tell me, “It’s the thought that counts,” I certainly do agree with you. But if there’s an action involved, the action counts, too. Don’t be all goofy and go around thinking that what you do with your body doesn’t matter. It matters.
12. I know. Easier thought than done.