Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Today is the traditional day for gift giving in many parts of Europe. When I was growing up, La Befana - the Italian Christmas witch - visited good little girls and boys, leaving gifts in their shoes. Our tree is still up, as has always been my custom. In the Catholic church, Christmas ends
with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord which falls on January 11th this year. Sooooooo, if you haven't sent out your Christmas cards, there is still time. Mine are going out this morning. :)
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Yesterday I got 3 drawers decluttered. I also made soap, but the color isn't great. I made Berry Pickin' and that recipe has a ground tea leaves. I goofed up by adding the tea leaves too early and the soap is a tannish color. It smells great, but it isn't the prettiest stuff going. Sooooo, I will probably sell it at cost on Ebay.
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Today is jar candle making day - not sure when that's going to happen. I have a staff meeting followed by moving the humongous manger out of the church. This thing is huge!!! After that, I'm not sure. If it's still early, I'll come home and do the candles. Tomorrow my buddies Clay and Claire are coming over. The plan is to make chocolate chip cookies.
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Things have slowed way down on the website which is to be expected. It gives us a breather and time to replenish items. Most of our mixes sold out so Anna has some work to do. :)
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I'm off to the other blog and getting ready to work out.
Have a great day!

Word of the day:
Christmas Weekday
Gospel
Mk 6:34-44

When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.
By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already very late.
Dismiss them so that they can go
to the surrounding farms and villages
and buy themselves something to eat.”
He said to them in reply,
“Give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food
and give it to them to eat?”
He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”
And when they had found out they said,
“Five loaves and two fish.”
So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.
The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties.
Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples
to set before the people;
he also divided the two fish among them all.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments
and what was left of the fish.
Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.

Thoughts from the cornfield:
The Church used to celebrate the Epiphany on this day. Now this feast is celebrated on the closest Sunday - so last Sunday was when we heard the reading about the Magi bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. Today we hear about the gift of food from the greatest gift of all - who was food for us all.

God bless the troops!

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