Christmas Musing: Preti's "The Visitiation" and Our Search for the Infinite

When we rounded the corner to the left and into the Baroque room at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts this morning, my eyes welled with tears. There it was; the painting I had visited the museum for, a painting called "The Visitation" by 17th century Baroque master Mattia Preti, a Calabrian and a protege of Caravaggian naturalism.

How fitting the painting first went on display here on Christmas Eve.

An Unexpected Christmas Gift

A religious acquaintance of mine recently told a friend of mine he didn't think I should waste my time trying to alter the direction of our local public schools because even if this latest problem were solved, another problem would crop up.

The thing is, God calls us to do His work of justice and mercy, to places outside church doors. Sometimes, the work we do unexpectedly helps to draw those we encounter back to Christ. That's God's doing, not ours. This was today's Christmas miracle at the 11 a.m. Mass for me.

On Christmas Eve, Thanking God for God

I have had a horrible headache for about 8 hours now. I do not want to think this is a consequence of an online bully, a person I never have met who lives in my town, and who harped, name called, stomped and shouted about a piece of my writing for about seven hours on facebook yesterday. I proceeded with my day, a beautiful day with my husband, I might add. And the vitriol kept spewing in a facebook comment box.  I want to think I just need water and caffeine. 

My Evening Without Quentin Tarantino, in the Company of the Belfast Cowboy

The second day of Christmas has been quiet; walking the dog under a gray sky, my husband and younger son heading to basketball practice and all of us managing long naps while we could hear the wind blowing through the trees.

watercolor by Sandra Ovono

Christmas Eve Traditions: Covered in Prosecco, I Wish You a Merry Messy Christmas

6:30 p.m. These four chunky salmon fillets, which my husband and I bought this morning at a bustling HMart, are in the oven, covered in maple/soy sauce; Greg is in the kitchen, commenting on how good my salmon smells and making his trademark linguine with broccoli and sun-dried tomato recipe. The boys are upstairs, relaxing after the 5 p.m. Christmas Mass. I am listening to the Roches on Pandora Radio. Cari Donaldson is hosting a linkup about Christmas Eve, so here is mine.  (We always have seafood on Christmas Eve and we always attend either the 5 p.m. or Midnight Mass.)

How Artisanal Jam Is Maturing My "Economic Spirituality"

I'm an ordinary American consumer. Most of our Christmas purchases will be products made in China; our older son is getting a laptop (he knows about this so I am not spilling the beans) and my husband wants a treadmill. The 13-year-old's gifts, which are surprises, include stuff made in China.

Photo from abcnews.com

That said, I try as much as possible to think about what I am buying and to find products that are made locally, produced by Americans or under fair-trade conditions. Clearly, I am not a purist about this; heck the MacBook I am writing this on was made in China. Still, the recent factory fire in Bangladesh, where 112 workers were killed, served as  a sobering reminder that my purchases are moral choices.

Just for Fun: Christmas Decor Linkup

I haven't done a linkup in a long while and figured this one would be a way to show off how we have decorated our home so far. Right now, we are focusing on Advent; we plan to buy and decorate our tree over the weekend.

So....here's what we have up so far.

First, the front door Chez Trevor:

Our front door. I bought the "family basket" many years ago at a Christmas craft show. The Saint Nicholas is actually a puppet I ordered online this year from the fabulous Holland, Michigan-based St. Nicholas Center. 

On Being Counter-Cultural: Christ is King

Consider how incredibly blessed we are this year that the Feast of Christ the King, which ends the Roman Catholic liturgical year, falls a mere two days after the consumer frenzy of Black Friday. As one of my favorite websites, Occupy Advent, tells us on their facebook page tonight: Christ the King may well be the most counter-cultural festival on the church calendar. Think for a moment about all that we allow to be Lord. And yet, the seminal confession of the church, "Jesus is Lord," is also a renunciation of everything else that lays ultimate claim on our allegiance.    This year, as the mother of two teens, I am trying to encourage our whole little family to slow down, to look at the reality beyond the relentless consumerism that sometimes can feel suffocating.

The Gifts of Christmas: Will They Last?

We do our best, as parents, to offer our sons a life of faith and fun. We talk to them about our beliefs and they see us living our faith, however imperfectly, every day in the ways in which we work and love and encounter friends and strangers. Will this faith "stick?" Will they learn to weave this ancient faith of ours into their hearts so it becomes their own? Will they come understand that Christ's birth is not a sentimental event but rather a daily reality?

Help Me Out Here: Is The Family Christmas Letter A Uniquely American Tradition?

Every year since my husband and I started having babies, I have written and mailed a family Christmas letter. The first year, I handwrote it since we didn't have a home computer and I traced our infant son's hand in the letter. For me, our first letter was a sign I really was a grown up - with a husband, a baby, a washing machine and an annual Christmas letter.

Today, I emailed this year's letter to a dear friend, a graduate student who has moved home to Milan.

"Thanks for the letter!" she emailed back. "Is it an American tradition? I've never read one before."