“We do not run in the house, and use the footstool as a diving board to get on the sofa!” Veronica may have been feeling a little rambunctious this morning. Yep, that’s just another one of the weird things Mom never thought she’d have to say as a parent. It’s almost as bad as the time when the older boys were little, and she had to make a rule about keeping your forks below your head while you eat. Or the time she had to tell Nicholas, (and he was a lot younger at the time, but still) not to drop cars on Stephen’s head. Who thinks that’s a good idea in the first place!
Tag: Stories
Polar Opposites
So, this evening while we were doing the dishes, we were discussing the North and South poles, and Stephen pointed out something rather amusing. The phrase Polar Opposites means that two things are very different, but the poles are two of the most identical places on earth! They both have a sunless winter, and they have similar housing conditions, because no one wants to live there because it’s freezing!
Nativity Scene
This is one of my favorite Christmas decorations.
Looks pretty keen huh? We got this nativity scene a couple of years ago when a man came to our parish to raise money to help people in the Holy Lands. He gave a really great speech and besides a few other things we got this nativity set. It is made of olive wood and looks really nifty. In fact Mom likes it so much, we leave it up all year.
Santa in a Candle!
Happy Gaudete Sunday everyone. Gaudete Sunday is the third Sunday of advent and is a day of celebration (unlike all those other feast days in advent…).
Today is the day we celebrate the nearness of Christmas. Today is the day that everyone wears pink (except Stephen), to show how happy they are. So, to celebrate this day I want to share with everyone one of our new favorite Christmas decorations. Santa in a candle!
I think this could become a great new Christmas tradition like elf on a shelf, except Santa can’t move cause he’s stuck in a candle! Don’t ask me how he got there, because I don’t know. All I know is we were burning the candle, so the wax was all liquid, and somebody (Stephen or Nicholas) stuck Santa in the wax. Now Santa is trapped in the hardened wax. We could light the candle, melt the wax, and pull the jolly fat man out, or just burn the candle until Santa is free, but then we would lose this great decoration.
Advent!
Many times when Advent rolls around, not only are we seriously unprepared (we almost never have candles for the Advent wreath), sometimes we even have to buy a new Advent wreath. But not this year.
No, this year we were more than prepared. This year we had our candles and the wreath to go with it.
This year we have the advent calendar out,
and all the pieces ready to be hung up.
This year we even have a Jesse Tree 
(something I don’t even remember doing before now)! Yep, I think it is safe to say we were all prepared this year. Then again this post is a little late…
The Pouncing Bobcat!
Today Veronica showed me her very first comic book! Maybe Stephen has a replacement. The comic is called the Pouncing Bobcat. 
It depicts what Veronica does in the morning: Jump out of bed, snuggle, eat a peanut butter snack, and eat an Ibis (wait…). Pretty good for a seven year old. Veronica says she would make more comics but she can never keep an idea in her head long enough to write it. Looks like you’re safe for now Stephen.
Hey Batboy!
As promised I will tell more tales of the Five Golden (Baseball) Rings, but not all of them…yet. What can I say, I like suspense.
This is the story of Joe McDonald’s first negotiation in baseball. When Mr. McDonald was fourteen he worked as a batboy at Ebbets Field. This was back before the Dodgers stopped playing there and made Terrence Mann sad (Field of Dreams reference!!). The opposing team on this particular day was the Cardinals. And they had no batboy.
Now the Cardinals manager at this time had a bit of a reputation for being, shall we say, a bit uncouth. In other words he was a hothead that preferred strong language. He swore a lot. Yeah that’s what I’m tryin’ to say.
Mr. McDonald called the manager up and asked how much a batboy for the Cardinals made per game. “Three dollars” was the reply. “Well I’m making six dollars right now” was Mr. McDonald’s reply. “CLICK!” was the manager’s enraged reply. So Mr. McDonald waited…
About a half-hour later the Card’s manager called back (after striking out trying to get another batboy). “I’ll pay ya five in cash. It’s the same since you won’t be paying taxes.” Mr. McDonald considered it and agreed provided he threw in two baseballs. With a harrumph the manager grudgingly agreed.
Mr. McDonald ended the story saying that even though as a general manager he’s negotiated multi-million dollar deals with ball players, he still recalls his first negotiation.
And this is a 1982 Cardinals World Series ring. Mr. McDonald earned one of these as the general manager for the 1982 Cardinals.
