Our Baby Boy!

Gotcha thinking, didn't we? 

Sorry. Well, here he is. "Mittens" Christie. 

He's seven weeks old and is the newest addition to our family. We surprised the girls on Christmas morning with their first and only(?) pet. The girls and dad have been lobbying for a dog for quite some time, but mom continues to put her foot down when contemplating her foreseeable future of vacuuming hair off couches, early morning walks in sub-zero weather armed with plastic bags and pooper-scoopers, unpleasant drooling and questionable smells filling the house! Besides, we still have one adorable little person running around in diapers, so there's no shortage of questionable smells here! But mom partially "caved", giving into the pet idea by proposing a lovely little alternative...a kitten. He's self-sufficient (almost), cuddly, cute and basically non-smelly.

Nick, reading over my shoulder, assures me that we will have a dog one day. He also reminds me that I have been known to "give in" to constant badgering, so maybe it's true. But for now, while there are still so many little ones to clean up after, I'm perfectly satisfied with "Mittens" ~ I think everyone else is too!

The Sisters Make "Sisters"

In memory of two very special friends, Sister Ines and Sister Christina, of the Convent of St. Birgitta in Darien, "The Christie Sisters" decided to create two little dolls in their memory to present to the convent this week. So, we put grammy's old Singer sewing machine to good use and worked together with mom to create two very adorable replicas of our Brigittine friends.

We filled two one-liter soda bottles with rice and screwed on styrofoam balls for the heads. Then we just bought some fabric for the habits and glued on googly eyes and felt cut-outs for the faces and detail on the veils. The five red dots affixed to the tops of each veil symbolize the Five Wounds of Christ. Lastly, my personal favorite was the American Girl Doll eye glasses which attached quite easily to the styrofoam faces in order to replicate the look of both sisters. We confess that we stole this great idea from the seventh graders of St. Rita School in Hamden, who create many of these little dolls for display each year in celebration of All Saints Day.

After we completed the dolls, we brought them down to the convent. Caroline, Julia and I had a nice dinner there with the sisters, who were tickled when they saw the little replicas that the girls had made!

We give thanks for these special friends, who have loved us and prayed for us. They continue to uplift and inspire our family by their simplicity, humility, hospitality and most of all, by their unwavering Adoration to the Eucharist. To me, they "have it all" though they possess so little by the world's standards.

St. Birgitta of Sweden, pray for us.

Sr. M. Ines O.SS.S and Sr. M. Christina O.SS.S, rest in peace. 

Fiesta Friday

Viva Mexico! Last Friday, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, fue un gran fiesta en La Casa de Christie! We spent most of the day making tilmas and table decorations in memory of Saint Juan Diego. Thanks to Waltzing Matilda for her ever-ready craft ideas, the girls whipped up these tilmas in an hour or so. We decorated the dinner table with a teal-colored table cloth covered with gold star stickers. Mom wimped out in the Mexican culinary department, but I must say that Amy's Organics makes great frozen burritos, tacos and quesadillas! We wore our Mexican hats and listened to the St. Juan Diego Glory Story while preparing for our dinnertime fiesta. The baby wasn't too fond of the salsa or burritos but she sure enjoyed all of the color, music and excitement of the evening! Like the great variety of music, food and cultures of God's wonderful world, so great too, is the variety and history of the lives of the many great saints in our catholic faith who continue to inspire us to holiness. 

St. Juan Diego, pray for us!  

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Snow in My Shoes!

Good Old St. Nicholas made his way to Guenevere Court on December 6th. We dutifully put out our shoes on the front step. Julia left him a coloring page too and Caroline ensured that everyone's shoes matched...same color, same foot! Mom checked outside at about midnight to see if St. Nick had come...and she gasped when she saw that the shoes were covered in snow - the first falling of the season! How exciting...but how messy. She quickly brought the shoes inside, arranging them in the same way we had left them outside. The notes and the coins got a little wet, but that didn't matter. The next morning the girls did what any smart child would do...focus on the chocolate without ever questioning how it was that St. Nick was able to get into the house without setting off the alarm! I guess he must know our passcode!

Our Little Turkeys

No....not those turkeys! The six little turkeys sitting below the three big turkeys! This year, we simplified all baking and decorating for Thanksgiving.  I saw this cute and easy idea in family fun and I couldn't pass it up. Oreo cookies for the body, candy corn feathers, whoppers candy for the head and white icing for the eyes and beak. Even the littlest hands could create these "gobblers" and mommy's only job was to ensure that we didn't gobble them all up before they could be used for our centerpiece on Thanksgiving Day. The girls (and their cousins) waited patiently before devouring them once dinner was over. I think this may have been the ONLY turkey they ate that day!