Monday, December 11, 2006

Happy (ALMOST!) Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe


It's a good thing I can laugh at myself.

Because all day long, I couldn't help thinking smugly to myself, "Wow, I am so on top of things today!" It began with such a rare and perfect morning. Having worked last night, I didn't get to bed until around 2:30 a.m., but I hopped happily out of bed this morning before Darren left for work and made quick business of getting all the kids up and ready. I still had a little Christmas shopping to finish up and thought I'd take full advantage of the early hour and our cheerful moods. Then, as I was buckling the kids into their carseats, I thought, "Oh, hey! Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!" And with a flash of pure brilliance (please, indulge me!) I devised a plan for our own little celebratory fiesta.

My shopping expedition couldn't have gone better this morning. All three of my children were so sweet and well behaved, and not only did I find most of what I needed to finish my Christmas shopping, I also bought ingredients for a royal baking extravaganza. When we got home, I fixed a simple lunch and, while we were eating, talked with my kids about Our Lady and Saint Juan Diego. After lunch, they sat up at their bar stools and helped me make some Mrs. Fields Snowy White Chocolate Crescent cookies, symbolic of the moon beneath the feet of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Next, much to their delight, we made some sugar cookies in the shape of stars, signifying the gold stars that covered her blue mantle. We had so much fun!



For dinner tonight, in keeping with the theme of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I thought I'd finally use the ground beef that's been sitting in my refridgerator since last Thursday to prepare my kids' favorite Mexican meal--tacos! And I was so proud of how well Dylan and Caitlyn recounted the story of Saint Juan Diego for Darren at the dinner table this evening.
Later, while they played for a while before bed, I decided to transfer the pictures I took earlier today onto my computer. And it was then that I realized ("You have got to be kidding me!") that today was, actually, the eleventh of December...not the twelfth. Not the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe!
After a brief moment of dumbfounded incredulity, the happy truth slowly dawned on me: tomorrow morning, on Our Lady's real feast day, I can enjoy with my coffee a delectable breakfast of chocolate crescents and sugar cookies without exerting any more effort than it takes to lift the lid of my cookie jar.
Lucky, lucky me!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, you are TOO cute. That is SO something I would do!

Oh, how wonderful of you to do all that with the kids though, and I'd place a large bet that they'd never know the difference in days. :) Ahh....the beauty of pre-k.

Cheers to you! I SO wish I could be there for that killer breakfast you're going to have in the morning. Yum.

Anonymous said...

I love it! Ditto. Sounds like something I would do in a bleary-eyed haze.

I don't know if our day will be as spectacular. We did better last Friday on our other Mary feast.

What a beautiful job you did!

Anonymous said...

We might use your cookie idea!

Oh, and the statue is beautiful!

Jen said...

LOL! But, hey, you can't say you weren't on top of things. So glad that you had a such a great day with your family. I love days like that.

mom-in-training said...

So cute! At least it was a wonderful day and it sounds like your kids learned a lot and at their age, the actual calendar day doesn't mean a whole lot anyway. I'm just impressed at what all you accomplished after going to bed at 2:30! I'm pretty useless on little sleep. :)

Anonymous said...

I read this post today, on the actual feast day. So, it worked perfectly for me! :)
So cute. Your kids are going to have such fond memories of baking cookies with Mommy.

Anonymous said...

We're having tacos tonight - the real feast day. Better to celebrate a "vigil" than to forget entirely!

Anonymous said...

Sooo funny. I love the cookies and it seems like you found the ideal way to celebrate a feast. Do it a day ahead! You are on top of things!

Anonymous said...

So I will celebrate tomorrow and we will average out to being really on top of things!