Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Christmas”
With the Feast of the Presentation on February 2nd, and the day set aside as the World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, we end the last trimmings of the Christmas season by putting away our creches. In doing so we share one last glimpse of Christmas past with this tiny ornament that has graced our Christmas trees and niches …
Gertrude, not to be outdone by Gunther’s little green bowtie, did tolerate a bit of Christmas color for a short photo shoot session. A dashing, yet feminine, red bow assembly with a flower, was (after some treat bribery) quite something against her diluted tortoiseshell coat of grayish brown. She even provided some reasonable poses before opting to remove said bow …
It’s an old photograph from 1956 but we can sense the care and creativity our Handmaid pioneering Sisters took to create a little Christmas corner at Cor Jesu. The tree looks to be real. A large statue of Mary, robed in green, looking down at a swaddled Christ child at her feet. To the left might be a small votive …
We can laugh about the gifts the cats are sometimes sent and in this cartoon we poke fun that Shadow and Sunbeam (a.k.a. Gunther and Gertrude) are disappointed with practical presents found under the tree. Us nuns are thrilled with such items while the cats may be sniffing around for catnip and other edibles. An interesting fact about Gunther is …
Humor can extend Christmas too. And animals as well. This is a cartoon many cat owners might sympathize with, though in full disclosure, we must admit Gunther has never climbed the Christmas tree. [It took him over a year to even touch his cat tree. Russian Blues are notorious about disliking change.] But he does like to be the present …
We share this little post as part of our continuing Christmas spirit so people not living in monasteries and who might be suffering Christmas withdrawal due to the world declaring the Incarnation “over” on December 26th can linger in thanksgiving a little longer. We keep our creches up until the Feast of the Presentation, February 2nd even though Ordinary Time …
For many years at our Heart of Mary Priory in Lake Villa, IL the foyer was graced by a little handmade miniature southwest style adobe mission church. Built by a talented friend and benefactor it was used as a donation box next to the votive candle stands. Delightful in its details, the stucco was uneven, bells hung atop the roof …
We had our community Christmas photo and invited Gunther. He declined the invite though he did wear his bowtie and even seemed to parade it before every Sister that entered the house. But as the photos indicate, he prefers to play with his tie than wear it. He also likes trying to eat artificial Christmas decorations. All the beautiful poinsettias we …
Handmaids love Christmas. It’s approaching February and we still have our Mass Chapel Nativity Scene in place. On the Feast of the Presentation, the day when candles are blessed, the Christmas lights surrounding the Infant King will again be lit as we celebrate the gift of the Consecrated Life with the One for whom we are consecrated, the Light of …
We share another look at some of our Christmas decorations, especially around the Priest Chalkboard. The chalkboard on our refectory wall highlights the names of specific priests each week to pray for. You can read about the practice here. While wild turkey feathers are a common decoration, (we have several different rafters of wild turkeys moving through our grounds on …
It may be Ordinary Time again, but our creches are still up and will remain until February 2nd, though our Christmas trees are getting undecorated and packed away again. Given that we live in three separate buildings on the property, it should surprise no one that we have more than one Christmas tree. In fact, if you count the …
We recently shared a post on what a typical monastery Christmas is like. But what was it really like this year? It was a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!!!! That’s a shout-able event. Why? Because it was a rare event experienced maybe only once every 10-15 years or more…a White Christmas of 5 to 7 inches of snow that meant no Midnight Mass, …