The Juris Family and 4/5 of the AWOL Family shared a most joyous five days together at their temporary home in Cambridge, England over the Thanksgiving holiday. Here is a shot of us in front of Kings’ College on my birthday, a nippy-21-degree-Sunday-afternoon . The temperatures were low, but the conversation and camaraderie were the warmest imaginable. JM, your hostessing abilities while on the road yourself will continue to teach me lessons for years to come, thank you for a... Read more
As the Christmas trees are lit, the garland is hung, and the Christmas carols sung, our family is joyfully living Advent, but often with the feeling that we are hanging onto sanity by one frail strand of Christmas lights. With three young children and a sweet 5-month-old, my world lately feels like that of Chevy Chase from Christmas Vacation as he frantically attempts to light his home, covered with Christmas lights. He is one man facing the daunting task of... Read more
I adore this time of year…gathering my boys under the Christmas tree, letting them explore the boxes of ornaments, sitting on the cozy polar bear rug reading Christmas books. All should be peaceful (at least as much as possible with 3 small boys). However, our 2 year old has a meltdown Every Single Time we mention Baby Jesus. He emits loud, piercing cries of, “NO! I’m the baby!” punctuated by emphatic gestures to himself that I’m worried may injure his... Read more
It’s still November 30th, so if you were hoping to pray this beautiful Christmas Novena, it’s not too late! I know that 15 times a day seems like a lot, but this is such a simple prayer and it almost becomes like a mantra throughout the day. “Hail, and blessed be the hour…” The words are poignant and by all accounts, this particular novena is very powerful when it comes to changing hearts and working miracles in difficult situations. Will... Read more
Yesterday, my son had his first real “I’m going to give you the silent treatment, Mom!” moment, which was totally scary for me! I thought about all of the years that I have ahead of me that will involve moments like these, and I realized that I should not take for granted the fact that most of the time, Christopher still wants his dad and me to know about all of his plans and thoughts and questions! The interesting part... Read more
My family is excited to spend the next month preparing for the celebration of the birth of Christ. We have the luxury of controlling our day, so we will put aside some of our regular academic work to do reading, crafts and cooking related to Christmas. The first thing we will do is put up out our Advent Wreath and light it every night, reading a different Old Testament prophecy each week. I have brought up our favorite Nativity story... Read more
On behalf of all of the Builders, I’d like to wish our Building Cathedrals family a very Happy Thanksgiving! My family is sending warm wishes from Houston, where we’re wearing shorts and t-shirts and waiting for the promised “cold front” to come through tonight 🙂 Whether you’re sipping hot cocoa or lemonade today, playing in the snow or playing bocce and flying kites at the park, celebrating with lots of friends and family or just as an immediate family, have... Read more
Are you hosting Thanksgiving this year or traveling with kids? Either way, life is complicated! Around the holidays I always think about my mom, okay, that makes it sound like she’s dead, which she is not, just in Bermuda, which is like heaven, but anyway, can you tell I have had too much coffee this week? I think about my mom during the holidays because she is a terrific hostess, she manages to put out a wonderful, elegant meal while... Read more
In an attempt to get my children to eat a wider variety of fruits and vegetables, I decided to introduce the concept of “eating the rainbow” one evening for dinner last week. Eating the rainbow simply means that you try to eat fruits and vegetables that span the color spectrum, from red strawberries to green spinach to purple plums and everything in between. The idea is that the foods in each color group contain a unique set of vitamins and... Read more
So, we were sitting at brunch yesterday with the grandparents, and while the women were up at the buffet, the men had the following conversation, reported later: Dad: Where’s Uncle Blank? Grandpa: They went to Baltimore, but they drove. Uncle Blank won’t fly, he doesn’t want anyone touching his junk. Nine year old: Then why doesn’t he just put it in his carry on bag? Read more
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