Christmas Recap

This Christmas was a delight...here are the highlights:

Paul's Mom came for a few days to spoil us with her great cooking and her grandma hugs!

We all got dressed up to attend a beautiful Mass at the Cathedral. The church was so packed that we had to go downstairs and watch the service on a big screen TV! At first I was annoyed by this, but then I realized how happy I should be that so many people came to "Christ's Mass" on Christmas. Deep down I think that all people know what is truly important when Christmas comes: faith in Christ. I hope some of those "once-a-year-Catholics" were touched so deeply by Christ that they start attending Mass every Sunday. Wouldn't it be awesome if the church had standing room only every week!?

Dominic had his preschool Christmas program while Grandma Jean was here, so he was delighted to show off his singing and dancing skills for her. He is our most out-going child and loves to perform...I wonder what God wants him to be when he grows up.

This year we started a new tradition of having a Christmas recital at our house with our closest friends. Joseph, Michael, and Dominic each played a few piano songs. Michael even sang while he played his Christmas songs...he loves to sing!

And even I was brave enough to play one song on the piano during the recital! I asked our friend Glen to accompany me on the violin to cover up any mistakes I made :) Glen is a very gifted musician...he can't read music, but he can play anything by ear on the piano, fiddle or guitar! His lovely wife Lisa is also musically gifted and she played a few songs on the piano while the rest of us sang along.

Another new tradition this year was to go Christmas-light-sight-seeing. Our favorite house was Dominic's preschool teacher's. Her house was programmed to music, so different lights flashed on and off to the beat of a few different Christmas songs. None of us had ever seen anything like that before, so it was really impressive. We brought along hot cocoa and cookies to snack on while we watched, and we hope to do this every Christmas in the future!

Of course, opening presents was one of the highlights of Christmas... And this year's favorite gift was from Grandma Jean. She took the boys on a shopping date for new bikes...bikes with breaks and gears on the handle bars! Grandma even took the boys out for lunch at a fancy restaurant afterwards...so it was double-special date and a memory I don't think the boys will forget. Thanks, Grandma Jean!

The favorite gift for the whole family was the new Wii video game, compliments of the money my parents sent us for Christmas. We really struggled with whether or not to buy a video game for the kids, but after talking with other friends who have the Wii, we decided it would be a good choice. So far we have not been sorry at all for the purchase. The whole family is loving it! Even Paul and I sneak downstairs to challenge each other to a few games once the kids are tucked it! It really has been promoting family togetherness as we all play it together. The only games we have so far are the Sports games that came with the Wii and a Major League Baseball game, all of which will keep us moving on our feet during the long winter months in Montana. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

Nathanael's favorite Christmas present was the chocolate candy from his stocking. Well, actually it was chewing on the soft plastic lid of the candy container. He was easy to please this year :)

Nathanael was also thrilled with the new book he received. He loved all the excitement of present-opening-time, even though he was clueless what was going on :)

Dominic's favorite gift was the new blue whale stuffed animal he received...can you tell he's smitten with it? :)

Paul's favorite gift was the special picture frame that Joseph wood-burned for him at at school. Paul took it to work to put on his desk and show off the detailed F4-Phantoms that Joseph wood-burned with such skill.

My favorite gift this Christmas was learning how to ski! Paul bought me 3 lessons at our nearby ski hill, and we were able to go up to the hill with the older boys while Grandma Jean babysit the two younger boys. It was a lot of fun! I'm still a beginner compared to our fearless little boys and my hot snowboarding husband, but hopefully I'll be able to keep up with them soon!

One tradition that remained the same this Christmas was our cat Arwen's past-time of stalking and killing our Christmas ornaments :) Unfortunately, her favorite prey are the homemade ornaments the boys made with their cute school pictures in them. Next year, will someone please remind me to put those ornaments way at the top of the tree?

Christmas Letter 2011

For those of you who are not on our Christmas mailing list, I wanted to post our annual Christmas letter to wish you a blessed holiday season and to share a summary of our year...

May God’s graces be showered upon each of you this holy season as you strive to make more room for Jesus in your hearts! Here is the annual update on our family:

Joseph, age 10, is excelling as a 4th grader at St. Andrew Catholic School. He enjoys art, history, reading, airplanes, baseball, being an altar server at Mass, playing piano, chess club, skiing, Swiss army knives, and anything Nerf. He is eager to start hunting with his dad in a couple of years.

Michael, age 8, is a tremendously bright 3rd grader at St. Andrew Catholic School. He enjoys math, computer games, airplanes, baseball, chess club, playing piano, skiing, and helping me entertain Nathanael. He is eager to start singing in the Cathedral’s children’s choir in January.

Dominic, age 5, loves his pre-K class at Our Redeemer’s Lutheran school. He enjoys playing board games, putting together intricate train tracks, playing baseball, pretending to be various ocean animals, and copying everything his older brothers do. He is eager to start Kindergarten at St. Andrew School in the fall so that he will be “big” like his big brothers.

Nathanael, age 1, brings so much joy to each one of us! He enjoys making animal or machine sounds, reading books, snuggling with his teddy at naptime, playing with trains, and making mommy chase him all over the house. He is our first redhead (although we’re still not sure if the color will stay) and has such a sweet, happy disposition that we almost feel ready for another baby. :) We will trust in God’s will and timing.

Paul, who wishes not to disclose his age :), continues to enjoy working for the FAA as a safety inspector, but his real passion is taking advantage of all the Great Outdoor opportunities in Montana. He spent many happy hours hiking and hunting, and we went on many family camping adventures this summer. He is eager to fill our freezer with elk meat in the coming year, as well as do some more fly-fishing.

As for me, I can’t wait to look my age instead of being carded every time I buy wine at the grocery store. :) I still enjoy participating in my rosary group and Bible study group, helping with our local 40 Days for Life pro-life campaigns, as well as sewing and writing when I can find the time. I especially enjoy writing on our family blog that chronicles all our important family events, as well as random things that I ponder, so if you’d like to read more about us, visit: www.atotustuusfamily.blogspot.com.

I would like to leave you with a powerful story to carry with you throughout the New Year…The portrait of Jesus pictured below has become very special to Paul and me. It is called “Prince of Peace,” and it was painted by an 8 year old child prodigy named Akiane Kramarik. Despite being raised by an atheist mother, she started having visions of Jesus and heaven at age 4 and began bringing them to life with her brush. Akiane says, “I want my art to draw people’s attention to God.” Her own mother’s conversion to Christianity is confirmation that her wish is coming true. The other amazing story behind this portrait is its connection to a young boy named Colton Burpo, who also claims to have met Jesus when he nearly died of a ruptured appendix at age 3 (Colton’s story is beautifully told in the best-selling book, “Heaven is for Real”). When Colton’s father showed this painting of Jesus to his son, it was the ONLY picture of Jesus that Colton said looked just like the Jesus he visited with in Heaven! Wow! Now every time I look at this picture I can really picture my precious Savior looking at me with those loving eyes, and it makes me desire to love and serve Him more so that I can spend eternity with Him someday… I pray that you grow to love the Prince of Peace more this year than ever before too!

Thankful Thursday: the Advent Edition

Advent is sincerely my favorite time of the year, so my heart is simply glowing with thanks...

• a new nephew being born--Evan Andrew--and sending homemade gifts to the happy family



• listening to Christmas music while I cook in the kitchen



• playing Anne Murray's Christmas album while decorating the tree with my little helpers, just like I used to do with my mom



• the grace-filled sacrament of Confession---a snow-white soul (at least for a moment) :}



• hunting for the perfect Christmas tree in the snowy woods with friends...finding more than a tree: family togetherness, the warmth of friendship, feeling alive in the brisk mountain air



• our freshly cut Christmas tree twinkling with lights in the morning, helping me start my day with a twinkling spirit



• boys being trained by their daddy to do dishes



• Nerf darts shot into our newly decorated tree, making mommy shoot angry words and later seek her son's forgiveness



• Taco Tuesday for supper...LOVE IT!



• Amazon.com Christmas shopping = easy + earns money for our school + pays for a portion of our tuition through the Scrip program...TRIPLE BONUS!



• having a holy, candle-lit dinner each night using the Advent wreath that my mom made years ago, the same wreath we lit growing up



• hanging the homemade stocking my mother-in-law made for each of us

The nursing apron, teddy blanket, and burping rags I made for Jon, Debbie, and baby Evan

The beautiful Advent wreath my mom made, giving us a candlelight dinner each night and preparing our hearts for Christmas

The Christmas stocking's lovingly made by Grandma Jean

Dominic, one of mommy's tree decorators. He especially loved the photo ornaments...they are mommy's favorites too!

Joseph: another big helper who also put together the train tracks under the tree

Michael: another brave helper who wanted to hang the highest ornaments of all!

Our freshly cut and decorated tree with our traditional train making laps at the base

Look beyond the lights and busy-ness of the season to find the real reason we celebrate: Jesus

A God Moment

We are trying to start a new tradition at our dinner table, a tradition I borrowed from Ann Voskamp's beautiful blog. Ann's family brings their Bibles to the dinner table, and once the meal is over they all pull out their Bibles, read a chapter or two, and then discuss as a family what God is speaking to them through his Holy Word. I fell in love with that idea of family devotional time around the table and asked my husband if we could try it. So far we have only successfully remembered to do our Bible reading twice...it is far from being a habit yet, but we are hoping it becomes one.

Anyway, today as we sat down to dinner, I reminded the boys to remind me to remind them to do our Bible reading once we finished eating :) Then I recalled the Scripture passage about "man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." I said it out loud to the boys to try to explain to the boys why we are starting this new tradition of reading the Bible every day...because God's Word feeds our souls and is more important than food feeding our bodies. I asked the boys if any of them remembered where that verse in the Bible is found. Like good Catholics, none of us could remember the "address" for the verse :} So we dismissed it and started eating dinner. After dinner, it was Joseph's turn to be our Bible reader. I told him he could pick any book in the Bible to read from or he could just open it up and randomly read whatever page he opened to. He thought the latter idea sounded fun, so he opened the Bible and pointed to the middle of the page. Guess what passage he pointed to?

"One does not live by bread alone." (Luke 4:4)

God totally answered my question at the beginning of our meal!!! I could not believe it! All of us stopped and looked at each other with our mouths hanging open. I said, "Crazy! That was no accident, boys!" Luke 4:4 is relating the story about how Jesus responded to Satan tempting him on the mountain after his 40 day fast. When I looked at the cross reference to the verse it brought me to Deuteronomy 8:3. Jesus is quoting the Old Testament passage when the Israelites were given manna in the desert and Moses tells them, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord." So now we know the address,and I don't think we'll every forget it. How incredible. I guess God wasn't joking when he said, "Ask and you shall receive." How neat for our family to see a miracle like that, proving that indeed our God is alive and active in our daily lives, and that He cares about the smallest questions that we might have.