Monday, December 08, 2008

Amazing, Bizarre, and Lovely


We had a lovely weekend. On Friday night, we went to church to celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas. On the car ride there, Henry was in a particularly curious and chatty mood.

“Mom, why can we swallow food but we can’t swallow our fingers?” he asked.

“Well, our fingers are attached to our hands,” I answered.

“No, I mean, why do our fingers make us throw up a little and our food does not?” Henry pressed further.

“I guess that is because we chew up our food before we swallow it, but most people, if they choose to stick their fingers down their throats, do not choose to chew up their fingers first,” I said.

“Hey, Mom,” Henry went on, moving on to another topic. “God made us, right?”

“Yes, Henry.”

“So God made OUR POOP???” he asked, laughing uproariously.

A brief lesson on the digestive process followed.

After church, a service that reminded me why we very rarely choose to take our boys to church in the evenings, we went upstairs to eat cookies. Luke’s class had made a booklet on St. Nicholas to distribute to all of the parishioners, a booklet entitled, “What St. Nicholas Means to Me.”

There were some lovely drawings and writings by these first through third graders. Many of the girls wrote, “I love St. Nicholas.” Many of the boys stuck more to the facts, writing things like, “St. Nicholas was a Bishop.”

Luke drew the picture featured above. In case you can’t see it clearly, it is a drawing of a head with wings with this caption: “St. Nicholas is a Spirit.”

Ahh, my Luke, so spiritually advanced.

The next morning, the kids ran shrieking around the house, very impressed that St. Nicholas knew to give them Bakugan battle brawlers and cheetos in their shoes.

It snowed gently all day, adding to the festive atmosphere, and Craig kept the fire stoked against the cold.

That afternoon, we ventured out carefully in the car to attend a Tae Kwon Do belt ceremony for Craig and Luke. They have been taking class together and both recently earned their yellow belts. Luke took the ceremony seriously, clearly very proud as his instructor tied the belt around his waist.

Feeling like we should celebrate, we drove the car home, bundled up and found Auntie Mara, and ventured out to the local pub by foot. Along the way, the boys made snow angels in the smooth, new blanket of snow.

10 comments:

Beck said...

So pretty! It sounds like a perfect, perfect weekend - even the poop discussion.

Anonymous said...

I love this mental picture of all of you. Love, Mom

amy turn sharp said...

that was fun and gorgeous!

Molly Sabourin said...

First of all, I am more than impressed with your very clear and enlightening explanation on why we cannot swallow fingers. I tend to freeze in those situations or totally over explain to the point of making everyone quite sorry that a question was ever asked of me. I loved this post. You should seriously consider a book, Ser, including all these colorful stories. They make us laugh and yet also reverence the process of continually having to evolve, as mothers, in order to keep up with our amazing children. I always look forward to getting updates on your family.

Dove Knits said...

Ah, the finger question reminds me of how I always got to field the "What's a prostitute?" type questions at Christ the Savior from Scout.

Congrats to Luke (and Craig) on his yellow belt!

Becky said...

What is it with boys that always makes them turn the most random topics to poop! Too funny.

::Sylvia:: said...

LOL. Great post! It sounds like a wonderful day!

so yung wilson said...

Another laugh out loud like a crazy woman at work! Laugh, reread the POOP part, laugh again. I'm still smiling even though I read this blog yesterday.

Can't wait to see you all!

Jenny said...

Such a lovely post, Ser! I wish I could sit beside that fire with you and watch that gently falling snow!

Jenny said...

Such a lovely post, Ser! I wish I could sit beside that fire with you and watch that gently falling snow!