7 Quick Takes Friday #69

See more 7 Quick Takes Friday contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

I had not realized that two weeks had skipped away with nary a quick take. So, now I have the opportunity to pick and choose the high points and low points of the Christmas days.

1. (high point) I began the Christmas holidays with a remarkable blessing: an advent retreat at St. Francis Retreat Center, which is near my home. I had signed up for the retreat way back in September. Unfortunately, there were few takers. In fact, there was only one other person signed up. I assumed that the retreat would be canceled, but the director of the center decided that the retreat center staff, along with the friars, would benefit from an advent retreat. So, I had the wonderful opportunity to usher in the Christmas season in a very special way -- one of those ways in which God spoils me.

2. (low point) Not so promising was an encounter at work round about the same time. In leaving work in the glorious darkness, the security gates and I had an altercation, which I lost. The gates punished me by clipping off both my car mirrors. Fortunately, the security detachment helped me detach the hanging remains of the mirrors so that they would not beat in the wind against my windows, potentially breaking them. The next morning I drove my poor mirrorless car (sort of like a person without ears) to Firestone for repairs, expecting to pay a handsome sum for a handsome new set of ears since we carry a $1K deductible on our insurance policy. Well, it was a handsome sum: $600, but the timing was perfect for a "special" on our Firestone credit card, and we ended up with six months to pay off that handsome sum, interest-free. Once the car was repaired, I began driving it back to work, daring those security gates to take me on again. I have learned some better dodging maneuvers now, suggested by the head of security.

3. (high point) The Thursday before Christmas I began my holiday leave (that is another story, related below) and together with two friends traveled to a parish an hour away to visit our former parish priest, Fr. B, who has been an inspiration and de facto spiritual advisor for me for the past six years. (He was also the priest with whom I went through RCIA.) He has played an equally significant role in the lives of the two other women who traveled with me. So, we were all happy to be able to go to daily Mass and lunch with him. Imagine our surprise and delight, then, when right before Fr. B began to celebrate Mass, one of the nuns who serves with him, stood up and told all the assembled congregation that the very day we were there was the 55th anniversary of Fr. B's ordination! Definitely one of the high points of the Christmas season!

4. (low point) For the first time ever, we had a mouse in the house. It seems that our three cats enjoyed watching the live mouse (which turned out to be plural), but prefer to play with stuffed ones and and to eat dead (i.e. canned) ones. So we had to call past control. Since the mice have appeared, Murjan, our alpha cat, all 20 pounds of him, has taken to crawling into our laps, seeming to want protection. From the mouse, perhaps? I suppose this is the definition of "domesticated cat." When the pest control guy came by to pick up the trapped mice, I closed up our "delicate," domesticated cats in their playroom to avoid making them experience the trauma of seeing those poor mice carted off. (Actually, I was on the side of our cats, but Donnie says I am overly sensitive to the death of the unfortunate little mice who were only seeking warmth and food and unrealistic in expecting him to chase them back outside when they are faster than our cats.)

5.  (high point) Obviously, the high point of anyone's Christmas is time spent with family: parents, siblings, kids, grandkids, significant others. For us, too. This year, though, was more complicated than most because the family is pretty spread out these days. We talked to siblings and in-laws in Pennsylvania by phone: every year they gather Christmas eve, and we participate through round-robin phone conversations. Lizzie and her significant other, who are in South Carolina, called into Pennsylvania as well. On Christmas Day, we picked up Doah and Noelle and spent the afternoon in a leisurely Christmas lunch/dinner at Denny's. (After all, no one would ever want to eat anything I might attempt to cook.)  Two days later, we drove to Sacramento (a tad of a long drive since we live on the California central coast) to celebrate some more -- more eating, more playing -- with Shane, Lemony, and our grandkids. All in all, a good Christmas.

6. (low point) Although I did take vacation days, I was not able to begin them right away. Last minute issues at work kept pulling me in: decisions about year-end bonuses, several employees deciding to retire before year's end, and run-of-the-mill paperwork that took longer to get done because some of the people who needed to do it were ill and some had been granted vacation days before we knew that their help would be needed. While on vacation, I got an urgent call to prepare some data because higher headquarters on the East Coast had threatened to close down one of my major operations. Argh! At least, I could delegate the work to the division manager, but it was not a very good Christmas gift for him to know of this threat (still undecided) hanging over his head. As a result, I ended up with leftover vacation days for this year, and, not being able to take them into the next year (our office does not allow that), I asked our personnel officer to give me a list of sick employees who had used up all their sick and vacation days. I was able to help a half-dozen people with up to a week each of free hours. Yes! Now that was a Christmas gift for them -- and for me.

7. (high point) Right before Christmas, I had a neat surprise. Padre (Fr.) Julio called me. He had returned from Colombia for a week and would be in Salts for two days. Off Donnie and I went to the home of a mutual friend for a BBQ carne asada feast with padre and about a couple dozen other Por Amor friends stuffed real friendly-like into the mutual friend's small casa. (These are the people who have supported padre's successful efforts to bring education and work to rural kids with limited opportunities and a vulnerability to recruitment by insurgents; check out the link.) In the background the television, tuned to a Spanish channel, played the next installment of a miniseries on Pope Joan. (Google her: it is an interesting legend.) I commented to Donnie, as we drove home, that it had been a fun "bilingual" event. Donnie pointed out that it had not been exactly bilingual. Being the only non-Spanish speaker there, he had missed out on some of the jokes and other conversations although I tried to remember to translate, and padre did speak English with him. That was just a small thing, though. It was a delightful evening and a delightful surprise.


It has indeed been a relaxing and renewing Christmas season for me. In addition to the advent retreat, I have loved being able to attend daily Mass at Old Mission. Christmas Midnight Mass, about which I blogged earlier (see Merry Christmas, God Bless All) gathered together a full church of caroling parishioners, cats (Sula and Phinean) nestled in the creche, and crowing roosters in the courtyard. I hope your Christmas days have been as pleasant -- and I wish you a happy approaching new year.