Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Texas-sized Snowman
There are exceptions to nearly every rule. Recently, the Texas Blaxtons unearthed what is perhaps the only instance in which a thing is not bigger in Texas.
Last week, a major meteorological event occurred and there was actually snow and ice to suffice the construction of a snow man. The boys--myself included in this description due to the childhood-inducing effect of sub-freezing precipitation on the psyche of a winter-starved adult--bundled up soon after breakfast and quickly marred the 1.5 inches of pristine winter wonder yard. The "Making Snowballs 101" course was mastered by PT in no time and Avery set the curve in "Finding Used Snowballs On the Ground That Haven't Crumbled Yet 101." The wonderful advantage of Texas snow is that it is of perfect packing viscosity (no, this is probably not the most correct term, but its fun to say and we are talking about snow in Texas for goodness' sake) and in no time we were rolling the "legs" of The Lone Frosty. He ended up about as tall as PT, who is less and less short every day, and a knit hat, two branches and a carrot completed him...in PT's eyes that is.
You might notice that this post is strangely void of pictures, which I suppose is not so strange of Padron's posts. But since this is a family blog, it would seem rather...well...inappropriate to share publicly the only picture we captured of our creation. You see, PT was the one who placed the carrot and instead of giving him a face, PT decided to make ours, very definitively, a snow MAN.
Three minutes later, PT form-tackled the unfortunate fellow and less than 6 hours later, all that had not melted forever were his appendages, strewn on the familiar, brown, Panhandle in December lawn. His fate, not so unlike ours, should give us pause to consider the infinite love of our Creator, who did not doom us to oblivion, but humbled himself and assumed our frail, transient-as-snow-in-Amarillo nature so that we could share in his eternal, divine nature.
Not too bad...for a Texas-sized snowman, that is.
Last week, a major meteorological event occurred and there was actually snow and ice to suffice the construction of a snow man. The boys--myself included in this description due to the childhood-inducing effect of sub-freezing precipitation on the psyche of a winter-starved adult--bundled up soon after breakfast and quickly marred the 1.5 inches of pristine winter wonder yard. The "Making Snowballs 101" course was mastered by PT in no time and Avery set the curve in "Finding Used Snowballs On the Ground That Haven't Crumbled Yet 101." The wonderful advantage of Texas snow is that it is of perfect packing viscosity (no, this is probably not the most correct term, but its fun to say and we are talking about snow in Texas for goodness' sake) and in no time we were rolling the "legs" of The Lone Frosty. He ended up about as tall as PT, who is less and less short every day, and a knit hat, two branches and a carrot completed him...in PT's eyes that is.
You might notice that this post is strangely void of pictures, which I suppose is not so strange of Padron's posts. But since this is a family blog, it would seem rather...well...inappropriate to share publicly the only picture we captured of our creation. You see, PT was the one who placed the carrot and instead of giving him a face, PT decided to make ours, very definitively, a snow MAN.
Three minutes later, PT form-tackled the unfortunate fellow and less than 6 hours later, all that had not melted forever were his appendages, strewn on the familiar, brown, Panhandle in December lawn. His fate, not so unlike ours, should give us pause to consider the infinite love of our Creator, who did not doom us to oblivion, but humbled himself and assumed our frail, transient-as-snow-in-Amarillo nature so that we could share in his eternal, divine nature.
Not too bad...for a Texas-sized snowman, that is.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
No Room for Santa!
If you haven't heard by now, there is no room for Santa in our Christmas Season (nor Advent season for that matter). As a child I was bewildered by the idea of Santa Claus and was much too practical to believe in him. Besides, as we celebrated Christmas with extended families it became apparent that Santa carried a heavier bag to some than others, which just didn't fit the bill for this "Magical Man." One Christmas I got fed up with the idea of "pretending" (or rather "lying" in my black and white world) for the younger cousins so as to not ruin the surprise. All I could think was that someday they will find out the truth behind the man in a red coat and what will the consequences be then? I had a revelation at that young age that if I want my children to put their faith and believe in something I must not shatter it nor take it for granted with pretend stories. Above all I want them to put their faith in the Virgin Birth, in the True Presences and in the wisdom of our Church.
More and more as we go through this Advent we encounter the same question, "Have you been a good little boy for Santa?" and "What is Santa bringing you?" Well, we are working on an informative and polite response to these questions. We are teaching the boys that Santa Claus is an imaginative person derived from the traditions of St. Nicholas. We have chosen to celebrate St. Nicholas' feast day, December 6th, by picking an angel to buy gifts for instead of filling the boys shoes. This gives us an opportunity to teach selflessness.
With so much attacking the faith from the outside, we have decided to take a more focused and honest approach to Christmas within our home.
A Virgin said,"Yes."
A man with integrity accepted.
A Savior was born!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
What's in a name?
While cuddling with Paul Thomas we talked about having a new baby in our family and how he will get to hold the little one and help mommy. Then I asked what he thought we should name our little one.
"Umm, I think we might should name him 'Orange Astrounant'."
So for now, our little one is going by O.A. for short.
What did I expect?
Friday, December 10, 2010
Friday Photo Favorites
Sorry for the lack of post, morning sickness is lasting all day still. I will get back on the wagon as soon as this little one lets me, until then enjoy these cuties!
Friday, December 3, 2010
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