Readjusting to Ordinary Time :(

Welcome back to ordinary time. 🙁   I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to get back into ordinary time.  I mean, couldn’t the Church have come up with a better name than “Ordinary“?  Ordinary time just sounds so — well, ordinary.  And who likes ordinary?

No, we want a life of adventure and excitement — so why does the Church have to bring us down with all of it’s talk of ordinary time?

I’ll tell you why — because life can’t always be one high after the next — it has highs and lows and there is a natural ebb and flow to life and maybe the Church knows better than we do that we need a little ordinary time to recoup, renew, and get ourselves ready for Lent.

Hey, if our choices are  Lent or Ordinary Time, I think I’ll take Ordinary Time, thank you very much.  🙂  So, let’s appreciate this calm before the storm of Lent and take some time to enjoy the ordinary things in life.

So in honor of ordinary time, I offer you my 7 Quick Takes.

~1~

Taking Down the Christmas Tree 🙁

Last Sunday, my husband proposed we might take down the Christmas Tree.  I proposed he might be dead inside — and guess who bought herself another week of Christmas cheer with that comment?  Of course I was kidding about the dead inside part (sort of), but who proposes taking down the tree a full day before the end of the Christmas Season?! 🙁 Okay, probably a whole bunch of people have already taken it down — but I just couldn’t.  So we didn’t.

But this Sunday will be the day to finally say goodbye to the tree and all the good memories.  Every year, we haul it outside and burn it — and it’s absolutely terrifying how quickly it turns into a hot, blazing fire — like melt-your-face-hot fire.  But, hey we’re purists over here and we like the real thing.  Plus, it makes us feel like we’re living on the edge — we’re crazy that way.

~2~

Blue Monday is Coming!

Apparently the third Monday in January is known as Blue Monday — the most depressing day of the year.  Yay for us — not really. 🙁  I actually wrote a whole post dedicated to Blue Monday, so check back on Monday to read all my crazy thoughts on it.  Don’t worry — we got this!

But on a serious note, maybe it’s time to check in with the people who are often overlooked or find themselves alone at this time of the year.  Especially for us northerners, the cold and wet and lack of sunlight can really compound the sadness that people are feeling this time of year.

Let’s look around and not forget that, though our lives might be crazy busy, maybe somebody else would appreciate just tagging along for the ride?

~3~

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Lights

Somewhat related, I love twinkle lights.  I love them on trees, and over doorways, and in any dingy space that needs some cheering up — I just really, really love them.  So, I suggested that we go out and find some Christmas lights on clearance and hang them in our basement and other places that need a little more cheer.  Well, my husband was out at the local hardware and there was a whole shelf of them at 85% off. The following is an actual text that followed:

I didn’t intend for him to buy all the lights — but based on my text he decided to buy 80 boxes! Umm, I was just joking about going cray-cray with the twinkle-lights. 🙁

This is a little lesson in humor –sometimes you’re laughing as you write a text, but the receiver doesn’t realize you are laughing.  He just might think you are dead-pan serious when you are writing.

I mean, I thought the part about knocking people over would cue him into the fact that I was being overly dramatic.  Just so you know –I don’t advocate knocking people over or hurdling small children — no matter how much you might save 🙁

I also wouldn’t typically advocate buying out the store either — lesson learned.  I apologize if you were coming behind us and looking for cheap Christmas lights to bring a little cheer to your home — and there were none to be found.  🙁

~4~

Coloring Books These Days Can Be So Profound

I know that coloring books for adults is a thing right now — but most of the time, I think it can be a little gimmicky — I mean they are like 20 times the cost of regular coloring books!  But I bought my middle daughter this lovely coloring book for Christmas and I am kind of obsessed with it — in a good way.

So many words of wisdom here — so much so that I have resolved to actually read the Christmas Carol when I can find a moment.  Beautiful words like,

“I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost.

“I made it link by link, yard by yard,

I girded it on of my own free will,

and of my own free will I wore it….”

Or

“You fear the world too much…

All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance

of its sordid reproach.

I have seen your nobler aspirations

fall off one by one,

until the master passion,

Gain, engrosses you.”

This stuff is deep and I’m convinced that gimmicks aside, we adults can really learn a thing or two from that Charles Dickens.

~5-7~

Gotta End Here — The Ultimate Mike Drop

Some of you have heard that the amazing Fr. Mike Scanlan died this past week.  I can not begin to tell you what an amazing influence he was in my life.  I wrote the full post here, please check it out because this man was amazing — and I just couldn’t do him justice in a short-take or even 3!.  So, I have to end my quick takes with the ultimate Mike Drop for a man who helped change my life and has given me a model for what Catholicism is all about.

Though he was brilliant, I won’t remember him for his intellectual prowess.  No, I will remember him for his love — his great palpable love for every kid that set foot on the campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville.  And I have no doubt, that though his mind may have deteriorated, his loving heart remained intact until the end.

Pray for me, dear Fr. Mike, because if I could find in my heart even 1/100th of the love that you had for people, then I could say I knew how to love and I had accomplished something great with my life.

Rest in peace, dear Fr. Mike. Pax Et Bonum. You’re my hero! Santo Subito!

Linking Up With Kelly.