List of Favorites

Do you know what my favorite color is?  Well, it depends on the day and how I am feeling.  Sometimes it’s a bright red and many times something more demure.  Do you know what my favorite book is? Goodness, this is a hard one and a question that often got asked when I was earning my literature degree.  Much like many of my favorites it’s up for interpretation.  If it’s a novel I love Jane Eyre, if it’s poetry I love The Prophet, if it’s mythology The Epic of Gilgamesh, if it’s spirituality a good translation of The Bible, if it’s writings of the saints Story of a Soul…  In music – I enjoy an array of genres, artists and languages, sure nothing tops the Spanish classics I grew up listening, but I can equally enjoy anything from classical to pop.  Last night I had an hour drive to the venue where I was to watch “Little Women the Musical” and having so much time I started to think about how I have watched this play at least three times in the month of December in recent years.  The story is not even in my radar of favorites.  In fact, I remember not even liking it that much when I read it.  I just hated Amy getting Laurie, from my throne of judgement, I felt she didn’t deserve him…  Yet, my criticism on the novel was not what was stirring in my mind as I drove, rather it was this idea of favorites.  On one of the Ave Maria cruises I went on this girl made a comment that she didn’t think she could date a man who didn’t like country music, the sad thing is she was dead serious! 

When I was a teen I thought that knowing the list of favorites of the object of my affections meant that I knew him well- I blame popular culture and chick flicks for this!  Then again I am the one that paid to watch those movies (smile).  In every romantic comedy the moment would come when the guy would make a statement listing the other’s favorites to show that he got her, he understood her, he knew her, “I know you like cloudy days over sunshine, and pickles in your hamburger…”  The audience would swoon and little girls concluded that love meant knowing the list of favorites- but this girl grew up and discovered that a list of favorites doesn’t even penetrate the surface of love.  In one of the last scenes, “Small Umbrella in the Rain,” when Professor Bhaer declares his love for Jo they realize that their list of favorites is very different- but something deeper pulls them together.  Something more important.  Yes, its love, but it’s also in their differences they find each other interesting.

Growing up in the barrio and being a straight “A” student is not easy.  Enjoying reading the classics – well, just preferring books to television made me an outcast.  My list of favorites was never the same as those in my hood.  I caught on early and for many years I thought that because my likes were so different that I just needed to keep them to myself.  I felt like I wasn’t interesting because my list of favorites was so unusual.  When I was at family gatherings I didn’t know what to share because I felt so out of place in conversation.  I still feel like that sometimes - completely uninteresting.  Yet, with age comes self-acceptance and the realization that those lists of favorites are not important.  That we are all interesting when we see each other through the eyes of Christ and sharing the same faith, the same love for God is way more important than enjoying the same song (smile).    

10 Great Christmas Gifts for Catholics

My sister has been asking me what I want for Christmas- which I think is a popular question this time of year; thus, I decided I would write a fun post about ten great gifts for Catholics.  As people of faith we tend to focus on the real reason for the season, we speak about a time of waiting of preparedness for the birth of Christ in our hearts and I really think it’s important to be reminded of the true holiday Spirit.  While Christmas is filled with consumerism, material gifts are special too.  Look at the process behind the gift.  The giver thinks “what will my recipient enjoy,” then spends time searching through possible ideas until finding the right item.  After purchasing the item she goes home and selects a snowman covered wrapping paper and wraps it carefully adding a bow.  It makes her smile thinking of the possible reaction the recipient will have.  It’s a labor of love, thoughtfulness and time.  Thus, material gifts can be very special too.  Below is a list of ten items that I think any Catholic would love.

Last Testament: In His Own Words- the latest from Pope Benedict is sure to delight any Catholic nerd.  It’s written in a Q&A format, Peter Seewald interviews our Pope asking great questions and the answers provide a rather intimate look into the life of the man that has contributed so much wisdom to our church.  Some say it’s the nearest to an autobiography (smile).

Adult Coloring Book: The new trend to captivate the masses are coloring books for adults! For those of us who love art, but have a very limited ability to create - coloring books are a must.  There’s an array of styles, the ones that I found most interesting are Christian ones.  I found and immediately order myself one that is a journal and a coloring book- I mean seriously that is the most perfect idea! Color, write and reflect (smile). 

Sunday Missal- This came as a request from my mom (since we switch between English and Spanish services) my mom asked me to buy her a Sunday Missal (in Spanish) so that she can always know what’s going on during Mass.  This is a great gift for anyone during this time of year because we just began a new liturgical year and we can all benefit from having a guide to help us better focus during worship.

Tickets to a retreat, conference or an event- For those who seem to have it all, why not give them a gift to share an evening or weekend together.  Sometimes friends won’t attend retreats because they are too expensive so treat them to one.  My love language is quality time so these gifts are awesome.

New Skete

Religious Order Products- Religious orders sell many handmade items to support themselves: chocolate, coffee, beer, rosaries, icons…  For the dog lover New Skete Monasteries have a unique selection of items- even dog biscuits!  I love their story- because they are Catholic dog whispers, check them out.

“The Pivotal Players”- Bishop Barron produced a beautiful multi-part film series on a handful of saints, artists, mystics and scholars.  He released the first part of the series just in time for the holidays.  The videos are exceptional- not only in content but the images captured are excellent.

Pius Media

A Subscription to Pius Media- This is like the Netflix for Catholics! It’s an online video rental with hundreds of Catholic movies to choose from.  It has all types of educational DVD’s, great children and family selections and (my favorite) tons of movies on the lives of the saints. 

A Planner- Even though smart phones have calendars – visual people (like myself) must have a planner to write and use our fancy pens.  I found this Saint’s Calendar at a conference earlier this year and its super neat.  Every week it has a brief bio on a Saint and the days are highlighted with Catholic Feast Days. 

Shining Light Dolls- I love the cute saint dolls that Shinning Light Dolls organization makes.  I think they are kid friendly- but as an adult I can see myself collecting them!

Mass offered for his/her Intentions- You can go to your parish and request a Mass date and on that day the special intentions will be in the person’s honor.  I have a friend who loves to offer Mass for my birthday and I think that is one of the sweetest gifts ever.

Hope this list helps with your Christmas giving. 

Thirty Six Acts of Kindness

Thirty-six acts of kindness by loved ones on my birthday:

• Sister helped me do my hair, you know that place in the back that is always a challenge.
• Mom gave me the sweetest card.
• Dad the warmest hug.
• Coworkers decorated my desk with colorful balloons, streamers, and birthday signs.  
• A staff card with well wishes from everyone in my department.
• Funny jokes.
• A birthday cake!

• Many versions of the birthday song (solo, group, and tap dancing).
• Serenade from my best friend’s one year-old.
• Prayers offered for me.
• Sweet phone calls, texts and social media messages poured in throughout the day.
• Mom made my favorite meal.
• Ate dinner as a family.
• Mass offered for me.
• Funny snoopy comic on my daily calendar.
• Hugs, lots of them.
• Bouquet of colorful carnations delivered by my goddaughter.

• Nephew played a new song on the piano for me.
• Nephew gives me the best hug of the day, you know those really tight kind.
• Quality time.
• Pet bird singing.
• Birthday cards- yep the paper kind!

• Best friend took me out for ice cream (I think she read my mind).
• Bouquet of red roses from my godson and his wife

• Big congratulations from my brother-in-law.
• Mom & dad walked Dollar.
• A new Precious Moments nativity to add to my collection.
• Unexpected surprises.
• Doggie kisses.
• Doggie cuddles.
• Beautiful drawing from my youngest goddaughter.

• Material gifts.
• Birthday shoes!
• Gift cards- yeahy, shopping!
• Dad finished putting the Christmas lights outside as a surprise.
• Brother finally realized it was my birthday and gave me a big hug!  

We all give of what we have and boy, do I have a generous bunch (smile)!

Thanksgiving: My Weekend in Pictures

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed the long weekend.  My weekend flew in much activity. 

Thanksgiving Day went well. I managed to cook the entire meal without any incidents.  My parents and I went to Mass and got better seats than last year.  The service as usual was extremely beautiful.  The altar was wonderfully decorated.  There were three choirs and three homilies because it was a trilingual service and of course the offering dance from the Vietnamese community.  We left the service extremely filled with God’s Spirit and got home to decorate our Christmas tree.  I have an artificial tree because I feel like it’s such a waste to buy trees every year, it’s my way of being green during this season (smile).  Then I started to cook all the side dishes, my nephew was in helper mode after decorating the tree and he volunteered to be my assistant chef. We finished our labors right on schedule.  The dinner turned out great, though my mash potatoes were a bit dry.  We went around the dinner table and gave thanks concluding with a toast to God, cheers! We had great conversation recalling past years and my parents mentioned how much they loved that we started celebrating Thanksgiving Day as a family.  That made me swell with joy.

 Offering dance.

So beautiful!

On Friday, I was exhausted from my previous day of much activity, but managed to finish most of the inside decorating.  I tried avoiding the stores, I am not a black Friday shopper.  My best Friend and I went one year because our favorite store was giving away cute clutches and we waited in line for that clutch for over three hours – that was enough to never try black Friday shopping again.  We were supposed to hang the outside lights, but watched a Vicente Fernandez concert special instead (smile).

 Never too old for silliness!

 With the bride and my cousins.

It was pouring in CA.

Pretty flowers.

With my my family!

Saturday, my cousin got married and I got to hang out with my entire family (which is huge).  The wedding took place in a yacht in Newport Beach and was quite a fancy affair.  The thing about getting married in such a venue is that guest can’t leave whenever we want- we are stuck until the celebration ends, I guess that means P-A-R-T-Y.  Also, it was a tight space for our large family...  But being together and country folk- we had great laughs trying to be upper class for one night (smile).  We also had a great time in the photo booth with mom.

Advent Mary Icon.

 This year's class.

The beautiful wreaths.

Sunday, we had RCIA class (I know we are strict teachers) because we will have two weekends off in December due to holidays.  Previously, we had given the students a wreath with candles to decorate at home.  Yesterday, they brought them back fully decorated for an Advent Wreath Contest.  We had one lucky, happy winner.  Afterwards, everyone got a calendar to use as a guide to pray with their Advent wreaths at home with their families.  They also got an icon of the Virgin Mary pregnant with Jesus to place beside their wreaths at home.

I never got to decorate the outside of my house, but hopefully this afternoon.  How was your long weekend?

A Time to be Thankful

I am an immigrant, so we haven’t always celebrated Thanksgiving in my home.  It wasn’t until I was at a friend’s house one Thanksgiving night that she asked me what my parents and family were doing that night.  I didn’t like my reply, “my parents are at home and my siblings are at friend’s homes because we don’t typically celebrate Thanksgiving.”  It was a long drive home that night and I kept picturing my parents alone in the dark living room by themselves while their children all spent time with other families on the traditional American holiday.  This horrible feeling of shame, of sadness took over and that day I vowed that we would start celebrating Thanksgiving as a family.  The following year I learned to cook a turkey and slowly how to make the whole meal.  Since, every year I cook the entire Thanksgiving feast- it’s actually a really simple dinner, but because I don’t often cook my family makes a huge deal about it (smile).  One thing I have always done is decorate our home and tree on the day of.  It was something my brother-in-heaven and I used to do together on that day.  Now because I cook, I try to do the decorating during the long weekend - my dad and nephew love to help me.  We still will try to hang the lights outside to work off our Thanksgiving dinner as to not break tradition (smile). 

A few years ago we also, started attending Mass.  I usually, put the turkey in the oven and off we go.  I love going to the parish where I help with RCIA because they have a trilingual service, which happens to be my favorite service of the year.  The three communities English, Spanish and Vietnamese come together and the church is beyond packed- so much so that if one doesn’t go early one will stand for the entire celebration.  This year, am hoping to go early enough to be towards the front pews because the Vietnamese youth always does a traditional, offering dance during the service.  It’s such a beautiful form of prayer, absolutely magical.  And to hear all of us together worship in various languages gives me chills!  It’s my November glimpse of heaven.

Before dinner, my family gathers together and we begin by doing a toast.  Each of us goes around the table and thanks God for whatever is in our heart and then we toast to Him.  We normally stay home because my sister visits her in-laws and then us.  Though my relatives do a big gathering in Riverside (where most live), we stay home so my sister and her family can be with us.  It’s a simple celebration, but we are a simple bunch.  How do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

Los Rios Ranch Apple Picking Birthday Review

“So, what are we doing for your birthday this year?” My sister asked.

“We are going apple picking,” I answered.  

She looked a little confused, but being my sister she knows that I usually steer from the typical birthday dinner in the direction of more creative options.  Most of my closest friends are married and have children so I wanted to do something inclusive of all ages.  My parents are recently retired and they want to go everywhere with me now, so I also wanted to do something they would enjoy too.  I had heard of Oak Glen through a coworker, but I was unsure about it because from where I live it’s almost two hours away.  Yet, I figured I would run it through my friends and see if they thought their children could handle the drive.  I have the best friends because they all agreed to jump into the apple picking adventure.

I must say, that I was still a little concerned since we were driving so far out for just a one day trip, but it was totally worth it.  My parents, like the kids, were in heaven because there was a petting zoo and they got to interact with goats, rabbits, pigs, hens… The whole lot of barn animals.  I was equally delighted because I love animals and seeing everyone participate in the fun filled my heart with gladness.  That was our first stop – the petting zoo.  The cool thing about this petting zoo is that it’s not like the city type of petting zoos where animals are fenced in, here they are in a rural setting in a very real farm environment.  For a five dollar entrance fee children and adults get a tray of veggies to go inside and feed the animals.  We all went in and played with our favorite farm animals, I got to hold the fluffiest rabbit!

 Feeding the animals.

Being silly!

Cute little goats.

My parents being cute!

Afterward, we headed to the U-Press Cider station where we got to fill a bucket full of all types of apples to make our own apple cider.  For a twenty-dollar fee we were given a huge bucket to fill with all types of apples that are grown on site.  Afterwards, the kids got their hands wet washing the apples before starting the juicing process.  It was really neat to learn in such a hands on way how juice is made, the children as well as the adults really enjoyed the process.  For lunch we all had a glass of the delicious apple cider we made- it was so yummy!

 Wash, wash, wash...

Press, press, press...

The finished product.

Tired from our labors we took a six dollar hayride around the entire Los Rios Ranch.  The farm sheriff was our tour guide and he shared a great deal about the history of the ranch, the various apples they grow, and the process of harvesting.  They have these really dark apples, almost black in color and he said that they were the inspiration for the Snow White apple in the Disney movie!  The adults appreciated the great information and beautiful terrain while the children enjoyed being pulled by horses.

To end our day we had a yummy BBQ lunch on site (prices are reasonable).  As we ate a folk band played some cool tunes that filled our lunch with delightful sounds.  Then, we enjoyed some birthday cake and presents.

 Live music.

Enjoying our picnic lunch. 

My awesome homemade cake!

While apple picking season had ended and there was no apple picking to be done, we still had such an amazing time and were able to taste most of the apple varieties grown on site.  I totally recommend it and felt like a post was necessary because when I was researching the location I couldn’t find a whole lot of information about it.  There’s also a store on the grounds with yummy treats.  Oak Glen is made up of many different farms, while we went to the biggest one- there’s others in the area that offer similar activities.  So, if you have a desire for a little fall fun Oak Glen is the place.   

Mi familia!