Savoring Christmas Memories and Joyful Winter Decluttering....

Is decluttering really a word? It is a wonderful concept. A noble action. Removing clutter, a.k.a. "decluttering," is my 2011 resolution.

Webster's defines "clutter" as both noun and verb. It is "an untidy mess, a state of disorder" or "liter, things left around untidily." As well, to clutter is "to disorder, make untidy."

So, to declutter is to role one's sleeves up and put things in proper order. I like it. I need it. I was just telling the girls that I love seeing the human hope for renewal and improvement that roles around every January. All the shops showcase cleverly designed shelving, colorful storage boxes and some very nice exercise suits. In these North Atlanta suburbs, the air is full of resolution and of home and self improvement.

As Catholics, we pass on to our young the idea that "Hope springs eternal." From the Sacraments, God's grace springs forth giving us baptized faithful life, renewal, strength and reconciliation. We Catholics are called to declutter our souls regularly through daily prayer, good works, frequent reception of our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (also called Penance and Confession).

We had the beautiful gift of hosting our dear family friends from Miami over Christmas week. Other homeschooling friends joined us for Christmas feasting; and, it was one of the merriest Christmas seasons of my life. My dear sisters in Christ have always shown me the joys of authentic Catholic housekeeping and homeschooling. We all know that joy is not an absence of pain. My personal experience is that joy increases where there is deep and abiding faith. We are up against a culture that challenges our faith on so many levels. But back to Christmas and grace-filled resolutions for 2011...

All of us moms enjoyed revisiting certain practical and spiritual topics; and I felt the quiet, yet powerful, presence of the Holy Spirit in all of the love and friendship of our Christmastide festivities and warm, homey visits. Along side all the festivities with our homeschooling brothers and sisters in Christ, we gathered with grandparents and much loved brothers and sisters in Christ from our parish during Christmastide, including Happy New Year 2011! It was so hard to get back to work and school, but God had a marvelous plan! We had just been back to the "daily grind" for a week when we got a HUGE and wonderful SNOW. We were trapped and I was about as far from "cabin fever" as you can get (I was hoping for more snow!).

As the snowstorm hit ten or so days ago, I was surprised at the blessing of this gift to stay put for a number of days. My houseguests had left the house cleaner than when they came, so I kept the cleaning/decluttering ball rolling. I also gave much more time than usual to quiet and to prayer. I realized how much shopping that I had been doing and how exhausting and depleting that can be for me. With our middle child's 13th birthday this week, we finished our snow days making merry with friends and family again over these past few days.

I know God speaks to us through our friendships and our daily duties and our family ups and downs. The good news for us Sullivans is that 2011 is already, and I pray it continues, a year of rolling up the sleeves and decluttering our souls, our home and our schedule. I learn every year that our sweet Savior and His Blessed Mother, draw us in to their Holy Hearts. Jesus and Mary want us to help them save souls.

An act of housekeeping, a home-cooked meal,a warm embrace from a loved one, a listening ear or kind remark can all be little works of redemption. Wow and Alleluia all at once! We must keep house for Christ and build a strong Mother Church from our little domestic churches. God will bring us guests and make us guests of His awesome Love and Mercy. Jesus burns for love of us, fallen creatures that we are. He wants us to give every possible effort to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with His Eucharistic Heart. We must, in earnest, ask the Mother of Mercy to hide us in her Immaculate Heart so that we will be properly disposed to receive her Son in a spirit of truth and light. I am reading an excellent treatment of this, The Passion of the Infant Christ, by Caryll Houselander.

Read this book. It could change your life, and we must pray for the grace to be constantly changing and growing. May we all bless God in thought, word and deed. I look forward to all of us making Confession soon, knowing in my heart that Holy Mother Church will declutter her children. I am learning more and more about our Heavenly Father's plan for all of His children. He wants us all to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. We have only to ask our Blessed Mother for her help, and grace will do the work in our souls.

Thank you, Lord Jesus and Mother Mary for all of our many blessings! May the Infant Christ reign in our hearts -- Amen.

Reading Caryll Houselander...

...and loving it. Here is a "freebie" from the Catholic Culture website. And, over here is one of the books that I am reading whose editor did a fine job.

I am amazed at how she, by her passionate adherence to the sacramental life of the Church and committment to daily prayer, maintained a sound mind and joyful, productive spirit during some very dark times. Our times of the "culture wars" are dark in a more interior way, and we have much to learn from her life. While we do not have to run with all of our might in to our air raid shelter, we must be so very vigilant about the "bombs" dropped on us by the three enemies of our soul.

A good booklist...

This website has some wonderful resources.

the big drive

I wish somehow I could capture the palpable softness that is in the air right now. As we made a whirlwind trip up to Kentucky, leaving last Friday and returning yesterday afternoon, I told my hubby that I felt as if we were driving through an Impressionist painting. There were so many redbud trees. Their lovely flowers stood out amongst the pale-green, baby leaves of the budding hardwoods. So, this morning, as I go around the house taking all the purple construction paper off our religious art (yes!), I want so very much to hold these early spring days in my heart. Our Savior is risen indeed: and, I have this sense that He is calling me to cast out all fear. God is the God of surprises. He is the Father who gives His children what they need, not necessarily what they want. He wants me to shed my fears. I had no idea that this would be my Easter blessing. I had little idea how coated in fear I am. I am reading and discovering some very powerful ideas about the Resurrection...

New writing by Anthony Esolen....

When I have time later, I hope to read this.

Lively English journalist...

I want to read this post later today...it has been raining all day and, after lots of rain last week, our back yard is looking swampy. The dogs are getting on my nerves...time to hit the Rosary and give our Lady some roses.

When the going gets tough, the tough (husbands) do laundry...

...so, I took a nosedive this weekend, probably with a touch of flu. My husband's response was to wash everything in the house - I thought he was going to throw me in the washing machine. Come to think of it, that might iron out my kinks!

This book looks so good. Books do to me what gourmet food does to some. Over the years, dealing with lupus-like rheumatism, I really dislike intensely the demand of a clunky body to lay low. I was telling a dear friend that I think I get a little comfort from Heaven when I "hear" in my prayers and thoughts that "giving in is not giving up." I know it must be harder than hard to live with me. The flakiness of it all is enough to drive you mad.

My husband and I both have a good percentage choleric in our God-given temperaments, and the lack of control that chronic illness hoists upon us is difficult to manage.

Well, enough... and, may I be more grateful for the husband God has given me. He would not like for me to call him a saint, so I'll just tell him that I am his path to Heaven.

Our Lady of the Word, pray for us!

This book is so moving and beautiful. I have not been on the internet much (except to order books for the kids and for me) as we have been so occupied lately. Tomorrow is our first day of St. John Bosco hybrid school. Getting everyone up and out the door in the morning all packed up with food, drinks, books and other supplies should be good. Our Lady of Kibeho, pray for us!

Pooped from Planning, Good Link for Tweens, Mom's Summer Reading

I read all of these when I was very young, and I remember them not at all as books but as things that happened to me.
-- John Steinbeck, Steinbeck's Ghost

I love to read. I love to turn to the back of a book and scan the end notes, peruse the bibliography and enjoy the look of the paper and printing. I fear reading a lost art and activity. It does not gratify instantly. To immerse oneself in a good narrative takes one away from oneself. Our oldest child has experienced this in her reading. The other two love to read as well. Yet, with all the seduction of many technologies surrounding them all, I see the potential for them entering the "dumbest generation". So much of what is wrong with our country currently relies on an illiterate, pagan populace so immersed in pop culture that they cannot think themselves out of the coming tyranny. (There is alot, at present, right with the country too...)

This year we are joining forces with other homeschooling parents and becoming involved in a hybrid school. The school, which meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is dedicated to one of the best educators ever to walk the planet, St. John Bosco. One big hope I bring to the upcoming year is that we will be more engaged by our curriculum. I am pooped from planning. Not that that will keep me from planning and keeping up with what the children are studying. This past year saw fits and starts, and a few short courses of good reading, good discussion and drawing and writing. I think it was more like sprinting. In the upcoming year, I'd like to see our academics as marathon training.

Our children are at pivotal years in their academic development -- 8, 11 and 13. Here is a wonderful link I found that reviews books for tween; the above quote is taken from the blog, Treasure Chest for Tweens.

Some of Mom's Summer reading:

To Kill A Mockingbird
Conchita
Theology of the Body for Teens
Aquinas's Shorter Summa
Minimus: Starting Out in Latin
Kentucky: A Pictorial History
Around Atlanta with Children
Chesterton's Heretics
Kon-Tiki

The Restoration of Christian Culture by John Senior

This book is so inspiring!

Important Book!

I have been reading this blog for a long time; and hope later to order this book, The Restoration of Christian Culture, which I have been wanting to read for a long time now. I have to put off finishing the Twilight series as HRM and I lent volumes 3 and 4 to our cousin Jessica. Even though lots of folks think these books are probably some kind of girl candy, which in some ways they are, I think there is something very hopeful there, and very evangelical.

Chesterton's Brave New Family and the Twilight series

I have been working my way through JPII's Mulieris Dignitatem. Last fall, at one of my Catholic mom discussion/prayers groups, I brought up the force of argument and sheer prophecy of Chesterton's Brave New Family, which I checked out of my parish library when I was pregnant with our Little Man. At the time, I read alot of it, but want to buy it, re-read it, talk and write about it. A Culture of Life exists in this country, even amidst all the decay of our country's moral fabric. That our grandchildren might see more life and light and love is a goal held by many. I think the author of the Twilight series has tapped in to the hope of many people --young and old-- that Americans could uphold the true meaning of love, of committment, of self-restraint, of the life of the soul and of marriage and family. Hope needs to be truly heroic these days. As we encourage our young people to fight for what is right, a Culture of Life will flourish and, one day, reign supreme, as it ought. (Btw, my "jury" is still out on Twilight, until I finish the series, but I think I see where it is going.)

White winter sky here in Georgia...

You can probably tell from my blog background that I'd really like to see some snow, an infrequent guest here in Georgia. I do not think it will happen today, as it is 50 degrees. Still, I find the bare trees, the visible contours of the hills around us, and the general paleness of everything so very lovely. This week I got to see what all the hype is regarding the Wii game, "Guitar Hero". All three of my children love it and play and play and play. Not all the music is good, some is very bad and some of it is very good. The fashion and "decor" are, for the most, perfectly awful, but it all leads to lots of rousing discussion.

You are what you read: Yesterday, as I was poking around the Internet, I found this site, and dream of magazine writing. I used to be very athletic and writing is alot like a sport. The more you work at it, the more supple and skillful you become. Godspy's e-zine is, for me, an excellent example of how pertinent, creative and provoking an online medium can be when it comes to using the Internet to bring on JPII's "new springtime of evangelization". I also really like The American Spectator. I have to go now because I am very absorbed in book number two of the Twilight series. I hope my husband survives it -- I want to bite your nehhck!

Intrigued by the work of Paul Johnson...

I printed this article out a couple of days ago and haven't had time to read it. I'd also like to read his book on George Washington.

More Christmas 2008 diary...

JMJ, pray for us! Yesterday was the 3rd Day of Christmas and I finally cooked up a feast (...as an aside, I plan to boil a fresh turkey today or tomorrow, since I tend to rubberize roasted poultry...). I made pork tenderloin in the Crockpot with creamy wine mushroom sauce, egg noodles, simmered apples (yum!), green peas and a delicious baked sweet potato casserole. We placed our Nativity on the breakfast room table and Dad and I sang our best "Away in a Manger," which was weak, but a good start. Earlier in the day, Dad and I watched a replay of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, Dad took the girls to the pet store and Little Man played with his new toys. I did alot of de-cluttering and got our learning room almost ready. Began St. Therese Novena again, as I stopped at day 4 or 5 when we came back from BGKY. Did laundry. Talked with girls. Stared at all the stuff I need to either pack up or get rid of soon. Read ultra-inspiring article in the Dec./Jan. American Spectator by Michael Novak recounting the death of his brother, a priest, Fr. Richard Novak, in 1964, in Pakistan. Enjoyed husband being off work. Day-dreamed of painting. Plans: Going to see Tale of Despereaux up in Dawsonville with another hschooling family, toasting in 2009 with friends, continuing house/yard cleaning while we have help from Dad, hoping to have some lunch and/or coffee date with my mom friends (sans kiddos) and gearing up for Winter academic quarter.

Good read -- St. John Fisher

I am reading Michael Davies biography of St. John Fisher -- such a good read.

Our Lady of Guadelupe, pray for us!

It is hard for me to settle down and write because there is so much to do! So, I ask our Lady's intercession to bring me down a few notches to pause and reflect. After a very relaxing, long weekend in Kentucky, with Dad's brother and mother and father over the Thanksgiving holiday, we came back to Georgia ready to prepare for Christmas and for our move to Cumming in January. While we were in Kentucky, our Mimi and I decided to work together to make a Polish meal, when we return back to their home in Kentucky, as part of our Christmas 2008 celebration. A couple of days ago, the children and I checked out a bunch of books on Poland at one of our local libraries. This morning we read this inspiring picture book, Escaping to America: A True Story, by Rosalyn Schanzer. This is such an appropriate story, given the season. Speaking of Advent, we are getting very enthusiastic about Gaudete Sunday. Having never roasted a turkey, I hope to talk my husband into giving it a try this Sunday. I have stuffing mix from Trader Joe's and apples and sweet potatoes to bowl or stew in the slow cooker. I just need to buy some green beans and the turkey. I hope to post more on our Polish studies as there is more to it than what I have here. Also, we are so grateful for our son's performance in The Small One night before last. We also have been blessed to be able to serve, outside the home, more than usual; and, I notice, with the children a year older, that this Advent 2008 has seen many more quiet-working-together moments...nothing spectacular, just the pleasant calm of cleaning and organizing together.

John James Audubon's beautiful paintings and violence in America and Great Britain...

We read this book this fall and loved it. I am from Kentucky and want my children to learn about the independence, bravery and creativity of the people of the Kentucky wilderness. When I was in RCIA, back in 1999-2000, a dear man, who is now a Deacon, gave me Kentucky Spring, the biography of Catherine Spalding. I want to research Daniel Boone and other frontiersmen and women. (Here is a good link to learn more about Catherine Spalding.)The 1800's was, in Europe, often a complex and spoiled time. Meanwhile, in this country, there was much simplicity and purity. We had no blue bloods; we also had no landed gentry, but soon, settlers would create good farms and estates in a very short period of time. In the early colonial period, there was misunderstanding and violence on this continent as well, as this book, about St. Isaac Jogues, which we also read this fall, attests. It was during our studies this fall that I realized the close parallel of tyranny and repression among the Jesuit fathers in Great Britain and the pioneering Jesuits who came to bring Christ to the New World. The pioneer spirit is captivating. St. Edmund Campion and St. John Fisher were every bit the brave pioneers, as was Isaac Jogues. I think many of the pilgrim fathers and mothers sensed the corruption that the Church of England had brought to those trying to live a life in accordance with the Gospels. One day the Church will be united. I believe this. What is needed is for more individuals to really peruse the history books. We cannot be satisfied with televised histories. As much as I like film, especially documentary film, as a means to educate, I think we need more scholarship. Scholars dig and read and write and speak about that which they are reading and writing. Some of the best scholarship has and will go on outside of formal institutions. Good scholarship stimulates the mind and enflames the heart for truth. A film can provoke, that is true. I worry, at times, that we are overly visual, which can lead to intellectual and spiritual laziness. Well, I hope for peace. I yearn for Charity. I think we are not loving when we let lies parade as truth. Whether physical or metaphysical, violence is a distortion of the truth. The power of the Holy Spirit is -- beyond words -- more powerful than any physical or spiritual violence. To keep this country from repeating history and turning to tyranny, we must ask the Holy Spirit to intervene. Come, Holy Spirit, come! Fill the hearts of the faithful...

Another round of flu snorts, please!

Dad has been working from home most Mondays. We decided to have some real family fun and head down to Walgreens to charge up a bunch of flu snorts. Years ago, as a lay in bed reading and trying to recover from a prolonged illness, I read this book about the development of a vaccine for smallpox. I have mixed feelings/opinions about vaccines. Now we have snorts to contend with!

Seasonal Books

I am glad to report that I fanned our waning flame for quality literature by reading the inspiring story, Brother Bartholomew to J and JB. The artwork in this book is lovely. We have the October pages of the Provensen's book displayed, as well as a lovely autumnal water color on pgs. 26-27 in The Seasons, an absolutely lovely book combining art and poetry. It is part of the Poetry for Young People series that I buy, from time to time, at our nearby Barnes and Noble. Here are links:

The Year At Maple Hill Farm by Alice Provensen, Martin Provensen

Frankenstein, from Barnes and Noble Classic Starts series

JB finished the Pauline biography of St. Ignatius Loyola. We need to get to the library and re-fuel on Henry and Mudge. I am reading the Ignatius Critical edition of Frankenstein.

Here is a "Vagabond Song," by Bliss Carman from The Seasons:

There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood--

Touch of manner, hint of mood;

And my heart is like a rhyme,

With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.

The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry

Of bugles going by.

And my lonely spirit thrills

To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.

There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;

We must rise and follow her,

When from every hill of flame

She calls and calls each vagabond by name.