December 24, 2002

Eclectic Christmas Eve

Posted by Scott at 06:31 PM

I've enjoyed our Christmas Eve so far, but it's been one of the more unusual Christmas Eve's that I remember. We all went to the YMCA after breakfast and went swimming in their pool. It was the first time we've taken the boys in their pool. Swimming on Christmas Eve -- what a New England tradition! On the way home we stopped by the Wendy's drive-thru to pick up some lunch snacks to keep the kids content. Once home the kids played outside for a short spell. It was nearly forty degrees and we had clear sunny skies. The ground is dry and almost snow-less. It's hard to believe that we're expected to get 8 to 12 inches of snow tomorrow in a more traditional New England Nor'easter snow storm. When the boys napped, the girls and I watched the Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, again hardly a Christmas favorite. Because of the upcoming snow storm, we went to Infant Jesus' 4PM Christmas Eve Mass. What we didn't know was that this was going to be an all French Mass. Only the homily was in English. From our perspective it was a lot like attending an old Latin Mass. When we drove home Michelle made some of her excellent Tacos for dinner. All in all -- swimming, Bullwinkle, French Mass, tacos -- an eclectic Christmas Eve.

I never realized but the prolific kids book author, Tommy dePaola, lives in New London, New Hampshire. I've read a bunch of his stories to Claire. Between his illustrations and original authored stories, he's been involved in over 200 stories. There was a recent article in New Hampshire Magazine about how Tommy spends Christmas.

I did come across a useful site: DecentFilms.com. A couple of Catholic reviewers comment on current movies at the theater and at the rentals. They also link to reviews by the US Catholic Bishops' movie reviewers when possible. It should be useful in helping find good titles for the kids and us to see.

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