Another Christmas has arrived. Another year of hearing my friends in TV land, and others, say "Happy Holidays." First off, yes I have friends in TV land. They don't know we're friends yet. But I watch them and know all about them and how old they are and I post on their facebook walls several times a day telling them how much I like watching them and so they must know all about me too and I think we'd get along just fine and really we are good friends already. But more importantly, what "holiday" do people, atheists and those who just don't believe in anything, celebrate?

I would guess most people lay off the Hanukkah. I think Hanukkah is kind of neat, and it is based on events from the Maccabean revolt, but I don't see too many menorahs advertised around this time of year.

Malwid, the prophet's birthday, is also most likely not a big deal for most non-Muslims. Cancel that.

Filipinos have something called Rizal Day, where they celebrate the revolution against Spanish colonizers thanks in part to Jose Rizal. And there are a lot of Filipinos in North America now. But wouldn't it be a little too ironic to celebrate your country's freedom from western colonization while living and prospering in a western nation? Sorry, no Rizal Day.

There's always Boxing Day as a holiday. It has nothing to do with actual boxing. My first 25 years of my life were misled by this belief. No, it actually is connected to Christmas. The idea of handing out boxes of goodies and gifts to others. Of course it has taken on the additional meaning of being a day of shopping for deals. However, Black Friday has, I think, taken over the supremacy of Boxing Day in this regard. No, "Happy Holidays" probably does not refer to Boxing Day.

That leaves New Years. New Years is discriminatory. People with young kids are left out. We simply cannot stay up! We're too tired! So they have a holiday which more or less excludes us! Yes, we stay up for Midnight Mass, but that is actually meaningful. Staying up to watch a little ball drop down on TV at midnight is hardly worthwhile. Sorry TV friends. New Years is significant in that it offers to hopes and plans to people for a new calendar year. January comes from the Roman god Janus who was the god of new gateways and beginnings. But that is the height of it's meaning. Janus is now just a name for history books. New Years is just a name for a new calendar year.

No, "Happy Holidays" truly makes no sense. Non-believers are celebrating nothing. Which is about as much as they have to look forward to in life.

However, if, quite possibly if, someone were to say "Happy Holidays" to me, and was referring to the birth of Jesus at Christmas, as well as its octave.. and the feasts of St. Stephen, John the Evangelist, Thomas Becket, Sylvester and the Holy Family... If they referred also to the memory of the Holy Innocents, and the great solemnity of Mary, Mother of God... and the Epiphany... and Baptism of Our Lord... if, just if, they referred to the richness of the Catholic Tradition, a faith kept lively for all generations, one pregnant with meaning and one that actively anticipates the great second coming of Jesus... then yes.. thank you. Happy Holidays to you too. And Happy Holidays to all my TV friends too.

Happy Holydays to you all.

Music Mondays: Merry Cringemas

Merry Christmas to you! Or better yet, as JP Sears says: "Merry Christmas (I apologize if you're not Christian). Happy Hanukkah (I apologize if you're not Jewish). Happy Holidays (I apologize if you're not happy)..."

We hope you're enjoying the festivities. To make things more festive, I bring you great beauty, and cringeworthiness, this day.

The time was 1991. Winnipeg's Crash Test Dummies were set for a major breakthrough in the USA just a couple years later with their Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm (yes that's the name of a song, a great song in fact). A compilation Christmas album was released featuring The First Noel by the Crash Test Dummies. In it we hear the true meaning of Christmas. We also hear great beauty and a tremendous vocal arrangement. Finally, we also see a glimpse of the worst of the early 1990s. 

*cringe*

One again, Merry Christmas!

Christmas Letter - 2016

UPDATED

The boys with new onesies and walkie talkies. Things couldn't be better for them.

-  -  -

We like to post our Christmas letter every year. We don't send out too many copies, so please do not be offended if you never received one. Or be offended. People like to get offended at Christmas, after all. There are a few formatting issues here, so bear with us. 

Felicem Nativitatis Diem!

Millette Christmas Letter: 2016

Luke 2:12 “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

Question: How did Mary and Joseph know that baby Jesus weighed 7lbs, 6oz? Easy, they had a weigh in a manger. Ok, not the funniest joke ever, but it’s hard to have funny jokes when I write the scripts for my emcees at our school Christmas concert. Last year a fellow teacher got a hold of the script. This teacher went behind my back and had that joke removed from the script. When I confronted the teacher over this I was told that the joke was too offensive for some people. Yeah. Merry Christmas, er Happy Holidays, to you too. Such is the world we live in. No matter. The joke is there this year. Hidden from this teacher. As are other not so subtle references to *gasp* Christ. If people complain I can always quit the concert. I do all the work for it anyway. People who get offended at hearing about Christ at a Christmas concert probably go to Fatburger to eat, but then complain that the place serves burgers. But we Christians persevere. You cannot banish Christmas. For the same reason that you cannot banish Christ. The more we are attacked, the more Christ will be proclaimed in other ways.

The other day I was driving Joseph to hockey practice early on a Saturday morning. It was dark. I must confess that I had some Christmas music on (I know, it’s still Advent). Andre Bocelli was singing Angels We Have Heard on High. We passed numerous houses, streets, and businesses that were lit up with Christmas decorations. The lights, and the beautiful hymn, were too much for Joseph. He squealed with excitement! Screams, shouts, and singing filled the van. “Gloria in excelsis Deo!” Christ, and Christmas, will indeed be proclaimed. Especially from the mouths of children. You cannot banish Christmas. So stop wasting your time, fellow teachers and the like. We will always find a way to the manger.    Merry Christmas from the Millettes!

Kid Quotes

John Paul, while learning to talk: "Mommy, you not Dod... Daddy, you not Dod" Mommy: "Who is God?" John Paul: "Dod!" Joseph: Polar bears live in Poland… that’s a joke! John Paul, picking up a long piece of red hair off the ground: "Here Mommy, this is your hair... Put it on your head." John Paul, squatting: "I have no lap either Mommy!" Mommy: "I have a lap again because Emilie is born." John Paul: "Well I will have to buy a lap." John Paul, opening the back of his pants: "My bums are hot!" Joseph, walking out the door to our backyard: “I’m just going outside to pee.”

    

I’ve decided to buy Becca a new fridge for Christmas. I can’t wait to see her face light up when she opens it!

Year in Review

Jan-Mar – We do nothing. And it was cold. And lent came. And… moving on….

March 27 – John Paul turns two, on Easter. I just had to mention him once on this list. Poor middle child.

April 7 - Becca turns the big 3-0. The oldest she’s been thus far.

June 15 – Becca demands spicy Chinese food and a little red wine for supper in order to get labour started.

June 16 – 7:20am Emilie Marie is born, weighing 8lbs, 9oz. And, as a bonus, Dan gets to eat Chinese left-overs for lunch. A pretty good day all around.

July – Dan renovates the kitchen. Happy wife, happy life? Wife promptly starts dreaming of getting a dream house built someday.

August 14-16 – Family vacation! Including visits to the Latin Mass, zoo, RCMP museum, Boston Pizza, and Rider practice. Vacation declared best ever. We don’t get out much.

Sept 6 – Joseph starts kindergarten, homeschool style.

Oct 12 – Joseph’s first hockey practice. Dad/agent starts contacting NHL teams to have them send scouts over.

Nov 1 – Three little saints light up our town. Saints Padre Pio, John Paul II, and Mother Theresa.

Dec 25 – No doubt the kids will have the best Christmas ever. Because that’s just what kids do.

Adventing

I love being Catholic! While much of the world is sick of Christmas by the time Christmas begins, we're just getting started. The weeks leading up to Christmas aren't just a huge celebration of Christmas for us, but a preparation for Christmas.

Dan was commenting the other day how a fellow teacher was relieved to say her Christmas tree had been up since the end of November and was coming down December 26. That's it. Christmas is over.

Not so for us. The party is just about to get started. 

Everybody looking at the new baby, except that rebel camel and the Bobcat guy

We are working more and more towards keeping Advent around here. It's been our first year actually doing most of the Liturgical year stuff I ever hope to accomplish. I want to keep things simple, but exciting. 

We have read short Bible excerpts for our Jesse Tree ornaments, lit our Advent wreath, have our Nativity sets up for playing and gazing, and are reading lots of Advent and Christmas books. 

Joseph is daily inspired: "I just want to read the whole Bible, mom!" There are some pretty exciting stories in there. 

A bearded cookie decorator and our Jesse Tree

I have my mom to thank for equipping us with all our Advent and Christmas gear. The old, ugly Advent wreath base we used growing up now adorns our kitchen table (it's not old and ugly once it's covered in evergreens, though). Our beautiful hand-painted Jesse Tree ornaments were also a gift from my mom. And this year, all our kiddos have beautiful new stockings from Grandma!

We also succeeded in celebrating a few lovely saints days that fall during Advent. We ate lots of white food for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, along with white chocolate chip cookies, and did the cutest colouring of tiny Mary in St Anne's womb (it's up on the wall in the pic below, if you can find it). St Juan Diego's feast found us eating tacos, of course. And for St Lucy's day we made Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls, lit candles, and listened to a beautiful rendition of Santa Lucia. (We don't do the whole St Nicholas stockings or shoes thing, but I still think it's pretty cute).

A fireman for St Lucy day, of course. And John Paul...um. Whatever.

We put up our tree either when Dan's finished school or on the 4th Sunday of Advent. Thereabouts, anyway. And we like to keep it up until Candlemas, the feast of the Presentation. Our Jesse Tree ornaments move to the Christmas tree. 

Dan's 'ugly' sweater donned for the occasion

We also begin our Christmas baking around this time. At home, we stopped school last Friday and the boys and I have been busy cleaning the house, baking, and decorating. It's a little difficult to snap pictures while baking with three little kids, but for the record we made some tasty little pretzel turtles (awesome for kids to assemble), chocolate covered pretzels, gingerbread (Dan snapped this pic), and lemon bars that are more like a gooy, yummy mess (we forgot the eggs, somehow). 

My little helpers. It's so much easier now that we have a peninsula where our old cupboards were taken down!

One of our favourite things to do during Advent is tour our town looking at the lights. The boys request a little longer drive whenever we are out after dark. A former teacher's "snowman choir" always takes top prize in our books, assembled from various cute, unique little snowman that she has added to over the years. Then there's the BIG Santa John Paul loves, the minion, and the Santas on sleighs. Dan compiled a playlist of classical Christmas greats and other fun songs to keep us cheery.

Dan's biggest extra curricular endeavor, the annual Christmas concert, also falls during this busy season. This means lots of extra hours (!) for him in the preparation and some time away. 

In other areas of preparation... our rink got it's final flood today, so there won't be anymore boot hockey. The boys are ecstatic! 

Joseph has been loving hockey this year and scored his first goal in a real game last Saturday

John Paul offers a helping hand, tackling Dan for Joseph

Earlier in the month, we also took some time to go winter hiking before the weather turned to a bitterly cold spell. Our favourite trails were still passable because we've had minimal snow, so we could take our double jogging stroller along.

Our first picture alone together in years. It's handy that Joseph can wield a camera now!

I'm pretty sure he's licking his runny nose, but don't mind that.

Sometimes it's hard to stop all the productive preparation for the real thing: the spiritual preparation. Having small children underfoot all day (and sometimes all night) means we have very little quiet time in our house. But we are nonetheless trying to instill in our children the awe and joy of waiting for the King of the World to be quietly born in the stable.

We read Isaiah's prophecy of the newborn Christchild for our Jesse Tree last week,

For unto us a Child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

I played the song for the boys from Handel's Messiah and they listened to the words in awe. A few days later when we heard the same song in the van, John Paul, who very rarely sits through the whole Bible story, piped up, "This is Isaiah's prophecy of baby Jesus!"

Despite the hustle and bustle, our busy days and nights, the shopping for Christmas presents we had hoped to accomplish before Advent... some things are sinking in and they are in awe of this very special season.

We are so blessed to have these little ones to help prepare us each year with their childlike awe and anticipation, their joy and excitement.

Music Mondays: The greatest voice born of a woman?

Music Monday continues with a sneak peak at Christmas. For my money the greatest singing voice in the world belongs to Andrea Bocelli. Josh Groban and company are not even worthy to untie Bocelli's sandals. Now Bocelli is, of course, blind. One can only imagine how this has heightened is sense of hearing, and thus singing voice. Also, as I'm sure many of you know, Bocelli should not even be alive. His mother was pressured to abort her child. She did not. Perhaps the greatest voice born of a woman came from this decision. One can only imagine how many other great people the world is robbed of through abortion.

Here Bocelli sings one of my all time favourites: Angels We Have Heard on High. What strikes me is just how effortless singing comes to him.

People spend significant amounts of money on art. Paintings, icons, statues, even plates and quilts. I consider music, especially sacred music, the greatest of all art work. So Becca and I made the decision to purchase a high end speaker system for our kitchen. A nifty little Bose system. It is something we just love. All for the sake of beauty, of course.

A Christmas Surprise

It was a much needed supper of relaxation, nourishment, and enjoyment. After what's been a full and demanding week, a supper to kick back and relax was what the doctor ordered. There we sat. Scraping the last of the food from our plates. Finishing the last bit of water from our glasses. A gentle lull in the conversation. Then John Paul pipes up: "Dad, we got you a punching bag."

Joseph starts screaming: "No!!! John Paul!!! NO!" Becca shrieks in embarrassment! And I burst out laughing. Soon John Paul is crying in loud wails due to the scene he has caused. Joseph needs correcting. Becca is running over to hold John Paul. I'm still laughing like crazy. Then we all share in more laughing. "Merry Christmas" Becca says to me. Finally things settle down. Then Joseph quietly asks Becca: "Should we tell him about the gloves?"

Later that evening I ask Joseph if the punching bag is hiding downstairs. His eyes light up! He smiles a huge smile! He sweetly says to me, with eager anticipation: "Do you want me to show it to you?!?"

Yes, Christmas presents are no longer a surprise. In a way it was more exciting. Plus I get a head start on figuring out where I'm going to mount my punching bag. It's all good. Later that night Becca was talking with John Paul. He explained to her: "I told Daddy about the punching bag. And then I cried." Becca asked: "Why did you cry?" John Paul: "I cried and Joseph was mad. But then we all laughed."

Yes we did all laugh. He had a great punch line.

UPDATE

As I'm eating toast this morning and looking through a Marks flyer, Joseph states: "We got you pajama pants already..."

Emilie at 6 Months

How has it been six months?! The age-old rhetoric of parents is on my lips: I can't believe how quickly the time has gone, how quickly she's growing up.

We've said it before and we'll say it again: Emilie is so sweet! She delights us each and every day.

The boys continue to dote on her and squish her in their love. And although John Paul has moments of jealousy because he doesn't have our attention, his love for Emilie and pet names for her continue to be a very strong force.

At 6 months, Emilie appears to take the prize for fattest chubbiest and largest girth of all our kids. She is at least 20 lbs. and already in 9 month clothing. She is lazy has her every whim immediately met and so until recently has had very little reason to put herself out. However, she has started to take some initiative and is rolling a bit and has been in the jolly jumper once.

The boys have threatened to put her on an exercise regime, but then are baffled by her cuteness and forget their idle threats.

Emilie is also our earliest teether and has been sporting two pearly whites since 4 months. I believe Emilie was hoping her early teething would incline me to resign my hatred for feeding babies puree and just. do it. Alas, she has only this week been welcomed to that exclusive club of those-who-eat-real-food. And even then, has been fed only squash. She quickly showed us she's boss and insisted on feeding herself.

She acts like she was made for this with a "what took you so long" look in her eyes. She has even nearly mastered giving herself a small shower drink from an open cup. 

Something I didn't count on, which happily changes the whole name of the game, was helpers in the feeding department. Joseph and John Paul think it's a great idea to feed Emilie (they've forgotten their threats to make her slim out, I guess). And with a little instruction and practice, they've succeeded, freeing me from the long process of feeding the baby. (If only they would feed themselves so efficiently!)

Emilie has by and large been our best sleeper, best traveler, least fussy, most smiley, quietest... baby. We are slightly worried things might take a turn during the teen years (*scared mom look*). She has, however, given us a little taste of her own independence recently by refusing any kind of sleeping pattern and keeping me up until almost midnight for many nights (something I clearly don't like). But in the last couple days she seems to have righted herself a little. 

I think we are still in awe that this little lady decided to join our crew. All the pink and cuteness has certainly softened us a little (but not quieted the boys). Emilie's sweet demeanor, smile, and laugh have us completely won over. When she sleeps for "too long" we are all eager for our princess to wake and delight us with her smiles. We melt before her and are completely at her service.

We just can't help it!

Cousins

Ready for some cuteness overload?!

We had the great pleasure of having my sister, Maddy, her 7-month-old, Oliver, and my brother, Blaise, come for a visit at the beginning of December. It was the first time the 4 little cousins met! It was the first time Blaise met both John Paul and Emilie! It was amazing!

Try to get four crazy little kids looking at a camera at the same time. And smiling. And holding still. Almost impossible. 

Unfortunately for you, I'm holding back the best of the best. Not to be mean, but because I recently put together a family calendar and the surprise will be that much better for my family when they open it at Christmas. 

We don't really have much to do around Tisdale in winter, so we took them to two of our favourites that were still accessible: the trails and the Melfort pool.

Thankfully, the weather hadn't turned too cold yet and the snow was still passable. We were quite the crew with both a double and single jogging strollers.

 

The last time we were at the pool (Emilie's first) she was shivering and cold within a couple minutes. This time, however, her vastly increased fat kept her nice and warm. Oliver was a little chilly at first, but after a bit in the hot pool came back to the cold pool and was so happy to be there. 

Oliver and Emilie are 2 months, 6 days apart. They weigh about the same currently. Oliver has a much bigger head, Emilie has a much bigger girth. He moves a lot and has really thinned out, she is only just starting to move and has a lot of fat to lose. They just loved each other! They also had a pact to drive their mothers crazy by not sleeping much or for very long. We are still dealing with those after effects.

The boys, obviously, loved Oliver. John Paul's love was a little much for Oliver at times, but he adored Joseph who carried him around as much as he would let him.

The boys were also over the moon to have Uncle Blaise here for the first time. Within minutes of him walking in the door, they were having a wrestling match in the living room. 

John Paul stuck to him like glue at the pool and every request for more water slides and more hot tub time was happily fulfilled. The day they left (long before the boys were even awake) John Paul woke up and told me, with a sheepish smile, he was going to the basement. When I asked why, he said he was going to see Uncle Blaise and nearly broke into sobs when I had to tell him he'd already left. 

Joseph thinks so highly of Uncle Blaise's skiing and outdoors-man skills and is still talking about a forth form of water from a video Blaise showed him.

It was really nothing short of amazing to have them here for a short, sweet visit. When we all live so far apart and see one another so infrequently, we look forward to the time together that much more. Now, having new little ones in the mix has added a whole new level of excitement and joy. We are looking forward to the summer already with a long-awaited full-family reunion in the plans!

(I'll try to remember to post the few best shots of our cuties after Christmas, but for now, enjoy these!)

Music Mondays: Hurt

The greatest cover song of all time, without a doubt, is Hurt by Johnny Cash. Originally a Nine Inch Nails song from 1994, in the early 2000s, as Cash neared the end of his life, he recorded his own version of Hurt. Cash's version is directed towards Christ. It's been said that when Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor heard Cash's version he attested that the song was no longer his own but Cash's. The accompanying video is also often considered the greatest music video every made. I'm a huge Johnny Cash fan. I especially love his later work, done just before he died. There's something about a suffering soul that has found Christ can produce greatness. Here is Hurt:

I'm a cotton-headed ninny-muggins

After a busy week I scuttled down to the basement for a quick evening workout. It was there that I remembered that my Sportchek order had been sitting there all week. My Cyber Monday purchases were neglected until now. That feeling of excitement over new workout gear, and worry over whether or not it'll fit, set in.

I tried on my new workout track pants first. Boy they looked small. I started to slip them on. Tight tight tight! I know people wear tight clothes now, but this was crazy. Get those mental images out of your mind. Just know that it was not flattering. Finding this hilarious I raced upstairs to show Becca my new pants. She laughed at how off they were. Then a pause...

"They look like they'd fit me..."

"Hmm, Why don't you try them on!"

Becca went away and came back with a beautiful pair of workout pants. We laughed at how silly new clothing is.

"Something doesn't seem right." Becca went on. "Look, it says this is a small! And the style is definitely for women!"

Just then it clicked. "Merry Christmas!" I exclaimed.

Yes, in my Cyber Monday order I had included some items for Becca for Christmas. I guess I pulled out the wrong pair of pants to try on. So there was Becca, wearing her new Christmas pants, all loosened up after I had christened them for her. What to do?

"Here, just give them back. I'll wrap them up. I hope you like them for Christmas..."

And my workout pants didn't fit me either. It was a very unsuccessful Cyber Monday. But I hope Becca likes her Christmas presents. At least I know they'll fit her... And not me.

Problems at Home/School

An apparently typical scene at our house, er, school. We have some serious issues here.

Here's the five year old Joseph teaching the 2 year old John Paul.


Joseph: "I'm going to teach you how to count to 100 by 10s: 10. 20. 30. 50. 60.."

John Paul: "No! 40!"

- - -

Joseph's not supposed to know how to count by 10s yet. That's next year. Follow the curriculum already!

John Paul? What are we going to do with him. Interrupting others. Tsk Tsk Tsk. Where's the self-regulation? Where's the empathy towards Joseph? Joseph needs empowering, not bullying.

Big issues. indeed.

Concert Practice or Crime and Punishment?

I run the grade 3-5 Christmas concert at our school. I enjoy it, though it is an enormous amount of work. The work can get to you after a while.

We had a concert practice scheduled. I looked over and a whole flock of parents started showing up to watch. Did they get the dates of the show mixed up?  I scrambled to get chairs out for them. We began the concert practice. I was trying to play a computer song file accompaniment but the darn thing wouldn't work. So I tried my backup CD instead. But it would only play Oasis' Wonderwall. In a panic I switched to another CD. Wonderwall came on again. This was getting crazy! So I decided to switch to the song where I play guitar and sing a long with the students. The mic stopped working and so the kids at first were singing way ahead of me, and then they were singing a different song all together. The parents were laughing. I wasn't! All this work for this?!? Then I realized I had forgotten how to play guitar. I was scrambling for a D chord, but my fingers could not grab the guitar properly. I was like our little girl Emilie trying to awkwardly hold on to an object. So I started strumming the guitar without any chords. It was horrible! And why on earth were we practicing outside all of a sudden? One student came up with a snowball. I yelled at him: "No throwing snowballs!" He threw it away. Well that was too much. I just lit into him! I crushed the kid with yelling. His poor face was shell-shocked. That was enough. Away I stomped.

Feeling some remorse for how I yelled at him, the disappointment in me made things worse. Becca then showed up with the kids in the van to take me home. I angrily asked her why she was late. She looked puzzled. Well I had enough of that. I kicked her and the kids out of the van and said I was driving home alone. They could walk. I got into the driver's seat and noticed I was unshaven and unkept. A veritable maniac. As I was driving away in our blue minivan some loser marathon runners raising money for charity were blocking the road. Those goody-two-shoes. I opened the window and yelled at them to get the heck out of the way. They didn't move. So I cranked the steering wheel left and started driving on a grass path, as people shouted for me to stop. After a bit of driving some police stopped me. I looked back and there was a large crowd of First Nations and TV reporters there to confront me. Apparently I was driving on some ancient sacred ground. I told the police where to go, and drove off home. This was the worst concert practice ever.

And then I woke up.

Yes, I've been reading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment lately. Eleven years ago when I read it I dreamt I was beating my dog to death. Now I am having a full out Raskolnikov-esque meltdown. That book. I tell you.

I hope concert practice goes a little better today.

Music Mondays: Happy Together?

We're going back to 1967. To have a number one song in 1967 actually meant something. And that is what the Turtles had. In February 1967 they knocked off Penny Lane by the Beatles to claim the top of the music charts. Happy Together, the story goes, was a song rejected a dozen times by various bands and artists before it was offered to the Turtles. While the Turtles had some moderate success up to that point, clearly Happy Together was far and away their top song, to the point that some people declare the Turtles one hit wonders. Enjoy:

I once heard a DJ explain that this became a very popular first-dance wedding song in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, as the DJ explained, Happy Together is actually a break up song. What? No!!! For instance, near the end of the song vocalist Howard Kaylan famously sings: "So how is the weather?" This apparently was an indication  that all was not well in the mythical song relationship, and that the person asks "how is the weather?" in order to get his mind off the break up, and to avoid crying.

One final point. Look at the following pictures and see if you notice what is different about them.

Mark Volman, the big guy with the trumpet in the video you watched, used to bring out a different instrument every time they performed Happy Together live on a big show. For instance, he uses a trumpet on the Ed Sullivan Show. He uses a piano on the Smothers Brothers. Other shows he uses a french horn, or tambourine. Usually he would take out an instrument that is not even in the song. It was if he was indicating to the audience that they were just lip synching, as was a common occurence on such "live" performance shows.

The Turtles had their own break up in 1970. I guess life wasn't so happy together after all.

Black and White: A Rant

 

"In life not everything is black and white, white and black. No! In life shades of gray predominate. We must then teach how to discern within this gray.”

These, of course, are the words of Pope Francis. His papacy is under fire right now for his insistence on keeping things muddled and unclear, especially in the realm of family life and how it relates to the sacraments. It is a gray papacy. And, unfortunately, to seek clarity opens one up to chastisement. Just ask Cardinal Burke and company. I'm not saying these things just to pick on the pope. It's not cool to pick on the pope. But then again, it's also not cool to have the pope say that young families who like going to the Latin Mass are rigid, insecure, and lacking in true love. Yes, I do take that personally. So fair is fair.

Returning to the matter, Pope Francis' insistence on gray is the last thing families need right now. The absolute last thing. Yes, I know pastor's see the darkest side of people, and can get a different view on life. But guess what, so do others. Take teachers for instance. Do you know what's it's like to have a student whose mom breaks up with his dad, then goes to another man, but then the original dad more or less kidnaps the kid, and then mom breaks up with the new man, and both men start trying to plot to get the mom in jail, but then the mom runs off with a girlfriend instead, and the teacher is left trying to contact the mom regarding something as simple as running shoes, but she's busy getting high at home and can't understand what is being said? Do you know what that's like? I tell you, that young child clings to his male phys ed teacher. I become the only stable thing in his life. And I see all kinds of brokenness, everyday. People, especially families, do NOT need more gray. They NEED truth. I just want to shout this out. The world is starving for truth. To be told, bluntly, what is right and what is wrong. When two people live together in an adulterous setting they are betraying truth. They will never be happy. Communion in a state of mortal sin will NOT remedy this. It will simply add another mortal sin to the equation. The pope is correct in that they need help. But their help must be that they are told the truth. I am sick of having to help so many broken children. Accompany what? We need to say when something is right, and when something is wrong. And to not be chastised over the matter.

I pray to St. John Paul II now more than ever. No he was not a perfect pope. But my goodness that man would stick his neck out to help families. He was a great defender of the family. He understood the various struggles, at their root, and spoke clearly on how to remedy them. As a family man, I am like that poor and confused boy at the moment, clinging to St. John Paul II as a stable protector in our lives. And thus ends my rant. In black and white.

St. John Paul II, pray for us.

Pray for our pope.

Music Monday: The Holy Things for the Holy

No, our blog has not been reduced to Music Mondays. We will blog on other things. This past week was far too busy to do so, though. I had the ever popular Student Led Conferences last week. You know, where six year olds lead a full conference with parents and teachers on their progress thus far, and their goals for the remainder of the year, and how they will achieve these goals. Not out of touch with reality at all. Right? Anyway, they're over. And it is Monday, so let's just continue.

By all means, click the video and listen as you keep reading.

This isn't a flashy video like my past ones. It is Civitas Sancti Tui by the great English composer William Byrd. The year was 1589. Byrd is the composer of the remarkable Passione di Cristo, but that has a more lenten feel, so we'll stick with this video.

Sacred music. We pine for this in our household. I kid you not, we listen to this piece by Byrd every single day. We even bought a great little kitchen speaker system to aid us with our listening. We do the supper dishes and put on some beautiful music, usually starting with this piece.

What is difficult to accept is how our Masses have been robbed of beauty and depth. I once quipped to Becca as we were listening to Thomas Tallis' remarkable Lamentations of Jeremiah that our modern day praise and worship composers probably have never even heard about Jeremiah's lamentations, let alone have the ability and inspiration to create such beauty. And yet we're stuck with the likes of Schutte, Foley, and even Maher for Mass.

But as they say in the Ukrainian Divine Liturgy: "The holy things for the holy!" The Mass is sacred. It deserves sacred music. Another reason why we like to go the Latin Mass in Saskatoon. I remember a month or so ago. While they usually sing some complicated pieces, Salve Regina was sung. There were a number of children sitting in front of us. All of them started singing this beautiful hymn to Our Lady from memory. Yes, it felt like home. The Catholic faith is not about the newest work of art. It is about praising God, and doing so as best we can. This can involve newer song creation. But honestly, I have yet to hear likes of Byrd and Palestrina recreated in our generation.

Until then, Civitas Sancti Tui will continue to be played in our house. Probably during supper dishes. And it will raise my mind and soul to heaven.

And hopefully get my mind off of those student led conferences... bleh.

Music Mondays: I Want You Back

I like showing this video to my arts ed students. They are simply amazed by it. Everything is so good. The song. The singing. The choreography. Once upon a time to be the best you had to be this good. No one today comes close to this calibre of performing. Never mind the fact that the poor Jackson kids would get beaten if they messed up. Imagine, Michael Jackson was once cute! Also, never mind that he's singing about a topic way beyond his years. What I like best is the song, and how the oldest brother has the highest voice. Released in 1969, and then soon climbing to number one on the charts, here is I Want You Back. Enjoy!

Learning in a Library

The other day I was at the library (connected to the high school) trying to use up a few minutes while I waited for my winter tires to get put on at the nearby tire shop. So there I was hunched in at the kids section, looking for a few books to bring home for the boys. Just then I heard from the nearby computer section a man politely complaining to a young lady about the computers. I looked over and there was this heavily bearded, 50 something year old man talking about how that particular library computer did not allow access to facebook. Yes, some unfortunate thoughts crossed my mind, to the tune of: "He must not have a job. Just some guy looking for free internet so that he can go on facebook. Pathetic." The person he was complaining to was a 20 something year old girl who evidently was a teacher at the high school and seemed to be waiting for someone (to possibly tutor). Whatever, I went on with my book selection. "Ooh, a Curious George book I've never read! Is it too early for Christmas books? Who writes the Babar books? Nevermind, they seem like communist books to me."


Then I overheard the man ask the nearby young lady: "So what do you think about Trump?"

The girl stammered: "Oh I don't like him. I would've voted for the other one."

"Oh really! Why?" began the man. He then launched into a complete and thorough assault on the disastrous policies of Clinton. The girl replied: "Uh, like, uh, I probably would've even vote if I was there.. uh, but Trump doesn't pay taxes!"

The man then launched into detail about how though he wasn't defending Trump, there are certain tax exemptions he was allowed due to various business losses. He then launched into another assault on the Clinton machine, and their billionaire backers.

"Uh, like, uh I don't know. Like I'm not really sure. But Trump loves guns," was her reply.

More rebuttals from the man. He even launched into a history lesson on certain ideological movements, complete with commentary on the Reagan/Gorbachev Coldwar years. Finally the man, in realizing she didn't even appear to know who those two leaders were, asked in exasperation: "Don't you know anything about politics? Haven't you ever studied history?"

"Uh, like I don't really care for history. Like I never studied it. I just know that I think Trump is mean," she replied.

"You teach here? But you don't know any of these things? What do you teach?" he asked.

"Whatever they tell me" she stated truthfully.

"Well education is dumbed down if you ask me. No offense, but I'm not sure people who haven't studied history should be allowed to vote" the man finally stated.

I wanted to keep listening, but I had to go sign out my Curious George books. I shook my head a little. Boy did I receive a lesson. It seems to me that the man, not the girl, should be the one teaching high school. Bushy beard and all. But it just goes to show the age old adage,

you can't judge a book by it's cover.

Music Mondays: Life in Technicolor II

Music Videos. They're still a thing. Not in the same way that they used to be though. With Youtube people get to pick and choose what they want. On one hand that's great. On the other hand, as a teacher, the "I want to be entertained instantly" attitude of my students, which is promoted by Youtube, is very problematic. But alas, I'm getting too philosophical. The point is that music videos of concerts has been tried. Over and over. When things go stale, why not have puppets do a music video concert? Today we present Coldplay's Life in Technicolor II. You will not be disappointed.

US Election: History in the making, repeating itself

Much whining, taunting, and even some commentary, has been spilled over Trump's historic win. The whining is expected. Call it Democrats against Democracy. In hockey when you lose you are taught to line up with your teammates and go shake the hands of your opponents. In politics apparently you protest, rant, rave, burn an American flag and, hopefully, hold your breath long and hard till you pass out. But it's over. Get some sleep everybody. Get some sleep. And then go learn how to be an adult.

It is the commentary that is far more interesting, though by no means more rational. I love how pundits are so quick to turn everything into one reason. The reason Trump won was because he picked up Reagan Democrats. The reason Clinton lost was because of Comey. Or that people finally got fed up with Clinton's parade of know-nothing celebrities. Or that people are angry at the system. Or that they are copying another Brexit... because both scenarios are so alike(?). Or that America is not advanced enough to elect a female. People are racist. 94 million people need jobs. Black voters didn't show up. Pollsters were wrong. The Cubs won the World Series (perhaps the most convincing of all). A pundit simply picks a point and runs with it. I thought it was hilarious to watch Anderson Cooper on CNN speaking a nervous mile a minute about how a Michigan county voted for Obama in 2012 and so, darn it, their votes were going to start pouring in and then change the whole election and Clinton was going to win and Trump lose and darn it votes start coming in already(!) and is it getting hot in here? That's just it, Mr. Cooper, the whole point was that these voters were not voting like they did in 2012. If they did then we wouldn't be where we are. Later, one pundit even boldly stated: "Ideology is now dead!" But isn't politics without ideology like going swimming without water? Sorry pundits, it may just be possible that there were many factors involved in Trump's win. Though if you asked me for the biggest reason: people ultimately hate Clinton more than Trump. But alas, I am sounding like a pundit now.

However, one idea that could use some commentary is the Catholic angle. America has a fascinating political past. One that, let's not forget, has been anti-Catholic. By all accounts Senator William Seward of New York should have been the Republican nominee in 1860. Until they found out that he had, 20 years earlier, helped secure money for Catholic schools. Enter Abraham Lincoln to take his place. By all accounts the Catholic Church should have been the greatest player in the abolitionist movement. But many abolitionists thought of the Church as yet another form of slavery. And many in the Church were too "political" to want to interfere with the slavery class system (eerie similarities with our current abortion plague). This rocky relationship has moved forward. Here we stand today. A country divided. A Church divided. At some point commentary loses its touch with reality. Because reality, true reality, involves God. Inevitably there is only one commentary which does actually sum everything up. No God = misery.

In City of God St. Augustine lays it all out. We spend all of our energy on the earthly city. We forget about the heavenly home we are called to, or we even work against our heavenly home. And then we are miserable and nothing works. Sound familiar? He writes: "The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God, and of one another in God" (Book 19). The fundamental root cause of America's (and Canada's, and Britain's, and...) misery is found in the absence of God. The America institution, The Machine, though being one nation under God, has long rejected Catholicism. Catholicism, as it often does, thrives under such rejection. However, especially since the 1960s, the America institution, has departed also from Christianity, morality, and proper order. Less God. Less happiness. More confusion and anger. While this is more than a Catholic problem, I fear the Church is failing to learn from past lessons.

Go back to slavery. As I said, the Church was sometimes good, sometimes non-existent with the issue. The same can be said for abortion in these modern times. It is interesting that it was Abraham Lincoln who ushered in the end of slavery (though admittedly the Civil war was far more complex). Remember, Lincoln replace the Catholic sympathizer. Can history repeat itself? Can Trump, by no means a friend of the Church, be the one from which abortion ends in the United States? Yes he can. Good Catholics will pursue this. Lukewarm Catholics, and yes I include much of the hierarchy, will sit on their hands and do nothing, or worse even hurt the movement. Why? For one, so as not to disrupt the current system, as with slavery. But abortion can be ended. The murder of innocents can be ended. Let us pray the Church wakes up to this reality.

Yet will this be enough? When slavery ended a golden opportunity for evangelizing those in the slave trade, including the slaves themselves, was left untapped. This is one of the great regrets for the Catholic Church in the United States. If, and hopefully when, abortion ends in the United States is the Church prepared for a golden era of evangelization? So many beautiful babies. So many young mothers looking for somewhere to turn. It will be an opportunity. The pessimist in me says no. The realist in me says probably not. But that little part of me which recalls St. Augustine's words to have a supernatural outlook says absolutely. And then, and only then, can the misery of a nation begin to turn towards joy. For it will be returning to God.

The political landscape in the USA is fragile. It is fragile with disorder. Do not turn to Anderson Cooper to explain why everyone feels so miserable. Do not turn to Katy Perry. Or Hillary Clinton. Or Donald Trump. Simply seek the City of God first, and the earthly city will start to take care of itself. Until then pray, hope, and don't worry.

And get some sleep too.