Here is my menu for Christmas dinner:

Ham with glaze and chutney
Steamed asparagus with Hollandaise sauce
Mashed sweet potatoes
Creamed onions
Homemade bread
Cheese ball and crackers - Ritz, Captain's Wafers, water crackers and Triscuit
Fresh fruit - apples, kumquats, persimmons and bananas
Homemade applesauce
Mincemeat stuff
Chess pie
Pecan pie
Nut roll
Apricot roll
Cream cheese bread
Biscotti
Eggnog
Apple cider
Assorted tea
Coffee
Moravian Sugar Cake

A couple of years ago I decided that it was OK to 'cheat' on Thnksgiving dinner by buying most of the meal in an easy-to-prepare form - frozen pies and all that. But I make everything but the pie crust from scratch for Christmas. Leave a comment if you would care to have a recipe for anything listed on the menu, and I'll post it here. I'd do that anyway, but then I'd have to change the title of the blog to "Eat, Catholic Soldiers!"

What a wonderful thing Christmas is....imagine: God became flesh and blood, in the form of a tiny, helpless infant, for love of us. The Rule of the Universe, on whom we can depend to supply all our needs, became completely dependent on human parents to supply all His human needs. How can we express our gratitude, the depth of emotion that must flow through each of us when contemplating this most wondrous of miracles? How to get across to others the peace and joy that love of God brings to those who truly try to follow in His footsteps?

All of us have followed Him....we all were once helpless babies. We, like Jesus, depended on our parents for comfort, food, warmth, and love. Jesus was obedient to His earthly father and His Blessed Mother - we too can be models of that same obedience. From the respect we show to our own parents, to courtesy to those in positions of authority or otherwise superior to our own state, to obedience to God, these also are a following of Jesus. Joseph and Mary were guided by the Holy Spirit to train the young Jesus to be a good and Godly young man, a faithful and devout Jew. We must ask the Holy Spirit to guide us as well - in temporal things as well as in spiritual disciplines.

Christmas Day - the Solemn Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - is fast approaching. Has He been born anew in you this Advent? Are you preparing for His coming - both your home and your heart? Are you following the Star, to come before Him in silent, prayerful adoration? What gift will you lay at the manger for Him, this Christmas?