Our annual Christmas Party for Kids on Saturday was a big success as always, thanks to the 20 volunteers who helped with everything–from dressing families into costumes for their photo with Baby Jesus, to inflating balloons, serving cake and juice, and face painting! Several families told me that this has become their family Christmas tradition. One father told me that, when his children saw the date advertised on the sign outside our Pauline Books & Media Centre, they were so excited they went home and wrote it on the family calendar. “That’s the first time they’ve ever put something on the calendar,” he smiled. “They’ve been looking forward to it and reminding me about it all month.” Another mother brought her two teenaged boys because “We’ve been doing this for ten years and we can’t have Christmas without coming!”
The joy of the day was tangible in the air, and this year a number of children were not too shy to have real conversations with our special visitor, St. Nicholas. At the end of the day, I felt very blessed to have been able to spend such a joyful and lively time with such beautiful families–even if we did run out of cake and almost ran out of balloons!
Our Daughters of St. Paul Choir has also had a busy week of concerts, traveling to New York, New Jersey, Cleveland, and Alexandria, Virginia. This coming weekend they will be singing in the Boston area.
Saturday night I was not able to get to my computer, but the new Salt + Light radio show is available for download. I came up with some unexpected movies to review! Here is the write-up for the hour long program:
Are you a mother trying to cope in today’s hectic world? This week on S+L Radio we speak with Dorothy Pilarski about her new book, Motherhood Matters. And if you’re wondering about the purpose of your life, we’ll also speak to Ken Yasinski, founder of Face2Face Ministries. He tells us about his book, The Fullness of Purpose and we listen to his music. Our Saint of the week is St. Ambrose and Sr. Marie-Paul Curley reviews Winnie-the-Pooh and Last Holiday.
Windows to the Soul Blog 
Saint Nick enjoyed entertaining questions raised by the children, e.g.,are you really a Bishop? What is the difference between Santa and Saint Nick? One boy told Saint Nick that his name was Nick.
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