It’s an exciting day for the Fenelon Clan…
I’m off to Lisle, Illinois this afternoon to be guest speaker at the St. Joan of Arc Women’s Ministry Advent Tea. I’m speaking about “Joy to the Whirl” – what great fun!
Even more than that, of course, is the fact that St. Nicholas came! Yessirrreee, the stockings were hung by the…uh…radiator with care and youbetcha St. Nicholas soon was right there. He’s filled all five stockings to the brim. The sixth hangs empty, waiting for our oldest to return from Iraq in January. That’s just dandy, because he’ll be back in January to fill that one, too.
In the mean time, the Fenelon kids – all of us – will peek in, dump over, sort out, and enjoy what’s inside our stockings. We’ll immensely enjoy this little ritual even though most of us are adults now.
Maybe that seems strange to you but not to us. The traditions Mark and I began with our children when they were wee ones have rooted deeply in their hearts, in all of our hearts, and we’re not about to give them up. They mean a great deal to us, which is why even the “big” ones who live away from home still come back to check out what the Bishop of Myra has left them.
Oh, sure, things will change and someday they’ll have wee ones or other responsibilities of their own and won’t be able to make it back to physically take part in our tradition. And that’s just dandy, too, because it’s all part of God’s great plan for the Clan.
But the stockings will still hang each year – no matter where each one is in body or mind – as a symbolic representation of our love and unity as family. I know that in deepest recesses of their hearts, they’ll still be coming home to peek in, dump over, sort out, and enjoy what’s inside. What they’ll find will be, not fruits and candies, but a treasury of graces, meanings, memories, and, yes, a little madness to go along with it. And that’s awesome.
Blessed Feast of St. Nicholas to you and yours!
Just an aside… Here’s the link to a fabulous website on the jolly old Bishop. It’s worth the time an effort to check it out. http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=23
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