That was the best pie I ever had. Our late Thanksgiving went very well, even thought the dryer is still spewing lint. Sister St. Aloysius out did herself on the dinner. And that pie! She had seen a Sara Lee pie in the freezer section of the grocery store and decided she could figure out how to make it herself. She is a mathematical genius, after all, and her smarty pantsness spills over when you least expect it. On the Sara Lee box, this pie was called "Apple Nut Caramel"...or maybe it was "Caramel Apple Nut". You get the idea. It was an apple pie with nuts in it and caramel drizzled over the top. Did I mention it was a deep dish apple pie? It was a deep dish apple pie.
So now I've managed to roll over to the computer to say hello today. I'm in too good a mood to deal with the War on Christmas.
Especially since there isn't one. That doesn't stop the people who are warring against the non existent War on Christmas from yammering on about it. Thank goodness I am in a caramel apple nut stupor.
But should someone ask you to join the fight in the war against the War on Christmas tell them this:
What war? Christmas season used to start after Thanksgiving....even if Sister Mary Martha put Thanksgiving off for over a week. Now Christmas decorations choke the stores beginning in September. Every type of store has Christmas stuff: the grocery store, the craft store, the drug store, malls, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, anything with Mart on the end of it. Macy's doesn't even wait for Santa to come at the end of their big parade anymore. Wonder if he notices all the dust on the decorations that have been hanging around for two months already.
Is anyone ripping this stuff down or setting it on fire? Dropping bombs on it? Is anyone even asking politely that it be removed. The Wal-Mart greeter may be asked to say, "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" but you can still march right in there and buy a Nativity set.
What war?
Oh, please. Getting your socks in a bunch about the War on Christmas is as silly as worrying about when Satan is going to show up with "666" tattooed on the back of his head.
For the record, "666" was Nero. Nero who, among other things, dressed Christians up in tasty looking animal skins so there would be no confusion for the lions at lunch time. Everybody loved Nero's great ideas about what to do with the Christians until one day he used them as lighting at a dinner party he was throwing. He made human torches out of them. The guests were not amused. It was off-putting over dinner.I would put it to you that unless you find yourself as a Tiki light at some one's Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/Holiday dinner party, no one is 'at war' with you. It's no good accusing people of being overly sensitive when you are being overly sensitive.
I think there is some whipped cream left. Sister St. Aloysius makes it from scratch. I did the whipping. My dress habit has to be cleaned because it's splattered with whipping cream. I lifted the beaters to see it if was peaking and didn't turn the thing off. I'll be doing quite a bit of washing and ironing and starching before next Sunday.
18 comments:
Sister,
I find that the folks who complain about the "war in Christmas" are looking for Christmas in the mall. Yeah, after you've elbowed your way past twelve other people to get the last $15 dvd player and complained to Ahmed, your cashier, that the line was too long, he didn't say "merry Christmas"? Maybe he mistook you for a nonChristian!
Not to disagree, Sister, but it would be nice if the stores who are so willing to take our money would acknowledge the holiday motivating such spending.
"War" does seem to be a bit strong of a word, though.
Sister what do you think of the kids movie coming out that symbolizes Adam and Eve killing God? The golden compass is the name.
I have a question on the 666 part of this blog.
Wouldn't the 666 apply to Nero for the time written yet also a future, final "man of perdition"? Isn't the book of Revelation applicable to each time, and perfectly fulfilled in THE end? If I understand it correctly, "Immanuel" fit King Hezekiah in Isaiah's time but was perfectly fulfilled in Jesus. Couldn't that also be applied to this?
I just had to say,
I found your Blog a week ago and I so very much appreciate your since of humor. Your Blog really lifts my spirits at the end the day. The extra life lessons you share are just an added Plus.
God Bless and keep you as well as the other Sisters.
I am just giggling at the image of you whipping that cream. I can also just imagine Sister St. Aloysius face.
Love the Santa hat on your picture!! LOL!! Love your glob, I mean blog. Merry Christmas! I mean Christmas with a capital C, you can call it something else but that's what it will be!
Not nice to tease, Sister. If you're going to have us all drooling over the pie, the least you could do is post Sister St. Aloysius' recipe! I'd kill for it, but then I'd have to go to confession.
sister, you look awesome in that santa hat!
Thank you Sister. I have been trying to convince my family of this trumped up "War on Christmas" nonsense for a while.
Think about it; the true meaning of Christmas has precious little to do with whatever Big Box retailer does to make their bottom line financially this season...who cares WHAT they say at checkout, really?
What we should be doing today to honor Christ during this holy season is much more than just obsessing whether the poor minimum wage earning cashier is wishing us a Merry Christmas as opposed to Happy Holidays...we should be encouraging alternative, non-commercial forms of gift-giving...what about donations to charities in the name of the person we wish to honor?
With all of the superfluous stuff that most of us in the US have, do we really need to buy more stuff anyway? Do our children really need more toys? Do we really need any more gadgets?
The same people who have stirred up this tempest in a teapot about the alleged war on Christmas are the ones in the media who show an absolutely shocking lack of consideration for Christian values in other aspects of their media empire...take a guess to whom I am referring...and no, it is NOT the allegedly liberal mainstream media.
Check out http:www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAckfn8yiAQ
Christmas with a capital "C"
Dear Sister,
For the love of our Lord, would you please speak to us about the "Golden Compass" and the terrible things the author has said about nuns. Specifically in the book there is a woman who gave up being a nun because she realized God was a hoax and she wanted to have sex and study science instead!
This is just terrible!! The movie opens this weekend and I'm afraid good parents do not know how pernicious this story is and poor little innocent souls will be hurt!
"Just a short walk away from the Pullmans' house is the grave of another Oxford master of fantasy: J.R.R. Tolkien. Comparisons, notes Pullman with a heavy sigh, are inevitable. There's the Oxford connection, and the invented worlds, and both Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and "His Dark Materials" consist of one (very) long story in three volumes. But Pullman insists the similarities stop there. "What I'm doing is utterly different," he says. "Tolkien would have deplored it."
"So, too, would have another famous Oxford fantasy writer, C.S. Lewis, a devout Christian whose children's series "The Chronicles of Narnia" exemplified his religious convictions. "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief," says Pullman. "Mr. Lewis would think I was doing the Devil's work.""
--From "The Last Word: Philip Pullman's Trilogy for Young Adults Ends in God's Death and Remarkably Few Critics," by Alona Wartovsky, Washington Post 2/19/2001, on line at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23371-2001Feb18?language=printer
Sister,
Your post made me laugh. Happy St. Nicholas day!
~La Bibliotecaria Laura
Please pray for us
Sister, I have what is probably a very dumb question, but I really want to know: is there any specific devotion to Baby Jesus? I mean, we all love Baby Jesus, I know that, but with Christmas coming I've really been meditating on the Christ Child and I've come to realize that I REALLY love Baby Jesus! It humbles me immensely to realize that when God chose to come to earth and become a man he came as a helpless baby! And not a helpless child born to wealth and riches, but to a poor family who couldn't even get a room in an Inn and had to give birth in a stable! Again, I know we all know this, but it's just hit me in a profound way recently. Anyway, other than the Infant of Prauge, I don't really know of anyone really praying to Baby Jesus. Is it ever done? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I really am curious. Thank you for your always eye-opening answers!
Anonymous, in the Spanish-speaking world, we have a devotion to the Holy Child of Atocha. In a nutshell, the child Jesus keeps popping up wherever there are downtrodden Christians in prison and bringing them food and otherwise fortifying their spirits. He comes dressed in a little medieval prince outfit with boots, and sometimes minor mischief is attributed to him. He started appearing in Spain and then later in Mexico and what is now the United States.
Have you heard of Chimayo in New Mexico? It's revered as a holy place with holy earth, and people make pilgrammages to this sanctuary and bring back vials of earth, just like Lourdes water. The ground is holy because the story goes that a farmer and his daughter were tilling that land when they heard a child talking underground. They dug up the spot, and they found The Child of Atocha's boots.
The Feast of the Child of Atocha, consequently, lands on December 25.
Peace!
I can see the humor in this post, but also please remember that some of us work in an environment where we are not allowed to display any signs of a Christian christmas -- trees are OK, creches are a big no-no. I work at a large university and displaying a creches or other Christian symbol would be hugely frowned on and could be grounds for disciplinary action. So for some people, the "war on Christmas" is very real and goes beyond a mere happy holiday vs merry christmas debate.
Regarding the "War on Christmas"...I do as I please at work. I suppose that if someone does not like the nativity on my desk (at a public school), God will take care of me. Children comment on it, and I share the "Christmas story--the birth of Baby Jesus." Kids love it. God protects me.
A clerk at a craft store recently wished me "happy holidays." I graciously said, "thank you" then added, "I would prefer you wish me Merry Christmas." He then smiled (as if for being given permission) and said, "Merry Christmas!!" I replied with "Merry Christmas! And, God bless you!"
Then a girl collecting for the homeless wished me a "happy holiday" and I responded like I did to the clerk.
My point being, we make it what we want it to be. I DO think it is important for us to point out the reason for the season to everyone we come in contact with. Sadly, we are not surrounded by believers, so anything I can do to share God's love, I do. Let them do to me what they will. Hey, maybe I need that Joan of Arc medal.
When I think of what Saints went through on a daily basis, how can I be a 'fraidy cat?
Peace be with you!
Annamaria
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