O Radix Jesse

Well, the finals are finished.

Today my Mom's office had their Christmas lunch and, since I am technically a very part-time member of the staff, I got to come along. We went to a nice restaurant run in a Revolutionary War-era tavern in our "town". (According to the historical photographs on the walls, our town-let once had a Texaco (gas) station!)

On the way back, my Mom suddenly realized that she never had a chance to weigh the Christmas cards that she had me drop off at the post office this morning. There was a pretty fair chance that they were two-stampers, and she didn't like the idea of having all the cards return to us. So we described the envelopes and return address stickers to the postmaster, and they went back into the bins and dug around for a while. Eventually they found our cards and, indeed, they each needed 24 cents more. God bless the cooperative postal workers!

Tomorrow my aunt is coming! She and her husband moved out to the west coast last year, but he has been away in the Navy and, as the song goes, "there's no place like home for the holidays," so she'll be here for Christmas and New Year's. (Almost all of the family has stayed in the northeast.) She's technically staying with my grandparents, but they live approximately 75 yards to the south of our house, on the same property.

And here we are, in the last days of a very short Advent. May Our Lady help you all prepare fruitfully and joyfully for Christmas.

O Flower of Jesse's stem,

you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples;

Kings stand silent in your presence;

the nations bow down in worship before you.

Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.