My Christmas card is coming!

I am a little late this year, my back is still in spasm, but the girls managed to put together a wonderfully artistic, yet deeply religious Christmas card this year. For those of you who won't be getting it, the interior of the card has the lyrics of "O Holy Night", followed by "The Velasquez family wishes you a Blessed Christmas"

My Christmas letter is reaching the Holy Father!

 Here is an email from Padre Paolo Padrini, the director of the Holy Father's initiative Pope2You.
I sent him a link to my Letter from God to a Special Needs Mother.
He'll be sending my email to the Holy Father himself! I am so honored!
You can send the Holy Fahter your Christmas greetings by following the link in the email.


Dearest friend

I wanted to thank you for your Christmas greetings and tell you that will be delivered in the coming days to the Holy Father.

We propose an important initiative: during the Month of Peace, we invite you to send the Holy Father and to the world your photographic or textual message of Peace.

We invite you to do it the same way that you used for sending Christmas greetings from the site

www.pope2you.net

We urge you to make you, as requested by the Pope, "proclaim" the Gospel, and promoter of the portal of the Vatican Pope2You.

Heartfelt thanks

The Staff of Pope2You

Looking to give hope this Christmas? Give to Reece's Rainbow

Here's a great Christmas giving idea; sponsor the adoption of a foreign born child with Down syndrome at Reece's Rainbow with their Christmas Angel Tree project.

For only $35 sponsorship, you get this beautiful ornament and the knowlege that a little one who needs a loving home is that much closer to adoption by a family in the US. Seven children were recently adopted, thanks to generous donations defraying the cost.

Make a little one's future bright with a gift of hope this Christmas in honor of the Saviour.

Click here for more information on Reece's Rainbow.

Archbishop Chaput recommended Reeec'e Rainbow here. I requested that my folks give me this for Christmas last year.

Our first young visitors

Our life in Connecticut has resembled a convent. We girls return from our schools, to spend the evening eating, chatting, watching EWTN and doing homework, and praying the rosary before bed. We have weekend visits from Francisco who must continue to work in New York during the week, from old friends from Long Island, and family, but none from local friends up here, since we have been too busy withour whirlwind schedule, and embarrassed at the state of my office, overflowing with half-unpacked boxes. But today was a perfect sledding (or as they say here, "sliding") day, so I picked up the phone and invited Isabella's friends before she could protest.
I am a genius.
It was a wonderful day, full of chilly fun in the snow, and warm conversations gripping hot cocoa with cold hands in front of a roaring fire. The four children who visited had a great time, and promised to return soon. One little boy lives just up the hill, and this was his first visit. Shame on us for being too shy/busy/proud before this wonderful day! His mom brought over the most exquisite cookies, made by his father. I have wonderful neighbors!

One of the boys took a liking to Christina and personally watched her for me while they all played in the snow. I felt intense satisfaction at the view from our living room window of Bella and Christina, in a circle of friends, enjoying the beautiful snowy yard.
This afternoon alone make the move worthwhile. Good, wholesome Catholic friends for my good, wholesome Catholic daughters. It was a taste of Heaven.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for the inspiration which started a year ago with a link to a Catholic school, and ended in friendship and fun.

New Year, and a new header

I finally worked up the courage to add a header to the blog, and I love it. Hope you don't mind scrolling down a bit more.

Here is the story of this exceptional painting, by Andrea Mantegna at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which depicts the Madonna and the Child Jesus with Down syndrome. The story is as beautiful as the painting which is on my desktop as a reminder of why I blog.

I have always been certain that Jesus has a special love for children like Christina, and I am sure He would appreciate being portrayed as one of our vulnerable little ones, the "least of these". They reflect Him so clearly in the world, yet, like Him, the world rejects them, aborting 90% of them.

All our children with Down syndrome are Christ figures, and we are like the Blessed Mother who cherish them, nurture them and see them hurt.

Merry Christmas from Connecticut

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

No time or money to send Christmas Cards?

We're strapped this Christmas, for both time and money, and so I'm only sending out a few cards in the mail. Instead, I'm sending out these beautiful religious e-cards which promote my favorite new Christmas CD "The Priests". They were featured on the EWTN "The World Over" Christmas special.

Snow day

Since we homeschooled until this year, we never experienced the pure joy of a snow day. I got a call at 5:30AM before the snow started falling, since such a HUGE storm was expected, and since I was as excited as a little girl, I HAD to get up and enjoy not having to get up. I napped luxuriously at noon just because I could. Oh, forgotten joys of homeschooling!
I even made a run in the snow to the local grocery store in the snow, playing Christmas carols on the radio. I hated to bother God with a request for a White Christmas our first time in Connecticut, but He read my mind. Isn't He awesome?
People at the local IGA were cheerful. A remarked to a mother who had carrots, milk and Hershey's bars, that she had the essentials covered. "If I'm going to be snowed in with kids, I've GOT to have chocolate!" she said.
I was stocking up on dog food, dairy products and Christmas cookie supplies. It was such sheer pleasure finally spending time leisurely baking a Chicken Pot Pie with leftovers, and getting to light my Christmas candles, and play my new favorite CD, "The Priests", as the silent snow buried us in quiet. We had the fire crackling, and I finally felt that Christmas feeling in my new home.
I had felt it plenty at school. St Joseph's had a wonderful Christmas pageant, and the Acadmy did their more sophisticated, but beautiful tableaux earlier this week. Though the entire cast were young women (even Baby Jesus was played by an infant girl) the fact that the Wise Men were played by an Asian, an African American and a Mexican teenager was very moving. The Academy had representatives of all races in the nativity play. Yes, Christmas had definitely visted the schools, but we had so little time at home that I was looking forward to Francisco's coming up this weekend to feel like I was "home for Christmas". We will be spending Christmas Eve and Day with his parents and mine on Long Island. Such are the sacrifices of moving. BUT the girls have two weeks off, and we can spend plenty of time as a family up here enjoying the snowy woods.

This nativity was on sale at the store today, so I bought it for under $5 to remember our first "Country Christmas".

Super gift idea: $2 Catholic books

Sofia Institute Press a wonderful Catholic publisher has this great deal here. One book is by one of my favorites, Fr Dwight Longnecker, entitled "Adventures in Orthodoxy". They guarantee delivery by Christmas if you order by Dec 12.

Advent will be here before you know it; plan ahead

I have a subscribers only article at the National Catholic Register with 25 ways to keep your Advent centered on Christ.

Please help St Joseph School

As you know we have just left Long Island, my home for four decades, for a very good reason. Two excellent, faithful Catholic schools are here in Baltic, CT for my two girls. I have posted about St. Joseph and the Academy of the Holy Family here.
Isabella is happily attending school at St. Joseph, meeting new friends, and growing confident about her ability to function in a school setting after being homeschooled for her entire six years of schooling till now. She is surrounded by love and the glory of Catholicism every day at St. Joseph, so when she came home with a fundraising catalogue, I promised to do my best to help her help her school. It's a small school in an area which has many other Catholic schools, but what St. Joseph offers is unique. Habited sisters from the Sisters of Charity of Mary Mother of the Church operate and teach at the school, giving a living example to the children of the joys of consecrated life. Dedicated lay teachers with rich spiritual lives, teach there in the same spirit of joyful traditional Catholicism.
St. Joseph is a treasure which must be preserved. If you feel inspired, please click on the image of the Yankee Candle catalogue on this link and email me with your orders, giving me the item description, number and price. I'll return your email with payment instructions. We have one week (till Sept 29) to show St. Joseph that great Catholic schools have the support of the Catholic faithful.
And the candles are fantastic too! Yankee Candle has always had the most fragrant candles, which I buy regularly at the same price from home stores. Now we can stock up for Christmas, and help a good cause too.

Thanks in advance for your support.

Pictures of my favorite Christmas gift ever

I got the best Christmas gift ever this year; I took my little girl home from the hospital at 6PM Christmas Eve, not quite healthy from her pnemonia, yet taking her home was the most amazing gift I have ever received for Christmas.

In honor of the Feast of the Holy Family

Here are our Christmas photos, which include little Christina being treated with oxygen in the hospital by Daddy, and her joyful return home on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas with her family. I am more grateful than words can express for our family. I am working to gather the words to describe our odyssey, so, for now, I will let these moving photos tell our story.

God bless all of you who prayed, keep them coming please, we have not yet gotten the all clear from her pediatrician, and viral pneumonia heals very slowly.

Photos from Las Posadas

I was only able to attend two nights of Las Posadas with my catechism class since Christina had to be hospitalized the week before Christmas. They continued without me.

Here are some of the pictures.

The Night of Las Posadas

Last night we read this book to prepare for today's beginning of Las Posadas with my catechism class.

Tomie de Paola tells the story of the tradtional procession of Las Posadas which takes place in Santa Fe (Spanish for "Holy Faith") New Mexico.

It has a surprise ending which makes it one of the girls' favorite Christmas stories.

You can buy it here.

A visit from St. Nick

My neighbors play Mr. and Mrs. Claus at the local firehouse each Christmas. We saw them loading up on the sleigh in the street in front of our house when Isabella was in the midst of a bad asthma attack in the beginning of December.

Last Sunday, they surprised us, and popped over for a visit, to the delight of Isabella.

What a thoughtful gesture it was!

A video for Christmas:

I plan to order this film, which came out last year and is available on DVD.
It's called Christmas at Maxwell's, and looks Catholic-inspired. Here's a review from Peggy Moen of The Wanderer, who begins, "If you have time after going to see Bella in the theaters and watching It's a Wonderful Life at home, you might also want to see Christmas at Maxwell's, now available on DVD. "
Watch the trailer here.

What to get them for Christmas

Vicki Forman at Special Needs Mama has a column about some of the pain a special needs mother feels at Christmas time. As always, her writing evokes feelings in me which I wasn't aware of; the reason I'm having difficulty buying Christmas toys for Christina.
First of all, she can't voice her wants. My older daughters had no problem at her age, and neither did I; the Sears Wish catalogue arrived in September and was well worn by October.
My little brother even gave a running total and page numbers on his wish list to help Santa.

Second, I ran a day care from my home, leaving us with a great selection of toys for pre-schoolers. We have one of absolutely everything: toy kitchen, crib, stroller, table, soft balls, blocks, instruments, legos, puzzles, stringing beads, dress-up clothes, stuffed animals, tea sets, play farms, doll house, stacking blocks, etc. So, what's the problem, you say, think of the money you'll save. If she doesn't have a list, she can't be disappointed. I wish it were so simple, but it isn't.
The real problem is that Christy hasn't outgrown toys as quickly as her sisters, and that hurts. She seems to be stuck in perpetual toddlerhood, watching the same videos with Barney and Elmo, playing endlessly with her floppy dolls, reading her stacks of board books, and singing to herself in her private games, which I, as an adult may not join. She hasn't developed as quickly as her peers in many ways, and I think I'm used to it, but, somehow, Christmas shopping brings this sharply to light. And it evokes new pain at her delays.
I am stumped for new ideas. I searched a Montessori website, and asked her therapists for ideas, being careful not to duplicate the toys they use, as she might grow tired of them. They recommend an adaptive tricycle which I will buy for her birthday in March, and a puppet theatre for now, which my folks will be getting her. I'm stuck on what we should get her from us.
Do any of you have any ideas what to buy?
Dream Mom has a list here.

Christmas Meme

Jean said I could tag myself for this Christmas meme, and I discovered that I had done this last year. Our traditions haven't changed since them.
1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider?
I love hot apple cider, but the girls usually opt for the hot chocolate.
2. Turkey or Ham?
Ham.
3. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree?
Real, right down Main Street at my friend Henry's tree farm
4. Decorations on the outside of your house?
We hang a lighted star at the peak of our house, and our bushes are covered with white lights, there are icicle lights on the gutters in front, and a blue spotlight on my simple nativity scene.
5. Snowball fights or sleddin'?
We like sledding down the hill to (and hopefully not in) the lake.
6. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping?
There's only one shop downtown that enjoys my little Christina, discounted ladies clothes make great bargains, they play retro Christmas music (Bing Crosby) and proudly advertise, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season". That's the only store I visit.
7. Favorite Christmas song?
Gesu Bambino, written by the organist of St. Patrick's Cathedral. I still have to learn the words to this beautful carol.
8. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
I love "Going my Way", "It's a Wonderful Life" and now "The Nativity Story" will become one of our family traditions as well.
9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
When Advent begins, we begin learning to sing and play Christmas carols, but I try to avoid Christmas music before Thanksgiving.
10. Stockings before or after presents?
After, when the hysteria dies down.
11. Carolers, do you or do you not watch and listen to them?
We have never had any in our neighborhood, but I intend to remedy that this year!
12. Go to someone else's house or they come to you?
They usually come here. We love our home so much on Christmas, it's hard to leave.
13. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when?
Before bed on Christmas Eve.
14. What do you do after presents and dinner?
Get my Godfather, Uncle Al, to start telling his colorful stories about growing up in New York City in the old days. He had us all rolling last year!
15. What is your favorite holiday smell?
The Christmas tree when you first bring it indoors.
16. Ice skating or walking around the mall?
Neither! I can't skate, and malls aren't as much fun as they used to be.
17. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day?
We make our kids wait for their gifts from us until Christmas morning. We open presents with Grandparents on Christmas Eve, so they aren't too overwhelmed on Christmas Day.
18. Favorite Christmas memory?
My brother Bill and his son Mike from Florida arrived on Christmas Day at my home just ahead of a big snowstorm (Mike was 6, and it was his first). He was delighted to be snowed in at our house, and spent the entire next day sledding with his cousins.
19. Favorite Part about winter?
Enjoying a fire in our fireplace, while looking out at snow falling at night.
20. Ever been kissed under mistletoe?
Nope, but I keep hanging it up in hopes that my dh gets the hint!
O.K. I guess if you read this far, you've been tagged.

Down syndrome figures in a nativity scene

I came upon this amazing closeup of a 1515 Flemish Nativity, which is displayed in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It includes two individuals with Down Syndrome in the picture, one above, as an angel, and one between the Madonna and the kneeling angel at the manger.

The writer of the article, which I will link to when I find it, extrapolated from this, that people with Down Syndrome were simply incorporated into society in the Rennaissance.

Fascinating, isn't it?