Well, I meant to get this post up yesterday…a little service, as it were, to distract you from all those tummy rumbles.
Alas, real life got into the way and we ended up at the zoo as a family.
(I thought this would distract me from all my tummy rumbles.)
(Instead, I found myself wanting to gnaw on a monkey.)
Funny how fasting puts life in perspective, isn’t it? Not so funny, however, when the day is Ash Wednesday and there’s leftover cake on the counter.
And there was! It was a fun, fun night on Mardi Gras, celebrating the duel feast of Fat Tuesday and my husband’s birthday.
Much better to have a birthday on Mardi Gras than on Ash Wednesday. The odds were in his favor this year.
And yet, we are thankful to be embarking on this holy season together–to pray a bit more and party a lot less. We are really good at feasting…not so good (but getting better) at all the fasting stuff.
Just ask that monkey.
Do you want to know a secret? I had a massive blemish in this photo and in my vanity I airbrushed it out.
That wasn’t very Lenten of me, was it?
Okay fine.
Jem didn’t go in for a Mardi Gras mask. He looks super-serious in this photo, but only because I was interrupting this:
Madden ’11 on the Wii.
It makes an already fun party even better.
In Jem’s defense, though, (and because he was such a party-pooper when it came to mask-making), I need you to know that he had turned the volume on the Madden ’11 off. This was so we could listen to Pandora simultaneously–a “Beach Boys” station that plays the best party music EVER.
Yes, we danced.
I made him put down the Wii remote and we danced.
We danced so much I burned the Brussels sprouts!
That’s okay. I ate them on Ash Wednesday.
This is turning out to be a longish post and I apologize. I didn’t know yesterday if I would be blogging today…still don’t know what all my penances will be.
I think perhaps for people like myself–i.e. people who are prone to scruples–it is better to take it one day at a time and to focus each day on the Lenten thereof. Can I go without adding half & half to this coffee–for this cup if not the next one? Can I resist the urge to click over to Facebook right now? For this time if not the next one?
Little things like that add up.
Little things added up…make us stronger.
I pray you have a blessed & holy & fruitful Lent. I would say that I won’t be back until Easter…but you know me and I know better!
Giving it all to Him for His greater glory,
Oh, Margaret, this is why we love you so much – lines like "We danced so much I burned the Brussels sprouts!" (that made me hoot) But you ate them the next day. (they are pretty tasty the next day!) I haven't written about Lent yet but I've been thinking the exact same thing about the little 'now' sacrifices. It's good to have a grand plan, but we also should be willing to see the opportunity to mortify moment by moment. xo
Definitely better to have the birthday on Mardi Gras than Ash Wednesday. I couldn't agree more. That's why we went out to dinner for my son's Ash Wednesday 12th birthday on Mardi Gras.
Have a wonderful and blessed Lent.
Jennie C told Barbara something to the effect that God has a way of finding our penances for us. I totally believe that.
Broken leg one year
sick sick kids the next year
no gluten/no poopen the next….
Anyway, we burned our fancy meal of shrimp and tater tots (I can have the taters) because I was feeding the babe and anyway, made it much more of a penance for everyone to eat burned food and to say, "it's not burned, it's just crispy"
Your brussels would have gone well with our meal last night.
So happy you didn't give us up for lent.
I agree, Margaret, sometimes one day, or even one challenge, at a time is all a somewhat scrupulous person can handle! Good Luck and God Bless.
I continue to find such joy in your post! You never disappoint.
Loved this post. Happy birthday to your husband. I hope Lent provides a feast for your soul.
Please give up something other than blogging for lent eh!! thankyou 😉
Yeah, so, I looked at those Brussels sprouts and coveted each and every one. Yum.
Oh Margaret, Thank you for making me laugh out loud, for I don't think I did that at all today:( My family would shoot me if I made brussel sprouts on Fat Tuesday. Love, love, love the picture of the card from The Fish. No matter how many times I correct it, someone always puts uppercase letters in the middle of a word!!!!!!!!
p.s. Thanks a bundle for the Novena of Holy Communions. Lent would be such a great time to make a novena, as our parish added a noon daily mass, not just an 8 am mass, which is not do-able in my late-rising family!