7QT 28: Crab legs, Epiphany, and (temporary) tattoos
It's been a while since I was able to sit down and write a 7 Quick Takes Friday! After all the radio silence, here's how we celebrated the Christmas season!
1. What's Christmas without a family selfie?
11 people is a lot to squeeze into a selfie, but we did it! We celebrated Christmas night at my parent's this year. Yes, it seems to have been a competition among the littles to make the weirdest face. And yes, that is a Thor hammer in Liam's hand. Just a normal family selfie!
2. Don't be crabby, it's Christmas time!
Confession time. My deepest fear is fish. I just can't handle 'em. The way they swim in the water gives me the heebie-jeebies. Their staring eyes scare me. The way they can brush against you when you swim is enough to make me super cautious when swimming in the ocean. But eating fish is no problem. It's one less fish in the ocean, so pass the salmon.
We spent Christmas Eve with Joseph's family and had crab legs for dinner. They were delicious. But Joseph had to crack them all open for me after he made the little pinchers move like they were still alive.
3. A tattoo for Christmas
Saint Pope John Paul II's quote, "Be not afraid!" means the world to me (you can read more about how that phrase has impacted my spiritual life over on this blog post). So when I saw these temporary tattoos from Just Love Prints over social media, I dropped some not-so-subtle hints to Joseph that I would love some for Christmas. He gave me a set of two, and I love them! Want some of your own? You can find them here!
4. New house full of new things
After moving from a one bedroom house to a two bedroom house (with a basement!) we quickly discovered we didn't have enough furniture to fill the house! So we turned to Facebook marketplace and found this gorgeous couch to complete our front room. We polished the wood, conditioned the leather and it's as good as new!
Last week we also bought a new washer and dryer. We loaded them up in the back of a truck, got them home, and then the washer wouldn't work. It turned out that water had gotten frozen in the valves and just needed to thaw. We shouldn't have been surprised . . . there was a -15 degree wind chill that day. But they're both working now! And we have clean laundry!! To fold!! Yay . . .
5. Journaling in the Bible
The Catholic Journaling Bible from Our Sunday Visitor and Blessed Is She came into the bookstore right before Christmas and I'm. So. Pumped. The design is gorgeous, the margins are wide enough for doodling and note-taking, and the illustrations are beautiful. It took me a while to muster up the courage to write in it (with pencil, I'm not confident enough in my artistic abilities to write with a pen!).
Also, Joseph got me another orchid after I threw the last one away. It turns out, orchids aren't dead after their flowers fall off. The more you know.
6. Not your typical wedding pictures
When you invite the Langrs to your wedding, you'll be sure to have picture proof of our presence. But they won't be the typical wedding pictures. At receptions this year, Joseph and I have made it a Langr tradition to take pictures with random objects around the reception. Because nothing says "Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs." like "Table is Broken", after all. This is a tradition we'll be carrying into 2018 for sure. In fact, we're going to a wedding this weekend!
7. Happy (almost) Epiphany!
It's crazy to think that the Christmas season is almost over. I'm not looking forward to taking down the Christmas tree and putting the garlands back into their box. But, there's still one more feast to celebrate - Epiphany! It's the time where we remember the visit that the three kings paid the holy family after Christ's birth.
This year, we're blessing our new home with the traditional Epiphany chalk blessing. Want to learn more about the blessing, and how to bless your own home this year? Check out this article that I wrote over at Epic Pew for all the details!