Joseph is officially a seminarian for the diocese, but sadly, without a seminary.  The bishop has asked him to wait for an opening at SJV.  So it looks like he will be home until next fall.  He is busy today filling out applications for St. Thomas, SJV and Knights of Columbus.

Full sandblasting gear!

Making a bed for Baby Jesus, sort of.

The rest of our family is really looking forward to Christmas. We will be making fudge tomorrow and have started making our cookie baking list.  The little people are practicing for their own version of the Christmas story (remember last year's rendition?  What a hoot!).  This year Therese is Mary,  Johnny is Joseph and Gabriel insists that he's a "sheffer boy". Andrew is our one and only Wise Guy and Matthew says he is too old to be in it this year. He's the director instead.

We had our last piano lesson for December on Monday.  Linda had the kids practice for weeks on musical scales and then they competed in a "Scale Olympics".  They had to beat their original times.  Here they are with their medals (edible, no less). 

John Paul insisted on getting in the picture.