Category: Weekly Newsletter

The Mom Weekly Volume 122: December 9, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

The Perfect Christmas Story Does Exist

Several weeks ago, we watched one of the new Hallmark Christmas movies which was surprisingly good (as they sometimes are!). It is called Christmas Above the Clouds, and in it, a workaholic executive, Ella Neezer, is visited by the ghosts on an airplane. 

While nothing holds a candle to The Muppet Christmas Carol, this one was really well done, with lots of cute Dickens references. It is definitely worth a watch, if you like Hallmark movies. 

Watching Christmas Above The Clouds made me realize again why there are so many retellings of A Christmas Carol—it’s honestly one of the most perfect Christmas stories out there. Some of the retellings are awful, some are pretty good and watchable, like this one, and some are true classics (The Muppet Christmas Carol being one, and the 1951 Alistair Sim version is not only a favorite of Dad’s, but one of the best-regarded adaptations). 

I am not even that big of a fan of Dickens, but there is something about this story that warms the heart and helps us get into the Christmas spirit (pun intended?)

Last year, over several weeks, I shared many, many quotes from A Christmas Carol. Instead of that, I will revisit a very few quotes from this classic, and encourage you not only to read the novella (see action item below), but also schedule your re-watch of A Muppet Christmas Carol.

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew. “Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”

“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!”

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!

Interesting/Notable: 

The Muppet Christmas Carol: A festive classic’s dark backdrop: BBC Culture

This article is from 2022, and I can’t recall how I came across it recently. It’s a fascinating behind-the-scenes story of how The Muppet Christmas Carol came to be the classic that it is, instead of a “haha” funny Muppet movie. Well worth the read!

The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy

Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t add that for our family, another perfect Christmas story exists, and it is called “The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy”

An Action Item: Consider An Annual Reading of “A Christmas Carol”

I wrote about this previously, so let me say it again: reading “A Christmas Carol” should be a yearly event, to help get into the Christmas season.

A Christmas Carol has around 30,000 words, which is novella-sized more than novel-sized. It’s really manageable, and since you know the story and many of the best quotes, it should be an enjoyable time!

You can read it online at Project Gutenberg here.

If you want a Kindle version of it, here’s a very inexpensive one. 

Alternatively, you can often find editions of A Christmas Carol at thrift stores, but here’s an inexpensive paperback version.

The Mom Weekly Volume 121: December 2, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

Notes:

As you know, the last week or so has been taken up with a lot of activity for all of us!  And you have all been amazing.

As a result, all of my writing “motors” went to other things. But that is okay, because my writing self from 15-20 years ago is the gift that keeps giving.

This is a very short but adorable “from the vault.” Enjoy, and remember how much I love you,

Mom

Why Has the Boxcar Children Never Been Turned into a Movie? (From the Vault, September 2009)

We really enjoy The Boxcar Children series at our house. They are not “great literature,” but they are fun good stories, and hilarious for adults in the implied dysfunction of the family members and assorted friends around the Boxcar Children themselves: Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. 

Grandfather Alden keeps quarreling with various family members, and his kind and loving grandchildren keep reuniting him with them, and solving a mystery to boot. But it’s all about the mysteries. They are such fun books.

I am just shocked to learn there has never been a movie version of this classic. Why not? There would be a built-in audience from so many generations of kids and their parents who have read them in the decades since they were first published.

Homegirl created, with help from siblings, this Lego version of The Boxcar Children.

Interesting/Notable:

Inside Marriott’s Disastrous Bet on Short-Term Rental Company Sonder (WSJ gift link)

I thought this was an interesting read, and an awful thing to happen. Several years ago, I explored renting a Sonder apartment for European travel, but most of them were long-term rentals only. It is surprising how quickly this fell apart, and also how people were basically thrown out onto the street.

Leo From Chicago— Vatican News (on YouTube)

I started to watch this documentary “Leo From Chicago” and it’s VERY well-produced. Perhaps it could be an edifying watch during Advent? 

One wonderful part of this is that the three Prevost brothers have a phone conversation at least once a week. Siblings goals?

The Mom Weekly Volume 120: November 25, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

The Saint Andrew Christmas Novena 

This has become a yearly reminder, but I genuinely enjoy this Christmas novena as an Advent practice, and so I’m going to share again. 

The St. Andrew Christmas novena begins this Sunday, November 30 (someone special’s birthday!) This year, it actually falls on the first Sunday of Advent this year, which is even more appropriate. And even if you’re reading this after November 30, you can jump in any time.

The St. Andrew Novena is an interesting novena. It starts on the feast of St. Andrew, which is November 30, and ends on December 24. You are meant to pray the pray 15x a day. You can read about it here on the Hallow website.

Now, 15 times a day may seem like a lot, but it’s quite manageable. Here’s how I do it: I have an album in 15 photos of different artist versions of the prayer. Some are repeated. What I do is “favorite” a prayer once I’ve said it, and come back to the album when I have a chance. Once all of the photos are favorited, I’m finished for the day. The next day, I remove them from favorites, and so on, through the novena. It’s worked really well for me. A few years ago, I decided to create my own. I quickly created five different ones in a graphic design program, and they are now part of the album. 

Here’s a screenshot of my album of St. Andrew Novenas (still labeled 2023–need to update that!):

Here are a couple of individual ones that you can save if you would like:

Interesting/Notable:

Leaving the Wrong Beneficiary on Your IRA Plan Can Be a Costly Mistake — WSJ Gift Article

This is a good yearly reminder to double-check beneficiaries on your IRAs, 401(k)s, and other accounts. There have been quite a few stories about people having an old girlfriend or former spouse as a beneficiary, and that person gets a sizable nest egg. It’s really important to check and be sure your beneficiaries are what you want, as the beneficiaries of IRAs and other retirement accounts supersede any will or estate plan.

Even though we have done this, I still double-check! It’s helpful. I will also say that the annoying thing is that we cannot divide the amount equally between three children. Everyone has to have a percentage, and so two get 33 percent and one gets 34 percent. Just so you know, it doesn’t mean the person with 34 percent is the favorite child—you are each the favorite child, but don’t tell the others—I think I’ve tried to alternate who gets the “bigger” inheritance with different accounts.

Epstein is a failure of the 21st Century Elites—WSJ Gift link

Dad alerted me to the Peggy Noonahn column, and it is very sobering. I believe that people who prey on those who are vulnerable—in this case, young women with troubled family backgrounds— will have a lot to answer for.

The Mom Weekly, Volume 118: November 11, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

Notes:

I am writing this note early Saturday morning, before I go to the second day of a local retreat. I want to get this out before the retreat content actually begins later this morning. That’s because I want to clarify that I am not giving away any confidences or any privileged information. Often on retreats people can really share from their hearts, so I want to confirm that I would never share any of that, because I am writing this before the retreat actually begins.

The first evening, everyone got a chance to introduce themselves and talk about what they hoped to get out of the retreat. One man talked about how on this retreat we need to be like Mary (of Mary & Martha), because she “sat at the feet of Jesus” and “she said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 

Internally, I got more than a little annoyed on behalf of St. Martha. Martha was the one who had the profession of faith at the death of Lazarus! Martha, who is a saint! Martha, who had her very own feast day—July 29—until 2021, and she now has to share the feast day with her two siblings, Lazarus and Mary! (Perhaps Martha can also be the patron of siblings?)

Anyway, when the time came for me to introduce myself, I said, “I don’t mean to disagree with you, but I’m Team Martha, because she was also great, and she loved our Lord.” I was kind of proud of holding back from correcting the very sincere and nice man about who said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” I didn’t think that would be the best way to start off a retreat!

Anyway, it reminded me of my portion of a talk that Dad and I gave during a retreat for young people many years ago. I was really proud of my defense of St. Martha then, and so I’m going to include it here (edited to include only the Mary/Martha parts) and title it “Team Martha.”

Team Martha (From the Vault, 2019)

I identify strongly with one of the people in this Scripture passage, and I am going to let you consider/guess which one:

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10: 

As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. 

Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” 

 The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

…..One of my takeaways for you today is:

Love is … and love does.

In case you didn’t know, I identify almost 100 percent with Martha. And this is true in all aspects of my life, but in my spiritual life. 

I prefer to DO. 

Daily Mass? Check. Rosary? Check. Adoration hour weekly? Check.

Now, this can be good, because the structure of the “doing” helps me to devote time to my relationship with Jesus. But it’s not how everyone experiences their faith.

There’s a great quote from a book I’ve been reading recently in adoration. It’s called Live Today Well by Fr. Thomas Dailey, and it’s about the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales.

“With so many things calling for our attention, we often run the risk of doing more than being.”

I can fall into this trap, so I need to branch out in my spiritual life to contemplation more. But I also realize that God wants me to love him in many different ways.

Did you know that the last word on Martha was not Jesus giving her a rebuke for “doing too much?” Let’s turn to John Chapter 11, the raising of Lazarus. Recall that Lazarus had died, and Jesus was not there. It was days later when he finally went to Bethany. 

And note that Martha—MARTHA!— is the one who has an amazing act of faith in Jesus and his work.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary sat at home. 

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would have not died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give to you.” 

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.”  Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?”

She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

I always feel vindicated when I read or hear this Scripture. And if I’m reading that passage aloud, I have trouble getting through Martha’s response to Jesus without crying. Martha was the one who went out to meet Jesus, and Mary stayed at home. Yay for all Marthas!

But Mary was also part of this, and even poor Lazarus. Everyone has his or her role to play, and everyone has a different way to love Jesus. 

That is one big thing that I have learned, and I would leave with you. Whatever your vocation, whether it is to married life, or to religious life, as you live as a single person, everyone will not be like you, and that is okay. 

You may be like me, a Martha, and the people closest to you may be like like a John, the beloved disciple, or a Mary, or a St. Peter, or a St. Therese, or a St. Francis. 

And of course no one is exactly like one of these saints from the past. Recognizing the differences in each other, and trying to love each other in both the way we feel more comfortable, and the way the people around you receive love best, will be a gift to them, and to your relationship.

An Action Item: Consider the Christ the King Novena

The end of the liturgical year is drawing near, and that means one of Dad’s favorite feast days in the year—Christ the King, is upon us! It is November 23 this year— before Thanksgiving. 

There is a novena to Christ the King that is traditional around this time of year. This year, the novena starts November 14, and runs through November 22. Here is a link to the novena on the USCCB website. Consider praying it!

(Also related: I am trying to encourage many to pray the St. John Paul II Novena for Healing for the upcoming surgery in our family. It starts today, November 11, and runs through November 19, the day before the surgery. Here is that novena in case you want to join in.)