Today was the annual Christmas Children's Mass at school. Apparently, there's a children's Mass every month, where the students file in and attend this special event. But today was different.

Today, the students of the First Grade class provided an extra special show for their fellow students and parents as well. We got to experience a full-on living Nativity scene, including angels, animals, stars, and of course, Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The students dressed up as all of these characers, and guided by their teachers, put on quite the show, reading the various readings, leading the various responsive sing-a-long readings (complete with upraised hands imploring the congregation to join in), and bowing to the altar.

Alex was an angel (officially) and read a piece of one reading. His friend Melissa was a cow, and she carried up the gifts. Other students were camels, one even had a hump.

The whole thing was a glorious testament to the wonders of Christmas. I'm sincerely glad I blew off some work time to see it.

We were invited by our dear friend Dominique Mintz to a holiday celebration at the Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. It was a most enjoyable afternoon, the first time I ever met more than a single nun in one sitting. We drove around Fremont, looking for a modest sort of building, and finally realized that the Motherhouse was like the Mother Ship, the largest and oldest building on the grounds. Later, as I sat to write this, I learned that Motherhouse is one word.

We were greeted by several Sisters and eventually introduced to the Prioress General, Sister Rose Marie Hennessy, the only person I have ever met with such a cool title. Sister Rose Marie gave a nice talk about the Circles of Caring capital campaign, which is being used to retrofit and upgrade the chapel and elder care center for the Sisters. We got a tour of the still-being-renovated facility, which was dusty, but clearly a great work in progress.

The Sisters tend several hundred olive trees on their property, which they also harvest to make olive oil. We tasted some of the extremely low acid oil and found it quite fruity and nice. We were happy to be able to take some home with us after making a small donation to the cause. I feel like we've got a little holy water stashed away in the pantry.

On the way there, Alex asked another of his penetrating questions:

"Why aren't nuns allowed to have children? You know it's not something they can control because God decides if you're going to have children."

None of the nuns offered any better explanation...

Here's an interesting dialogue on the source of all human existence:

Annie: How does Jesus make you?
Alex: He has miracles.
Annie: What are miracles?
Alex: They're like powers.
Annie: How does he stick on the skin?
Alex: He has sticky powers.
Annie: What are sticky powers?
Alex: They're like glue.
Annie: What kind of glue?
Alex: People glue.

You just can't make this stuff up...

Alex's most perceptive observation of today:

Are the Flintstones and the Jetsons cousins?

It's an impressive question, especially considering how little TV our kids watch. Here's the best Hanna Barbera site I could find, so you can see who else are Fred and George's cousins.