A joyful welcome and big congratulations to Rachna Lien and Suzanne Cochran, who become Catholic this weekend and receive the sacraments at our 10 a.m. Mass on December 24! May Jesus always keep your hearts afire with his love! We are looking forward to seeing the Holy Spirit work through you in 2024! 

Everyone’s invited to join us for our Feast of St. Stephen celebration on Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. We’ll have a special Mass at 8 a.m. in St. Stephen Protomartyr Church with music by our Seasonal Choir. (No 6:30 a.m. Mass at St. John the Baptist that day.) Then, the fun continues at 2 p.m. Bring the puzzles, treats, toys, and most of all, board games that you got at Christmas to the SSP Parish Hall for a big party! We’ll have fun together till 5 p.m. It’s really informal, so you can arrive when you like and go when you need to. I’ll have some drinks and snacks available, and feel free to bring your own, too. Since this is a kid-friendly event, we invite you to save your

Finally, I wanted to share with you some of the Nord family Christmas traditions. Everyone got three presents in our house, two little ones and one big one, from Mom and Dad, not from Santa. Although, we did have cookies out for Santa and oatmeal out for his reindeer on Christmas Eve which were mysteriously eaten by Christmas morning. For many years, my siblings and I would also give each other presents on Christmas Eve. The timing has started to change a little now, but with so many siblings, there are still lots of presents going around. Christmas Eve dinner is crackers, cheese, sausage, cookies, and eggnog. Some of our other favorite Christmas treats are lefsa and baklava! And before you open any presents, there’s the Mom Speech. Mom started this tradition for reasons that you can guess, and even though now it embarrasses her, we still make her give the speech every year.

“People give you presents because they love you. So even if you don’t like the present, you still have to say thank you and give them a hug!” Amen. Good job, Mom, teaching us this and so much more.

Sisters and brothers, God our Father also gives us presents because he loves us, and through the Holy Spirit, the greatest gift of all, Jesus. Truly born in Bethlehem, he suffered for us on the cross, and on the third day, rose from the dead. Truly present in the Eucharist, he desires to spend each day with us, and one day, to be happy with us forever in Heaven. May God bless you! Happy 4th Sunday of Advent, and soon, Merry Christmas!