Holy Thursday

 It was a great day today.  Something about Holy Thursday always makes me excited.  Probably the end of Lent has a lot to do with it.  Inspired by the new season, I changed all of the sheets on the bed and actually looked up how to fold a fitted sheet.  Not that hard it turns out...though, mine are quite a bit more lumpy than Nana's.  But, way better than the alternate way I normally put fitted sheets away.

Then, Molly and I made a flourless chocolate cake.  I lost Molly's assistance as soon as the dark chocolate came out.  She was too busy testing every single chip for the level of excellence my baking demands.  After this, the boys assisted me in tidying up the kitchen, living room, and Florida Room. And while John took the longest nap he's taken (nearly 4 hours), I was able to set the table lovingly (I wish I had taken a picture.  I kept hearing my mom's voice saying:  The end of education is gracious living.  I mean, I had cut flowers, a candle,  our wedding china, matching cloth napkins...the works!) and try my hand at a new recipe that Dom gave a 99% (high praise, a meal I made earlier in the week got a 30% and Dom got the 'Thumper' lecture).

After dinner, we went to Mass which I thought was wonderful, especially as we missed last year's Holy Thursday Mass due to having a 6 day old in the house.  However, Will felt it went on the long side (his estimate was 50 hours).  One story from Mass.  At one point as the Deacon incensed the altar as well as Fr. Bob, Dom asked why he was throwing smoke at the priest.  I gave a poor explanation which Dom accepted, because he is Dom and not Will.  But, clearly his mind had jumped to something way better.  His next question:  When does the priest throw water on us?  He is referring to the next several Sundays (during the Easter season) when the priest goes around sprinkling the congregation with Holy Water.  Easter Sunday is the absolute best time.  Some priests use branches and really can get you wet.  The boys eyes just light up when this happens and I believe it is the biggest selling point for a priestly vocation for their particular demographic.  I love that Dom is remembering more and more of the liturgy from year to year.

One change this year was that our church went back to only having the priest wash the feet of a few members of our church instead of doing a communal foot washing.  The boys were a little disappointed to not get their feet washed, but we had started a tradition a few years ago to do our own foot washing at home.  They all enjoyed it, but my favorite part was when it was John's turn to have his feet washed.  All three kids wanted to do it.  John, of course, was thrilled (WATER!!).  It was one of the moments as a mom that your eyes well up and you can't believe how lucky you are.   Naturally, I stopped everything to make sure we got a picture.  A much better memory than a prettily set table.