Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today My Little Helper and I went to the school Mass. I love going to school Masses ans seeing all the children in their uniforms, especially the plaid skirts. I can't wait to have children in uniforms!
It was such a nice day today so I called Ms. Mc to see if she was free to have the children meet at a park playground.
When I listened to her message after Mass I learned that unfortunately her youngest had just gone down for a nap. I decided to run a few errands since we were in the car and considered going to The Grotto since it was so nice out. When I heard back again from Ms. Mc she actually suggested that we meet later that day at The Grotto for the Festival of Lights. I agreed that it would be a perfect way to celebrate the feast day.
We met there at 4:30 because neither of us checked to see when the gates opened so we had to wait half an hour before we got in. Coincidentally the afternoon sun was replaced a rainy downpour. My son was a little apprehensive about walking through the woods at night, he's still a little worried about ghosts from Hallowe'en. I had to talk him through all the angels and images of St. Mary and St. Joseph and that this is a special, happy time as we prepare for the baby Jesus. Once we made it to the end of the path and the culmination with the giant nativity scene he was still saying it was "too scary!" Such a change from last year when we could barely pull him away from the nativity and tourists were taking pictures of him in his bee rain coat.
The first choral concert of the night as starting soon inside the church so we decided to go listen since the petting zoo wasn't quite ready yet. We heard Grant high school's acapella choir. I was surprised that they were able to sing so many religious songs, being a public school. One always hears stories about how Christians can't do anything in public schools these days. Apparently they can still sing songs about God at Christmas time, even if they can't really call it Christmas anymore.
The boys enjoyed petting the animals which included a pony, much to my son's enjoyment. It is funny, he asked if he could ride it, quite the turn around from the massive fit he pitched when we put him on one at the Oktoberfest this year. They also enjoyed a very large, soft, white bunny.
By then Ms. Mc was worried that her youngest was hitting his threshold so we went to Gustav's Bier Stube for fondue. She and I are always looking for excuses to go have fondue! The line was so long for Gustav's that we ended up getting a table at the adjacent Der Rhinelander restaurant first. She thinks it may even be a better deal because the fondue is included in the price of your meal. In any event the food was just what we needed. I had arranged for Mr. W to come meet us there for dinner after work. All in all it was a nice day.