Ever since Catholic Girlie decided to join the city-wide elementary strings orchestra, my whole ‘day of rest’ thing has taken a backseat to providing taxi and refreshment service. Which is fine. Who can complain about free entertainment on early weekend mornings until the orchestra actually hits the stage, right? Not me. These kids are really good. And so what if bathroom cleaning falls on Sundays for a few weeks. It’s kind of a nice trade-off that I can live with.

Only, hold on just one minute…

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Every year, the Catholic Family and I keep tabs on Santa’s whereabouts as he delivers presents across the globe by way of NORAD’S Santa Tracker. But holy smokes, are we in for a treat this year after major updates to the tracker site. Much to our surprise, NORAD added Google Earth technology, which amounts to 3-D tracking of Santa. Sweet!

If you have absolutely no idea of what I’m talking about, first go here to NORAD’s tracking sight, then go here to download Google Earth, and finally go here to get the Santa Tracker local to your desktop. Missed some of Santa’s stops? No problem! NORAD posts video of Santa’s delivery sites on YouTube here.

Christmas just gets better & better every year.

Von Maur at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska will reopen tomorrow. After much cleanup of the memorials and at least one ceremony that I know of outside of the department store, business will return as usual. I don’t know about you, but this has been a hard tragedy to swallow… especially one so close to the holidays.

Be well everyone. Hug your loved ones and tell them that you love them every single day. It matters more than you know.

Today my daughter and I made our way to Westroads Mall to visit the memorial outside of Von Maur where the tragic shooting incident occurred. The constant stream of onlookers who passed by on foot or via car made the whole event seem surreal. Photos of the victims printed on personal notes and prayers alongside stuffed animals, flowers, bells, and engraved stones decorated the store entrance, the one that is closed to all shoppers until the ‘crime scene’ has been fully investigated. Such outpouring of faith is unfathomable… my God, how can we possibly go on without it?