Patron Saint against lightening.

I have continued to read about the saints and am really touched by a story from time to time. 

Most of you have probably heard and know something about St. Thomas Aquinas.  St. Thomas is known for his intelligence, his prolific writing on all things theological and even his composition -- he wrote hymns that are still sung today by Catholics all over the world (Tantum Ergo Sacramentum to name one).  I have never found him a "relatable" Saint until I read this story:

Thomas grew up in a noble family an lived in a castle as a child.  The nursery was in a room in the castle tower.  When Thomas was about 5, a violent storm hit and lightening struck the tower hitting the nursery room where he slept with his baby sister.  His sister was killed.  Thomas never forgot the terror of that night.  For the rest of his life, at the first sign of a thunder storm, he would hurry to a church or chapel where he would remain, frightened and praying, until the storm passed. 

Doesn't that make him seem so much more human?  Because of this, St. Thomas is invoked as the patron Saint against lightening strikes.

Whether we can weather the weather

Everyone is talking about the weather today.  Can't blame them as many of my FaceBook contacts are dealing with heavy snow falls and we are expecting some of the lowest recorded temperatures in memory.  Here in Columbus, O, the temperature has still not reached the freezing mark, so we are still getting rain.  I would much rather have the heavy snow.  With the temperature expected to be below zero by morning, can we expect anything else but that the whole world (or our part of it, at least) will be encased in ice before I head out for work in the morning? 

I have already taken the following precautions:  I have put a laminated card (a Holy card of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, to be exact) in the car door between the rubber seal and the metal in the hope that this will help me to break through the icy seal and get into my car in the morning.  I have packed my lunch (nothing that needs refrigerating . . . however it just occurred to me that, if I did pack something that needed to stay cold, I could just leave it in the car overnight!  I have laid out my clothes for the morning (corduroys and a sweater).  I am even considering setting my alarm 1/2 hour earlier and/or showering tonight.  I fully expect that it will take me a considerable time to warm up the car (if I can get into the car) in the morning as well as needing extra time to get to work on icy roads with any deicer that the city puts down not able to work at the extreme low temps. 

I am beginning to think that I should have taken Monday & Tuesday off this week rather than Thursday and Friday.

On the eighth day of Christmas . . .

I am giving you 8 Christmas pictures!  Someone must have fixed something somewhere.  It is the first time in months that I have been able to upload pictures to Blogger!

Grandpa with Baby Tony.

Grandma with two babies . . .

and Donna with two babies.

Tree!

Santa Matt.

Simon is a true 'Meyer', he can read anywhere!

Love the hats, but why did I not get the gene to look good in hats?

The Meyer aunts and uncles.