A Merry Christmas to you!
It’s the 20th year of the Quackenbush Family Experiment (Escapade?). Last year we didn’t manage to write anyone, and thought about an Easter letter but as the 4th of July came and went we gave up on that idea…
So here’s a bit for this year:
Jacinta (aka “Jake”) is our 3 year old with a perfect purity of intention even when lying to your face or hiding stolen candy behind her back (the candy problem may have something to do with the unstable state of her teeth…). She makes me believe in the innocence of children, whose angels are continuously beholding the face of God, while at the same time manifesting the alarming presence of the weaknesses left by original sin. She’s an articulate and sharp cookie, very affectionate and appreciative.
Claire, 4, is in the mold of her older siblings, inclined to the dramatic, and frequent changes of costume, designed and executed by herself with versatile style and bizarre but pleasing combinations. She’s almost 5. She likes to experiment : walking around with eyes closed, looking at things from unusual angles, inventing new mud recipes, and full of questions. She shares Jake’s pleasure in putting dolls or cats or anything really, to bed - in bags, on top of stacks of books, in buckets or boxes, with blankets ranging from wash cloths and towels to underwear and socks.
Rachel, 6, is reading and thought she wanted to be in school at the beginning of the year but has since changed her mind. It really interferes with play, and there’s so much of that needing to be done. It’s often the “pretend you’re trying to capture me, but I keep getting away and actually I’m a princess and you don’t realize it” sort of play.
Then Rosie, 8, responds with “No. I’m the princess. You’re the guy. But you don’t like me. But suddenly we run into the forest and we see the bad orphanage lady is coming…” Then I step in and say “Didn’t I just tell you two to do your chores right away and start school?” (am I the inspiration for the last part?) and off we go to another efficient day at school.
Rosie is intensely interested in everything, except chores and math. She helps teach the younger kids, and “enthusiastic” is the word for her, except when she’s mad. She and Rachel are both terrific at knitting, and love throwing balls at each other on the trampoline, arranging impromptu “balls” of the dance sort with Jake and Claire as the featured guests, and frequent tea parties (often more than once a day) .
Gemma and Margaret are also a team in a way, having completed a successful soccer season together, on the same team though Marg is much taller than Gemma, and they share a tennis class twice a week. They take an art class that has produced some beautiful results. Margie is playing the flute and Gemma the violin, with piano on the side (she loves piano but we run out of time for all the practicing). And they even get along some of the time! Margaret is also in a Shakespeare class, and has the role of Hermione in “A Winter’s Tale,” which will be performed in March.
Joseph, 13, is the tennis/x-box man, with a little acting on the side (he’s in Sheridan’s “The Rivals,” to be performed in January) and continues to have jokes and wise cracks ready for all occasions. School is a breeze for him (except that he has no interest in it whatsoever), and he’s preparing for Confirmation this spring. He’s also gotten a bit tall, with a size 13 shoe and no end in sight as our milk consumption goes beyond a gallon a day, and yet he widens not.
Madeleine, 15, is our 10th grader, extremely diligent and helpful and busy. She also rules the house, dispenses punishments, and washes all the dishes! She’s in a mime group with Protestant friends that ministers to different Protestant churches, and finds the interactions stimulating and inspiring. It’s been a help for her to focus more particularly on what Catholics believe and why. She’s taking a Hebrew class with Elizabeth up at the College, and an American government class with Mr. Ferrier that has filled her head with crazy idealistic notions (just kidding). She’s started organizing our daunting array of photos. She’d rather scrap book and listen to Christian music or musicals (the Lion King is the big fave right now) or read than almost anything else (except she’s up for just about any proposed adventure – e.g. canoeing - and definitely any fun movie).
Thomas, 16, is a junior in high school, and manages to fill his schedule so that he can’t quite squeeze in chores or cleaning his room. He’s in AP music theory, AP American history, honors math, wind ensemble (French horn), AP English and Spanish and a cappella choir. But that’s not enough work so he joined the marching band to play the glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, and go all over the place for games and competitions. But that wasn’t enough so he auditioned for the So. Cal Honor choir and performed in that and will now be in the All State Honor Choir, which performs in the spring in Sacramento. He’s also playing the part of Thomas More in “A Man for All Seasons,” with performances up ‘til almost Christmas. And since all this still left time for chores he got the lead in the spring musical “The Pajama Game.” He cantors for the 7:30 Sunday Mass, while we sing ‘back up’ (we need a name: Tom and the Quackfamily Band? Or, the Ducks in the Loft?) He was recruited to play on an exhibition team by the West Coast scout of the St. Louis Cardinals . I may have forgotten some major parts of his life - friends, for instance? - but he’s rarely here so much is guesswork.
Elizabeth, 18, is at TAC now, and reasonably happy there, despite the fact that it's more school (post-secondary or not). She has plenty of old and new friends to keep her from being a dorm-rat and spending all her time curled up with her well-loved copy of Charles Dickens' Bleak House (a book to which she accords far more reverence than is probably healthy). Predictably, she is doing excellently in her classes and expects to pull straight A’s at semester -- a fact which sometimes gets her the stigma of being a "brainiac", much to her bewilderment (isn't this supposed to be a brainiac school?). She looks forward to Christmas break to reunite with some of her best friends and share tales of freshman year at their respective colleges. She recently acquired a data entry position with a medical practice in Ojai, run by the father of one of her TAC friends, about which she is very excited.
Mr. Q. immerses himself in physics problems much of the time, as he’s taking an on-line course to supplement his teaching of the subject at TAC. He takes care of all bills and grocery shopping which means he pretty much lives at the grocery store and comes home occasionally to deliver mountains of plastic bags, but he fits in time for cooking many marvelous meals. He’s enjoying teaching much more this year and now that Elizabeth visits him daily he’s finally finding out what REALLY goes on at the College.
Mrs. Q. runs, walks and drives the household or despairs of running the household and taxis people from this or that activity and professes to be conducting a school as well, but that is mostly left to run itself. (Now that I think of myself as a manager and coordinator of schedules rather than a teacher, school goes a lot more smoothly. It’s kind of the TAC tutorial theory: the teachers are the books, the tutors are there to facilitate.)
Uncle John resides with us, though really with his beloved, ancient, well-oiled van, and provides fun and ideas and an object for the kids to harass, as well as thoughtful conversation. He’s always on the look-out for things in the community we might enjoy and would otherwise never even hear about. He’s the reason most of our trees are still living and the whole place doesn’t look like Tijuana after a drought.
We have a dog, George, whose health is going downhill; but since his main interest has always been a good horizontal rest and some scratching, it hasn’t slowed him down much. And we have a cat (Mufasa), who has grown to love George, though the feelings may not be exactly reciprocated (especially when the cat tackles his muzzle or uses his tail for batting practice). Nobody sees the guinea pig, and there are two rabbits out there, too, as a matter of fact.
That sums up the living beings at this address except one new growing human one who will emerge in May if all goes well! We have a few miscarriages to remember and pray about, but overall it’s one big fat blessing to be here doing this and I’m sure we’ll appreciate it more when it’s all past and the experiment is safely out of our hands.
Remember to be thankful for everything!
May God grace you with the joy of His Son’s birth.
Love,
All the above mentioned people.
(click on picture below to enlarge)
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