Which way do we go?
By this point, I was having a lot of fun. We had at least stopped by four churches already, and everyone was enjoying the restfulness of it all. Since it was three, we decided that it was a good time to get some dessert. Thanks to two different cell phones, we found a couple that sounded interesting and that weren't that far. I found a Russian dessert place called Cinderella, and Nico found another place called the Toy Box. Both sounded interesting and were about the same distance, so we headed off. It didn't take us long to arrive, but when we got to Cinderella, we were a little disappointed. Maria's comment was, "I can get everything they have in Modesto." I was a little disappointed ("But these are Russian!"). The Toy Box wasn't much better. They had ice cream and a lot of toys: more for little kids, not us. Finally, Maria said, "We used to go to Fenton's. Why don't we go there?"
Just so you realize, we haven't been to Fenton's in over 20 years and almost never stop in Oakland on the way home. Why Maria would suggest Fenton's, I still don't know, but you'll see later that she was inspired.
Just so you realize, we haven't been to Fenton's in over 20 years and almost never stop in Oakland on the way home. Why Maria would suggest Fenton's, I still don't know, but you'll see later that she was inspired.
Looking around where we were, I noticed that we weren't really that far from Star of the Sea, Father Joseph Illo's parish. We had called him earlier to see if he had time to connect, but didn't get a response. (Actually, he didn't call back until the next day and from Los Angeles.) We thought we might as well stop and see if we ran into him. Unfortunately, since he was out of town, that wasn't possible. We were able to stop by and visit his parish, however, something Nico never had done before.
As we walked around, admiring the beauty of the church, I noticed something with the nativity set. Most parishes have a set (I actually helped set up ours at St. Joseph's) which includes the three kings. While setting up ours the weekend before Christmas, I asked, "Why are we putting the kings in the middle, if they don't arrive until the Epiphany?"
It seemed to make more sense to have the kings moving a little bit closer to the manger each day. Unfortunately, my idea was shut down. Every other parish that we had visited (St. Stan's and those in San Francisco) had the same. Imagine how happy I was to see that Father Joseph had the kings away from the manger, coming from an easterly direction, and obviously journeying closer! I might have to insist more if I help set up next year.
As we walked around, admiring the beauty of the church, I noticed something with the nativity set. Most parishes have a set (I actually helped set up ours at St. Joseph's) which includes the three kings. While setting up ours the weekend before Christmas, I asked, "Why are we putting the kings in the middle, if they don't arrive until the Epiphany?"
It seemed to make more sense to have the kings moving a little bit closer to the manger each day. Unfortunately, my idea was shut down. Every other parish that we had visited (St. Stan's and those in San Francisco) had the same. Imagine how happy I was to see that Father Joseph had the kings away from the manger, coming from an easterly direction, and obviously journeying closer! I might have to insist more if I help set up next year.