A Christmas Eve Chapter

Merry Christmas Eve, Readers!

If your tastes are anything like mine, I wish you all a firelit and snug sofa seat, with a mug of hot cocoa close at hand and all the presents wrapped and tucked under the tree. I wish you surrounded by loved ones and heaping helpings of food. I wish you joy and contentment on the night of the Savior’s birth.

To all Catholics: I wish you good luck finding a parking spot at Christmas Mass. I fully expect the walk from my car to be a solid half mile (Psych! Midnight Mass parking rules!).

Now that we’ve all had a laugh at the struggles of the Catholic doctrine-following masses (pun intended), I would point you toward one more element of a wholesome holiday experience: the First Annual Christmas Bonanza episode of our weekly podcast! It was just coincidence that it happened to fall on the second week of recording. The link below will whisk you off to a winter wonderland of wandering conversation that the Scarlet Witch and I hope will amuse and edify you.

Hearts for the Kingdom Podcast Episode II: “The First Annual Christmas Bonanza”

Whether you’re listening to carols or getting in some much-needed shuteye, Christmas promises to be pretty amazing. And if you’re Catholic, the season’s just getting started tomorrow! That’s right, we party until the eleventh of January, the Baptism of our Lord.

“Hallelujah!” as Handel would no doubt reiterate for us over and over (and over and over). Advent hasn’t been too full of Christmas music for me, surprisingly. In the weeks leading up to Christmas day, I normally listen to as many Christmas songs as I can, but this year I decided to wait until the season actually starts. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not some weirdo walking around with cotton stuffed in his ears, trying to avoid all the music of the season playing – somewhat prematurely – on the radio and on television, but I am coming around to the idea that full celebration mode, music included, can wait for the day of Jesus’ birth. So, this Advent, there have been no Christmas Pandora or Spotify stations and no Christmas radio in the background while I play video games. Of course, I definitely didn’t manage to keep a song or two from getting stuck in my head occasionally – that music is everywhere – but it’s not nearly the Christmas fever that typically descends musically upon me. Scarlet Witch is with me on this. I mean, it’s not as if we’ll have a dearth of days to rock out to Christmas tunes, even if we wait it out.

And we will rock out, have no doubt. Expect the next post to be peppered with Christmas song references. We might even share some of our tunage on the next podcast. We carol, you know. How well, you will have to judge for yourselves.

Have yourselves a merry little Christmas, readers.

Jollily,

Quicksilver

Visibility Issues

Ahem. Wait, where do I change the font? Pickles. I am not a blogger. Well, I guess now I am. This post serves the same function as a lighthouse. The first point of information I have been assigned to communicate is that our title decided to go all Susan Storm (or Violet if you prefer The Incredibles) and disappear. Just squint or highlight it and you can see it. I am going to pretend we did that on purpose. The next point of information is that we will be posting a new segment of our podcast every Wednesday. If it is not up, you can blame Quicksilver. I hope you are sufficiently enlightened.

-Scarlet Witch

Prologue

Once upon a time… wait. Where am I? This is not my word processor. Pardon me, readers. I seem to have somehow stumbled onto this website whilst whiling away my time whimsically writing a swell story. Looking around, it seems this site hosts a ‘weblog’ of some description.

How quaint.

Since I am here, it seems a shame not to contribute something to this unnervingly blank page. Such an omission would be comparable to a piano virtuoso forgoing a performance for his family when he comes to visit at Christmas time. Though perhaps his family is sick and tired of the sound of the ebony and ivory after so many, many hours of listening to him practice. It’s a bit of a toss-up.

Excuse me for a moment while I literally enact said toss-up.

The coin says tails. I’m interpreting that as a request for tales. So here goes.

An important anecdote comes first. I was driving down from the University of Oklahoma – where I am currently a freshman – to visit the family for Thanksgiving. My ride had several Catholic podcasts downloaded on his phone, and as he drove, we listened.

As the hosts of “The Catholic Guy Show” engaged in their witty back and forth routine, it seemed to me that the rhythm and flow of the banter was familiar. I recalled the early morning repartee between my sister and I on the drive to our high school. Then I recalled the afternoon repartee as I drove us back home after school. The similarities between the podcast and our casual car-ride conversation were too obvious to ignore.

I approached my sister with the idea of doing a weekly podcast, and she was immediately on board with the idea (Note: When approached for comment on the veracity of these events, my darling sister called me crazy, but that’s her way). One month later, we recorded our first episode. Then we just needed a place to put it. Thus, this blog was born. After extensive digging through quotes from our favorite movies, we even had a catchy name.

Now, readers, allow me to fill you in on what you can expect from us on this blog and its affiliated podcast. Suffice it to say, the tagline is accurate. My sibling and I will converse keenly about such topics as superheroes, saints, and… other things in the galaxy.

That leaves us some elbow room.

The first episode of our podcast should give you some idea of what to look forward to in the future. Pompous pseudonyms, verbal jousts, and near-constant gambling with push-ups as currency. All I can say is, ‘Enjoy.’

We have cooked up new aliases, based on a brother-sister superhero duo due to appear in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron next year. You can call me Quicksilver. My sister: the Scarlet Witch. Until we change our minds again on those names, we’re hoping they’ll stick.

Hearts for the Kingdom Podcast Episode I: “Take 1”

Readers (and listeners), we wish to extend our thanks for reading (and listening). Possibly in advance.

Godspeed,

Quicksilver