A Bugarin Family Thanksgiving:  I’m sure it wouldn’t come as a surprise to you that MANY people asked if we would be reading about the Bugarin Family Thanksgiving in the bulletin.  Each time I was questioned about this before Thanksgiving, I answered in the affirmative because something usually happens.  Each time I was questioned about this after Thanksgiving I would pause because amazingly nothing major happened.  What happened on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, however, will become the focus of this week’s article. 
 
But first, Thanksgiving Day itself:  I kept waiting for something to happen.  I did have a minor fight with one of the two turkeys I was preparing.  For whatever reason, even though my turkeys were placed in the refrigerator on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, I was panicking when I started to prep them on Thanksgiving morning because the cavity and all the stuff inside the cavity were still somewhat frozen.  Because it was still a bit frozen, it became a tug of war trying to remove that plastic piece that secures the legs.  Well, “Fr. Chef” here already started rinsing off the turkey so the cavity was filled with water.  And, of course, because I had to use some force to get that plastic piece off, I ended up splattering my face with “turkey stuff.”  But that was it.  I didn’t burn the turkeys.  I didn’t drop the turkeys as I carried them in their aluminum pans to the car.  The turkeys didn’t go flying around my car as I made some turns carrying the precious cargo to my sister and brother-in-law’s house.  It was a miracle.  I kept saying that something was bound to happen and I kept waiting; but it was all normal.  It was like what the Griswold family actually hoped for in the movie!  I did have a funny phone call from Jenny Wojcik while I was prepping my turkeys.  She called to remind me that M&M’s didn’t qualify as proper ingredients for stuffing!  She had me rethink my game plan for a minute.  I was amazed it was a simple, normal, delightful and uneventful Thanksgiving!  I’m still shocked!  But don’t worry; I made up for it on Saturday.
 
For whatever reason, I got into a cleaning mood on Saturday morning.  While I should have been cleaning my desk, I started with the Parish Center refrigerators and then moved on to the microwave ovens.  After that, I moved up to the Finance Office and decided to replace some incandescent lights with LED bulbs.  I had a baptism at 11:30 so I had just enough time to get these projects done.  I was having some difficulty getting this one glass globe off the ceiling but it eventually came loose.  I noticed right away that part of the rim was cracked and the inside of the globe was a bit grungy.  I found some Clorox wipes and went to town trying to clean the inside of this ceiling globe.  As I was delighting in my now clean glass globe, I decided to give it one last turn with my hand with the other hand holding down the Clorox wipe.  Suddenly I heard glass break.  Then came the pain in the hand and blood everywhere.  Yes, I cut my hand.  I was getting blood all over the place.  I was so focused on the blood now pulsating out of my finger and it dropping all over that I wasn’t thinking about holding my hand high and putting pressure on the cut.  Eventually I wised up and put pressure on the wound.  No matter what I did, it wouldn’t stop bleeding.  I looked at the cut and thought I should go to Urgent Care but I now only had 45 minutes until the baptism.  It was about this time that my sister Jackie arrived to work on a project.  I told her what happened and she asked, “Why is your hand shaking.”  I wanted to say, “Because I just lost a bunch of blood and I’m worried about ‘Ms. Blood Pathogen’ chewing me out for not suiting up properly to dispose of the bio-hazardous waste but also worried what Ms. Clean Machine would think about blood now all over her office and carpet.”  The cut was small but deep and it wouldn’t stop bleeding.  Jackie decided to get her car and drive me over to Urgent Care.  As we were driving down Mack, she asked where the Urgent Care was.  I told her to look for a cross with a red sign.  Well, the first cross with a red sign she saw was the Pet Hospital.  Needless to say, we had a good laugh over that one.  I then landed at the Grosse Pointe Urgent Care on Mack and Lochmoor.  They couldn’t have been more kind or accommodating.
 
My first problem was that I had a baptism in less than 40 minutes.  My second problem was that my hand was throbbing and I knew I needed stitches.  Thankfully, there was no one there and they took me right away.  I asked if they could wrap this up quickly because I had two babies to baptize in less than 35 minutes.  When the nurse heard my plight she yelled out the door, “We need everyone in here, he’s got two babies to baptize.”  Suddenly, it was like a trauma unit.  One nurse took my vitals.  Another prepped me for a tetanus shot.  The doctor came in with a PA in training, cleaned the wound and started to stitch it up.  I was glad I could multi-task because I was answering everyone’s questions on cue.  Fifteen minutes later, I was out the door and waiting for my sister who was hovering around the Pancake House parking lot waiting to take me back.  By the grace of God it all worked out and those two babies were baptized as scheduled. I knew I would have my Griswold moment at some point.  Next time, however, I’ll know better to skip the impromptu cleaning impulses on Thanksgiving weekend and just stick to cleaning my desk (ahh, let me think about that again).  I also have to remember that glass usually wins no matter how big or tall you are!  Even Clark Griswold knows that!!
 
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception: A Holy Day of Obligation:  Please remember that Saturday is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation.  A Vigil mass will be celebrated on Friday evening at 7:00 p.m.   On Saturday we will have our usual 8:30 a.m. mass.  There is also a 1:00 p.m. wedding that day that you could attend that would fulfill your holy day obligation (the liturgy for the Holy Day will be celebrated).
 
Enjoy the week.  Know of my prayers.  Happy Advent!
 
In Christ,
 
gmb
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