17 Comments
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Debbie Horrocks's avatar

This was such a wonderful read and then the chickens just cracked me up. Thanks for the depth and the chuckles.

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Shannon K. Evans's avatar

Haha I like to keep a balance around here!

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Mary's avatar

Agreed! I love Catholic women who pray and play equally hard. ❤️

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Karen Degiorgis's avatar

This is so vividly beautiful.

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Shannon K. Evans's avatar

I appreciate that! It was a fun writing exercise for me.

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michael leach's avatar

Original. Thank you, Shannon.

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Shannon K. Evans's avatar

Thanks Mike!

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Caroline Beidler, MSW's avatar

Beautiful. Great way to wake up on a Saturday and refocus on beauty of the season.

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Shannon K. Evans's avatar

I also enjoy reading a good Substack in bed on Saturday mornings!

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Laura Kelly Fanucci's avatar

Gorgeous. I just love your writing, and you opened layers upon layers here.

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Shannon K. Evans's avatar

love you. thanks babe.

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Elizabeth M's avatar

I love stories retold from a different character’s viewpoint--thank you for this reimagining! I love the ordinary-ness you brought to the forefront, and the belief in love at the end: I’d never heard Mary’s “yes” phrased as a strong belief in love, and I really like that perspective. (I’d always heard it as obedience.)

At the line “How strange. Then again, everything about this idea was strange”, a core memory of mine unlocked. Growing up, my church would do a kids’ musical every Christmas, and one year we did one called “Angel Alert!” My favorite song was a lovely arrangement of “A Strange Way to Save the World”, which I later learned is a 4Him song. The musical had the angels narrate in the verses as Mary and Joseph sang the chorus as a duet, and I think the song stuck with me because I think it was the first time in my life (as a 5th/6th grader) that I saw the Christmas story described in ordinary terms, like your story today did, Shannon. I was able to find the version of the song I remember on YouTube, if children singing is up your alley: https://youtu.be/LSkHTmMjtMc?si=bJo4ahrOlD0Ltx8U

Also, the chicken photoshoot was delightful and hilariously brilliant!

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Shannon K. Evans's avatar

I've never heard that song, but it's very sweet and I absolutely love that you have a clear memory of it being an "aha!" moment for you. Such a special thing to hold onto from childhood.

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Deborah Brasket's avatar

A beautiful and wise reimagining of the Mary event in time for Christmas : how the ordinary and extraordinary are coupled and complement each other.

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Shannon K. Evans's avatar

Grateful that you spent time with it!

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Jen Baden Howard's avatar

This gave me goosebumps, so beautiful as it observes and builds up to the moment!

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Shannon K. Evans's avatar

It was a helpful practice for me. The same old stories can be hard to reimagine, but I think they're worth rehandling every year. So this was a way I could do it!

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