We just finished reading about Saint Eloi whose (historical) feast is celebrated today. He is the patron of metalworkers and jewelers. St. Eloi, pray for us!
December 4th:
At the theatre with my little sis and a couple of my girls… Fiddler on the Roof is about to start!
The girls with Tzeitel! #meetingthecast #fiddlerontheroof #previewnight #somuchfun
December 6th:
After a fun morning at home, complete with treats from St. Nicholas on his feast day today, the boys just won their Hockey game for the first time this season! It ended up at 12 to 11, and they scored two-thirds of all the goals for their team! Our oldest scored six goals, our second scored two, and the youngest playing didn’t score any since “Nobody was passing me the puck!!!” (lol they were) It was also the first game I was able to go watch this year… They said “Mom needs to come to every game!” Happy St. Nick Day!
Touring the historic Catholic Rectory built in 1861! #catholic #victorianchristmas
Exploring downtown with their Daddy after attending a Christmas Concert! (They really enjoyed watching their piano teacher sing!)
Nutcracker Soldiers! They had such a fun night! #daddydatesarethebest
December 8th:
Enjoying the gorgeous sunset on our drive home from the woods with our Christmas Tree!
The next time we decide to buy a $5 permit and go cut down our own Christmas tree, we need to make sure we take along a tape measure!!! Our beautiful 11 FOOT tree didn’t look nearly as tall out there in the woods! #rearrangeallthefurniture
It’s a little early for us to go get our tree, but remember last year?! 🙂 The tree is all set up, but we haven’t decorated it yet. We are going to add the lights Friday night to turn on the next morning for Santa Lucia Day (Lucy means light!) and then add all our ornaments and decorations on Gaudete Sunday!
The older kids are really enjoying their literature study of A Christmas Carol! Last week they all wrote biographies on Charles Dickens and started studying some of the vocabulary. Today we discussed the characteristics of a narrative story, inferences, the setting, characters, and they started rewriting a scene from the story in their own words. They are excited to be working on a Lap Book again!
For all those who have asked: We are using most of this Lap Book. It’s pretty extensive. I’m not sure if we will be able to finish it before we go see the play on the 20th with everything else that has been going on plus two birthdays next week, but at least we’ve gotten started. I’m also reading the story aloud, we’ve listened to the audible version, and we are also incorporating this new picture book about about The Story Behind A Christmas Carol.
Did you get a big van? If so…. What did you get? :). Looks like a wonderful advent so far! Thank you for sharing. God bless
2014-12-11 02:35:44
No, we haven't yet purchased a big van yet… We are still driving our 8 passenger Toyota Sienna. If it's just the kids and I we all still fit and the rest of the time (Mass on Sunday, Hockey game, etc) we take two cars. (We took two cars up to the mountains when we were looking for a tree, but once we got to the backroads we all piled in the mini-van.) We had planned to purchase a big van by the end of this year (since I was due on January 5th) but since I miscarried we have put it off for now and spent our savings this past summer on my parent's old RV instead. Now we can go camping and on small vacations easier and, if I follow behind in the mini-van, we have seat belts for everyone! 🙂 We are still considering it though, as the boys get bigger it would sure be nice to have the extra space, but both our current cars have been paid off for years, are still running well (even if they are getting pretty old), and get such better gas mileage (everything is a drive for us where we live). It's been such a hard decision!
2014-12-11 17:16:44
Your tree brought back good memories! When our children, were small, we lived in the mountains of northern New Mexico. We always enjoyed going into the forest to get our Christmas tree. We usually drove up and looked around in the late fall and picked one out that we liked, making note of the area so we could find it again. Unfortunately, by December when we went back, the snow was usually too deep for us to be able to get in to cut it down! We always found another pretty one anyway and it was always fun family time!
2014-12-11 03:29:24
Oh my goodness I thought the name of that theatre looked familiar…. I used to live in Ashland! I'm guessing you're very near one of my favorite places in the world. (The rest of the week looks great too!)
2014-12-11 03:53:58
Your family is having fun doing so many activities together. It reminds me of when our children were younger.
2014-12-11 04:27:28
I read "A Christmas Carol" aloud to my daughters for about fifteen consecutive years as part of our Christmas tradition and realised it is a profound story: every year it seemed I would uncover a new layer of meaning and be amazed at Dickens' grasp of language, characters, and emotions. Pure gold!
2014-12-11 06:35:56
I like the recaps! You guys are busy!:)
2014-12-11 12:00:54
It's so lovely to follow your family along during Advent. It's really cheered me up as I'm off work with a virus.
2014-12-11 14:31:34
I love that you would go look for one in the late fall! What fun adventures!
2014-12-11 17:19:31
It is beautiful around here, isn't it! 🙂 How long has it been since you've lived in Ashland?! We have good friends in Ashland, including my children's tutor who happens to be here now. (Ashland, and many other towns in the area, are out of power right now due to the heavy rain/wind last night.) The play was so great! Last year we went to see The Sound of Music, which was so good too! This year I was able to get tickets for the preview night so they were only $12 each!!!
2014-12-11 17:58:38
I hope you feel better soon!!!
2014-12-11 18:00:53
I recently received the following link through a friend of mine and thought your family might enjoy it as well. It includes free printables of a traditional priest, alter server, necessary items for Mass and Benediction, including alter, candles, monstrance, tabernacle, and more. They are in black in white so kids can color them, which I thought would be great for following the liturgical year. I think only one Mass vestment is available, but I think I will print it multiple times, so the kids can make one for each liturgical color. It also includes an explanation of all pieces. It seems to be a really great set. Hope you enjoy it! We definitely are. God bless, and blessed Advent! http://www.catholicextension.org/blog/2014/10/16/…
2014-12-11 23:34:51
Good idea to do the Instagram Recaps – so much quicker and doable!! I have many posts that I have been meaning to write and I can't seem to get around to it. Recaps may allow me to finally get them done in one post!!
2014-12-11 23:51:01
I actually have that saved and have been wanting to make it with my seven year old sometime this year as we continue to prepare him for his First Holy Communion! Isn't it beautiful?! I love your idea to make one for each liturgical color!
Have you seen this one yet? It's beautiful as well: http://www.ardanziger.com/2014/04/pop-up-high-mas…
God bless you and your family!
2014-12-12 05:39:03
I had not seen that one….very nice! Thanks for the link. God bless!
2014-12-12 06:36:44
I lived there from 2009-2010 when I worked from the Shakespeare Festival =)
2014-12-13 00:20:30
What a fun job!!! My husband took me to see Pride & Prejudice at the Shakespeare Festival in 2010!
2014-12-13 08:31:08
I was on wardrobe for that show! I was backstage changing bonnets and coats!
2014-12-13 21:43:47