Advent begins two weeks from today! This weekend I spent a little time sorting through our Christmas books to fill this year's Advent Book Basket. I love that Christmas falls on a Sunday this year and we will all be able to enjoy FOUR COMPLETE WEEKS of...
New Christmas Books for the Feast of St. Nicholas
Every year on December 6th, the feast of St. Nicholas, our children wake up to find new slippers (or sometimes as new pair of shoes for winter) filled with treats and chocolate gold coins (last year the bags from Trader Joe's worked perfectly so I picked up...
Our 2015 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels {and a Christmas Mosaic Giveaway!}
Last year I had trouble finding the usual purple and pink wrapping paper at our local stores and ended up wrapping our Advent books, for our annual Christmas countdown, in simple (and easy to find!) brown paper, adding labels I created for each day. I loved how they...
Our 2014 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels
I finally gave up looking for purple wrapping paper and wrapped all the books for our Advent Book Basket in brown paper since I had plenty... It's the first year I haven't been able to find the purple paper locally and I couldn't bring myself to order it online... I...
Our 2013 Advent & Christmas Book Baskets
Note: Our updated Advent & Christmas Picture Book Collection can be found here. We love books. We love Advent and Christmas. We love books about Advent and Christmas! We started our Christmas book collection in 2000, following the birth of our oldest son, and...
This Year’s Advent & Christmas Book Baskets {with a little peek at our plans!}
I hope you all had a blessed first Sunday of Advent! Our day was beautiful and peaceful, despite the excessively rainy weather, flood warnings, and Captain coming down with an awful stomach virus... We made the best of it and (thankfully) by the end of the day...
Preparing for Advent :: Book Baskets
Our picture books are all wrapped, despite running out of the dark purple paper and having to finish up with light purple rather than making another trip to the store! There is one wrapped for each day of Advent, with the remaining books placed in additional...
This Year’s Advent and Christmas Book Baskets
The problem with giving our children new Christmas picture books on the feast of St. Nicholas each year (in addition to the other books we've purchased or have been given) is that, after 11 years of marriage and 6 children, we have a ridiculous number wonderful...
Our Picture Books for Advent & Christmas
A couple weeks ago I pulled out all of our Christmas picture books and ordered a few new ones to add to our collection this year! My plan was to wrap them up and read one each day during the Advent and Christmas season. Well, I never did have a chance to find purple...
Prayer of Mothers
Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.