{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: Christkindl
Last month I ordered a sweet little Christkindl ornament on ebay (like this one – thank you Cheryl for the suggestion!) and placed her in the middle of a bowl with everyones names listed on a piece of paper.
I folded Snuggles and Roses’ names slightly different and they conveniently choose each other, and Bud will help me! Sean* & I and the four oldest children all drew each others names and everyone is dying to find out who has who! It was so fun to watch everyone’s reactions!
(*Sean used his real name in the comments of his Twenty Favorite Movies post, so does that mean I can now too? I’ll have to ask him! 😉 I’ve always felt funny calling him “Hubby” and he hasn’t liked it either, but it’s hard to change nicknames on blogs… just ask Snuggles! Speaking of him, maybe Slugger would be a good alternative as he gets older, and not so snuggly! lol)
When Snuggles asked his Dad to read his to him (Sean will help Snuggles and I will help Rose) his reaction was hysterical! He said “NOOO!! NO! NO! NOOO!!!!” before covering his mouth and dropping to the floor. Sean later figured out that he thought his NAME CHANGED to that persons for all of Advent and that HE HAD TO BE THEM until Christmas.. No, Snuggles, you just have to pray and do nice things for that person – which will be just as hard, considering that person is “sweet” little Rose! lol
After we drew names, we went back to the living room to open up the new Advent gifts for this year! Isn’t the apron gorgeous!? I {big puffy heart} love it! I’m headed to the kitchen now to put it on and bake some St. Nicholas Cookies with the kids, using the recipe in the back of The Baker’s Dozen, while we listen to our new favorite Advent CD.
I’m also really impressed with the progress that has been made on the new puzzle this year. I might have to take it apart when they are finished and start over so that I can have a chance to work on some of it! 🙂
Precious Moments :: Adding the First Ornaments…
Lighting our Advent Wreath on the First Sunday of Advent
This Year’s Advent & Christmas Book Baskets {with a little peek at our plans!}
Our collection has grown so much over the past years, and I was having such a hard time choosing books to wrap! How was I going to decide which ones to focus on this year?!? I finally gave up and asked all the kids to choose four favorites each off the shelf and bring them to me… They were all very excited and I ended up with a nice big stack of 25 books, since someone (Rose) apparently snuck in an extra!
Note: The ones marked with an * are the ones that I choose for this year, and the books listed in bold are new additions to our collection that I’ve purchased on sale here and there, including a few new ones on Black Friday…
December 2 (First Sunday of Advent) ~ Waiting for Christmas: A Story about the Advent Calendar
*Decorate for Advent with Advent Calendars, Advent Wreath, Jesse Tree, etc… Set out Manger for Baby Jesus and all of our Christmas Books. Bless the Advent Wreath during nighttime prayers. Choose names for Christkindl!
December 3 ~ The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey with CD: Gift Edition
*Celebrate the Feast of St. Francis Xavier
December 4 ~ The Christmas Cobwebs
December 5 ~ The Baker’s Dozen: A St. Nicholas Tale
*Bake St. Nicholas Cookies (We will probably try the recipe in the book this year!)
December 6 (Feast of St. Nicholas) ~ The Miracle of Saint Nicholas
*Celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas
December 7 (Feast of St. Ambrose) ~ The Little Fir Tree
*Decorate our Christ Candle for Christmas
December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) ~ *Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree
*Cut Down Christmas Tree after Mass
December 9 (Second Sunday of Advent) ~ *Our Lady of Guadalupe (pop-up)
* Feast of St. Juan Diego; possibly have our Our Lady of Guadalupe Tea
December 10 (Feast of Our Lady of Loreto) ~ An Orange for Frankie
December 11 ~ Cobweb Christmas: The Tradition of Tinsel
December 12 (Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe) ~ The Legend of the Christmas Rose
*Begin Christmas Rose Novena
December 13 (Feast of St. Lucy) ~ Lucia, Saint of Light
*Celebrate the Feast of St. Lucy
December 14 ~ Waiting for Noel: An Advent Story
December 15 (Rose’s Birthday) ~ *The Mitten 20th Anniversary Edition
* Birthday Party for Rose!
December 16 (Gaudete Sunday) ~ The Night of Las Posadas
December 17 ~ The Miraculous Child: A Christmas Folktale from Old Russia
*O Wisdom… (View all our O Antiphon Plans here.)
December 18 ~ Home for Christmas
*O Adonai, and Ruler of the House…
December 19 (Bud’s Birthday) ~ *Snowman at Night
*Birthday Party for Bud!
*O Root of Jesse…
December 20 ~ The Gift of the Christmas Cookie: Sharing the True Meaning of Jesus’ Birth
*Bake Cookies for Christmas to give as gifts
*O Key of David – Key Lime Pie and Sparkling Drinks with Dinner
December 21 ~ One Christmas Dawn
*O Dayspring… Hot Cocoa in thermoses and drive around to see Christmas lights in town after dark, then head to friends home for a Christmas Yule Party!
December 22 ~ *The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher
*Bake and Decorate Cut-out Cookies.
*O King of the Gentiles…
December 23 (Fourth Sunday of Advent) ~ The Donkey’s Dream
*Bake Starlight Cookies
*O Emmanuel…
December 24 (Christmas Eve) ~ *A Christmas Manger (Punch-out-and-play Books)
*Gingerbread House Decorating Party and Midnight Mass
The following are wrapped in gold paper for the 12 Days of Christmas:
December 25 (Christmas Day) ~ The Nativity by Ruth Sanderson
December 26 (Feast of St. Stephen) ~ *Good King Wenceslas (pub. 2012)
December 27 (Feast of St. John the Apostle) ~ Stephen’s Feast
December 28 (Feast of the Holy Innocents) ~ Angela and the Baby Jesus
December 29 (St. Thomas Becket) ~ *S is for Star: A Christmas Alphabet
December 30 ~ Mortimer’s Christmas Manger
December 31 ~ The Little Match Girl
January 1 (Feast of the Circumcision) ~ *Who’s Hiding: A Christmas Lift the Flap
January 2 ~ Mary Engelbreit’s Nutcracker
January 3 ~ Christmas in the Barn
January 4 ~ *The Third Gift (I ended up changing my mind and adding this here, getting this new Our Lady of Guadalupe book instead. The Third Gift looks wonderful, I just wanted something a little more “girly” for her and this books looks perfect for our little Chiquita!)
January 5 ~ The Last Straw
January 6 (Feast of Epiphany) ~ *Babushka and the Three Kings
Advent and Christmas Chapter Books:
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Chronicle
Destination: Bethlehem
The Catholic Christmas Book of Cherished Christmas Customs
The Story of Holly and Ivy
The Thirteen Days of Christmas
The Trees Kneel at Christmas
Early Advent:
Advent Storybook: 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas
The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas, An Austin Family Story
Feast of St. Nicholas:
A Gift from St. Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
St. Nicholas: A Closer Look at Christmas
The Church Mouse of Saint Nicholas
The Legend of Saint Nicholas
The Real Santa Claus: Legends of Saint Nicholas
Feast of the Immaculate Conception:
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Feasts of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe:
Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe(Coloring Book)
The Lady of Guadalupe
The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe Empress of the Americas
Feast of St. Lucia:
Bells of Santa Lucia
Hanna’s Christmas
Kirsten’s Surprise: A Christmas Story
Lucia Morning in Sweden
Lucia, Child of Light: The History And Traditions of Sweden’s Lucia Celebration
The Christmas Story:
All for the Newborn Baby
Bethlehem
Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers
Christmas in the Barn
Christmas Night Fair and Bright
Father and Son: A Nativity Story
Little Star
One Winter’s Night
The Birds of Bethlehem
The Christmas Bell
The Christmas Bird
The First Christmas
The Stable Where Jesus Was Born
The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale
The Very First Christmas
There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve
Christmas Books Inspired by Music:
Good King Wenceslas
O Holy Night
The Huron Carol
Christmas Around the World:
Baboushka: A Christmas Folktale from Russia
Christmas Around the World
Marta and the Manger Straw: A Christmas Tradition form Poland
Pablo’s Christmas
Historical Christmas Books:
An Early American Christmas
Christmas in the Trenches
A Small Miracle
Night Tree
On Christmas Eve
Saint Francis and the Christmas Donkey
Santa’s Favorite Story
Shoemaker Martin
The Christmas Candle
Golfer’s Night Before Christmas , A
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas:
Twelve Days of Christmas Stained Glass Coloring Book
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Feast of Epiphany:
We Three Kings
And a Basket of Board Books for our Littlest Ones:
Who Is Coming to Our House?
Christmas in the Manger
The Legend Of The Three Trees – Board Book
Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend
Touch and Feel Baby Jesus Is Born
The Best Christmas Story (Hide-Away Books)
The Christmas Story Board Book
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Saving Name of God the Son
A Guest Post from Bud, a Fundraiser, and a Quiltie Giveaway!
A Few More Jesse Tree Resources and a Link-Up!
In addition to the excellent Catholic lessons included, I love the copywork pages that are scattered throughout the book, including the pages for the O Antiphons! I’ll be printing out copies of these for my children to complete this year, in addition to our O Antiphon treats and activities. Update: Unfortunately this book is no longer available.
Do your family traditions for Advent include a Jesse Tree? Did you make your own Jesse Tree and/or Ornaments this year? Or did you perhaps participate in a Jesse Tree Swap? I’d love to see pictures!
Last year I hosted an Advent Link-Up for everyone to share their Favorite Advent and Christmas Books. This year I thought it would be fun to host a link-up for everyone to share their Jesse Trees! Please add a link to your Jesse Tree blog post below, and be sure to share the link to this post so that everyone can find the link-up.
I’ll get it started with a few of my own past Jesse Tree posts! 🙂 This link-up will remain open throughout Advent, so be sure to take some pictures over the next few weeks to share!
Celebrating the Feast of St. Andrew
On the Feast of St. Andrew
Last year beginning on November 30th, the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, I prayed the St. Andrew Christmas Novena. If this novena was a traditional nine-day novena, it would end on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. However, this novena is actually prayed much longer. It is prayed throughout all four weeks of Advent! “It is piously believed that whoever recites the St. Andrew Christmas prayer fifteen times each day from the feast of St. Andrew until Christmas day will obtain the favor requested.”
You can find a beautiful printable Holy Card with the novena over at JOYfilled Family. (I just finished printing them out and laminating one for each of us for this year.)
I’ve been flipping through my cookbooks and looking for ways to celebrate this feast, and have tucked aways a few ideas that I’d like to try someday. (A heart shaped waffle maker to make Andreasherzen is definitely going on my wish list!) However, this year, we are keeping it simple and going with Mary’s Fishers of Men Snack. It is perfect for our pretzel rod loving little man! (Update: I posted a few pictures here.)
Preparing for Advent :: O Antiphon Gifts
Ever since our oldest children were very little, we have been implementing an old monastic custom in our home of providing special treats, representing each of the “O Antiphons,” on the days leading up to Christmas. Each night, after our family rosary, we pray the O Antiphon for the day, sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel (which was inspired by this ancient tradition), and then give the children a special treat. Some years it has been little gifts for the family, some years it is all food related, and some years it is a mix of both. You can see some of my past posts from 2007-2011 by scrolling through the archives and visiting Catholic Cuisine.
The picture above is from last year, but I have this year’s gifts set aside or ordered, and I plan to wrap them soon (in gold wrapping paper for these “Golden Nights”), attaching the various O Antiphon Ornaments from Jesse Tree Treasures to each package. We’ll pull out our O Antiphon House and (since I don’t have any plans to deliver a baby this Advent!) I will probably include some extra treats at mealtimes as well.
The Benedictine monks arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. If one starts with the last title and takes the first letter of each one – Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia – the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for in Advent and whom we have addressed in these seven Messianic titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.” So the “O Antiphons” not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but bring it to a joyful conclusion.
The O Antiphon Prayers begin on December 17th and end on the 23rd, which is the last Vespers of Advent, since the evening prayer on the 24th is the Vigil of Christmas. Our family just loves this little tradition, and it is such a fun way to teach the children about these beautiful prayers of the church and also increase their excitement as Christmas gets closer! Here are the treats that I choose for this year:
Since the symbol for wisdom is a book, I often choose a new Catholic Book for our family. This year I happened to run across this beautifully illustrated book at our local Catholic Book Store. I’ve been saving it for a special occasion and plan to wrap it up for the first of the O Antiphons this year!
In past years we have given the children Around the Year: Once Upon a Time Saints, the beautiful A Catholic Child’s Picture Dictionar, Novena: The Power of Prayer, new children’s prayer books for Mass, and a craft kit to make Christmas Bookmarks.
We usually emphasize the word “house” in this Antiphon, and have made our Gingerbread Houses or Gingerbread Cookies on this night. We have given the kids a fun new Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter, Gingerbread Houses and Mini Village Kits. We have also roasted marshmallows over a fire, drawing from the reference to “Moses in the burning bush.”
This year I totally am streaching it and giving the kids the Little House on the Prairie DVD. My husband had bought it for me when it first came out (it was $29 back then and now it’s only $4.99!!) and we all enjoyed it so much! Years ago we lost one of the (two) DVD’s and it’s just not the same watching only half the movie. The kids are going to be so excited!
I couldn’t decide between this set of 12 Red Glitter Poinsettia Ornaments and Miracle of the Poinsettia, so I ended up purchasing both (and wrapping them together) for this year’s O Root of Jesse Antiphon gift.
In the past I have purchased our Poinsettia Plant for Christmas, new books including The Legend of the Poinsettia and The Miracle of the First Poinsettia, baked Poinsettia Cupcakes, made recipes with root vegetables including Hearty Beef Stew and Carrot Cake, given the kids Old Fashioned Root Beer Drops or served Root Beer.
Since this is initially a monastic tradition, and on this night, the monk in charge of the wine cellar would provide a special bottle of wine. We usually always serve a special drink with dinner. Sometimes I also serve a Key Lime Pie as well! Last year I purchased a couple key hook rails from Target to use to hang our Rosaries!
This year Charlotte almost talked my into buying this awesome puzzle, but since I had already purchased Key Puzzle/Brainteaser!
I love wooden stacking toys!!! And I think the kids do too! 😉 We already have the Rainbow, Fire, Water Waves, Stone Cave, and the Little Flower Wooden Stacker. Rose will be receiving the Wooden Fairy Tale Village and Bud will be receiving the Stacking Birds for either Christmas or on their birthdays! When I ran across this set of blocks, I immediately thought it would be a perfect gift for this O Antiphon!
Other past ideas include a surprise trip to town (complete with mugs of Cocoa) to view Christmas Lights, decorating our own house or tree with Christmas lights, eating “O Dayspring Ice Cream,” and adding the Kurt Adler 10-Light Candle with Gold Dish Light Set to our Christmas Tree!
Earlier this year I finally ordered one of the beautiful sets of Three Kings Gifts! Every Christmas the kids put together a Christmas Play for their Daddy & I, and these will make such a fun and beautiful addition to their usual props! .: December 23rd :.
For the last of this year’s O Antiphons I ended up purchasing the beautiful 500-Piece Stained Glass Jigsaw Puzzle.
In the past the children have been given special Holy Cards or Coloring Books, including the beautiful Eucharistic Adoration: With Saints And Symbols Of The Eucharist Coloring book, added various Children’s Nativity Sets to our collection, made a Chocolate Nativity Scene, and received the Holy Family Puzzle with a lovely embroidered Mass bag from Catholic Embroidery.
A Little Golden Books Baby Shower
Last night we had a Baby Shower for my dear friend Trina who is due on December 1st with her 8th child! (Her SIXTH boy in a row, after two girls!) We had the shower at my friend Kristin’s home (the same friend who also hosted Our Little Man’s Baby Shower!) and as always she decorated her home as cute as can be! It was so much fun and I have a ton of pictures to share with you all!
Here is a peek at the invitation I mailed out, minus a few of the details. Inspired by this invitation, but not having the time for a lot of assembling and wanting more than just a printable to write the details on, I ended up making my own using this background picture and adding the text that I wanted to include. I printed them on card stock, adding all the details on the back of the card.
Note to self: Next time be sure to add “turn over for details” or something along those lines! Most people didn’t turn over the card until someone mentioned it to them. Also, it’s not the best idea to address the envelopes at 2am… You might end up sending someone two invitations, while neglecting to send that same person’s daughter and granddaughter their invitation. Whoops! Thankfully they figured it out, and everyone made it to the shower!
As you can see on the invitation, one of the things we asked our guests to do was “bring a book instead of a card!” Surprisingly, despite the huge collection of books that Trina already has for her (homeschooled) children, she only received one duplicate! I was going to give her a copy of The Blueberry Pie Elf or One Morning in Maine (my two favorite childhood picture books, which my Dad would always read to us!) but I ended up deciding on a a copy of My Golden Children’s Bible – it matched our “Golden” theme after all.
Also, since Trina wasn’t in need of any large baby items we decided to collect money to give her for a little house cleaning help! Her youngest son, who is two, has been in a lower body cast (he broke his femur in October) and it’s been a difficult last trimester, to say the least! (Her little guy should hopefully be getting his cast off this week, and her due date is Saturday!)
Kristi made the cutest little picture book garland and had picture books everywhere! She has quite the collection!!! It all looked so adorable!
I printed out a Children’s Book Scramble that I ran across online! Oh my goodness, what a FUN game! We ended up having two women tie with 13 correct answers. How many of the real titles can you figure out?
1. Emerald Yolky Food With Accompanying Pig Product
2. Evening Salutations to the Celestial Orb
3. Soft Cotton Bunny Toy
4. Trifecta of Minute Swine
5. Pretty Girl Slumbering
6. Unsightly Aquatic Bird
7. Which Female Cares for Me?
8. Brunette Furry Mammal, Brunette Furry Mammal, I Ask About Your Observations
9. Locale of the Concrete Walkway’s Termination
10. Be Off Canine, Be Off
11. Famished Butterfly Predecessor
12. Fedora Wearing Feline
13. Locale of the Untamed Creatures
14. A Breeze Blowing Through the Salix Trees
We also had everyone write their favorite picture book on a slip of paper and Trina had to try and guess whose was whose as she opened her gifts – with a prize for the first correct guess! It was so interesting, and I have a few new books that I want to check out! And everyone that brought diapers or wipes was entered into a raffle for a prize. (Kristi provided all the prizes, and wrapped them up so CUTE and coordinated with the theme!)
Kristi made cute little bookmarks for everyone, in addition to decorating bottles of hand sanitizer for everyone to take home as party favors!
My girls were very excited to be able to attend the shower!
Please say an extra prayer for a safe delivery and healthy baby!
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