My Daybook :: December 11, 2012
Outside my window…
The weather has been all over the place lately. Yesterday it was beautiful and sunny, today it is back to cloudy and rainy. We recently had quite the rain storm come through which caused quite a bit of flooding. The Sunday before last Sean and the kids stopped by the river on their way home from town and by the time I got back to take a few pictures it had really “calmed down.” It’s not as high as I have seen it, but still flooded the park…
I am thinking…
about stocking stuffers and whether or not I want to order this (non-battery version) of the Little People Nativity as a birthday gift for Bud. I better hurry… He is going to be one on the 19th!
I am thankful…
that I have most of my Christmas shopping completed. Now to just get everything wrapped, and the packages that need to be mailed to the post office!
Learning all the time…
We are just focusing on the essentials this Advent – not working on everything, but not taking Advent completely off either. The kids are working on Religion, Math. and Language Arts every day, Writing and Latin each week, and History, Science, Geography, and the Alphabet Path can wait until January.
Celebrating the liturgical year…
Yes, we definitely have been celebrating the liturgical year – with even more celebrations coming up this week!
From the kitchen…
Peppermint Dipped Snowflake Pretzels from Costco… Oh. My. YUM!!!
I am working on…
the Celebrate/Quiet Moments section for Catholic Digest beginning with the February/Marsh issue! (Though you will find a recipe from Catholic Cuisine in the January edition!) I mentioned it on Facebook, but I keep forgetting to mention it here. My deadline is December 21st and I am very excited, and very nervous. I am always amazed at God’s timing! The little bit of income this will provide is exactly what Sean’s paychecks will be decreasing in January when they start deducting for our new Dental Insurance and Flex Savings Plan we just added to help pay for the kids braces. God always provides!
I am creating…
ornaments with the older children to give to their Godparents for Christmas. They worked on them this past Saturday, and I just need to find a way to get the ribbons for hanging them back through the holes. Perhaps one of the “floss threaders” we have been using for the braces will help!
I am going…
to try and finish our Christmas Cards this week. Our family picture is far from perfect, but it’s the best I have if I want to get cards out before Christmas!
I am hoping…
to get on the treadmill today. It has been way way too long. I attempted it yesterday, but only got as far as moving the baby swing and unfolding it before something came up. My Dad recently told me that “He who begins is half done…” Um… I don’t think that applies in this situation! 😉
I am praying…
As we were lighting candles and praying for our Christkindl’s after Mass on Saturday, Father came over and asked us to also pray for a 7 year boy in our parish who was just diagnosed with a brain tumor. Will you please offer a prayer for him too?
I am reading…
Christmas Books and Bible Stories! Speaking of Bible Stories, do any of you own this new Read-Alound Book of Bible Stories? It was just published in October, and it doesn’t have any reviews yet, but it looks great!
Pondering these words…
spoken by St. Augustine:
I am listening…
to Advent at Epehsus and loving this new CD!
Around the house…
I recently moved the Castle to Rose’s bedroom and she has been enjoying it so very much! I think I am going to have to give her a Calico Critter family of her own for either her birthday or Christmas this year. Isn’t the Deer family darling! 😉
The boys have a little green tree that gets set up in their bedroom each year, and the big girls have a purple tree. When I was out shopping this past weekend I ended up buying this little tree for Rose in her favorite color. She ran up and down the hallway yelling “Daddy! Daddy! I have a tree-uh! It’s pink-uh! I luv it!!!” She was just a little excited!
One of my favorite things…
choosing Christmas gifts for my children. I think I enjoy deciding what to give them, just as much as they will love receiving them! ( Shhhh! The themes for the big kids this year are pretty much Historical American Girls – have you seen these great craft kits? They will tie in perfectly to the girls History plans! – for the big girls and lots of Legos for the big boys! I can hardly wait to share more of my picks for this year. So much fun!)
Sunday :: Visiting priest and his Grandmother (who is visiting from Poland!) for dinner. (I loved that my children found little ways in which to communicate with her, even though she doesn’t speak English! Twinkle Toes enjoyed showing her the new book she received on the Feast of St. Nicholas. And the kids had saved a couple St. Nicholas cookies to give to Father and his Grandmother!)
Tuesday :: School, Run Errands, Lego Robotics Class
Wednesday :: Celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe; Dear friends that moved away to the midwest are coming for a visit!!!
Thursday :: Celebrate the Feast of St. Lucy; Lego Robotics Class
Friday :: Ice Skating, maybe?
Saturday :: Visit with friends ends… Lego Robotics Competition for Boys; Celebrate Rose’s 3rd Birthday!
Glorious Nativity :: A Puzzle for Advent
Our children are getting so fast at putting together these puzzles! Last Sunday, on the First Sunday of Advent, we gave them a new puzzle, as I mentioned in one of my Preparing for Advent posts this year, and they completed it last night… I didn’t even get to help with it this year!
Nativity Sets for Children
I’m not sure how many emails I have answered (or still need to answer) on where I purchased the Wooden Nativity Block Set that the children were playing with in my Advent & Christmas Book Baskets Post. It really is neat, isn’t it?!?
I purchased my set quite a few years ago when it was made by HABA, and it doesn’t look like they make it any longer. Haba now sells this beautiful (though very expensive) Wooden Nativity Set. However you can find a similar set made by Constructive Playthings and it happens to be on sale for just $14.99 at the moment, which is much less than I paid for our set! It looks almost identical to ours, though we did notice a few differences: taller columns, more bushes, the addition of camels…
Note: The stable built out of blocks is so tempting to one little toddler in our home who loves to knock it over, which is quite frustrating to his older (almost three years old) sister!
This darling Hand Carved Child’s First Nativity Set was sent to us as a gift. It is designed by Kurt Adler, just like our favorite Nativity Advent Calendar. It’s a little more fragile than the block set (i.e. the paint has chipped in a few places) but loved very much by my little ones!
Even though I prefer the wood sets, we also have The Nativity Play Set by one2believe, an older version of the Playmobil Nativity with The Three Wise Kings, and the Nativity Set by Schleich.
Originally I started out collecting a Child’s Nativity Set for each of our children, but it looks like I missed one somewhere along the way and I still haven’t found a new set for Bud. He would probably love the Little People Christmas Story Nativity Scene, but I wish it didn’t light up and require batteries… I love the Kathy Kruse Nativity Set, but it is just too expensive! Additional options include the Melissa & Doug Nativity Set and the Olive Wood Children’s Nativity Set. However, I think I am leaning more towards creating our own, or purchasing one of the many beautiful sets available on Etsy!
Dress Suggestions for Santa Lucia Day
Happy feast of the Immaculate Conception! I don’t think I’ll ever celebrate this feast without remembering and thanking God for the good news we received on this feast, two years ago today! It’s hard to believe that much time has passed already…
Anyways, I have had quite a few emails lately asking where I purchased our dresses for Santa Lucia Day… Unfortunately the lovely dresses that my older girls have are not currently available where I purchased them, just the doll sized version. Update: no longer available, link removed. (My girls gowns also came with a pink ribbon/bow sewed to the neckline, which I carefully removed).
Last year I just used one of my white t-shirts for Rose (which works great for toddlers!) and this year I have been looking for a dress for her to wear. I bought the big girls their dresses extra extra big back in 2008 and have been cinching them up with the ribbon each year, so we still don’t have a hand-me-down for Rose.
I had been looking and finally ran across this cute little imported Scandinavian Swedish Dress for Lucia with Red Ribbon Sash on Ebay! It is currently available in 4 sizes, and I ordered the XS for Rose. It arrived today and I still need to wash it, but I did try it her to show you all. It is slightly see-through, which seems to be the case with most white gowns, but I think it is really cute especially the collar and sleeves!
Here are a few other dress options as well:
- Josefina’s Night Shift for Girls from American Girl
- White Angel Robe from Oriental Trading
- Girls White Pajama Gown from Amazon
- Little Girls Christmas Nightgown from Etsy
- Megan Girls Dress from April Cornell
- Old Fashioned Nightgowns from Jumpin Bloomers
Additional ideas for celebrating the Feast of St. Lucy can be found in the archives:
Celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas :: 2012
I hope you all had a wonderful St. Nicholas Day! Here are a few pictures from our celebration this year:
I’ve mentioned before that last year we enrolled our children in a local homeschool charter school, and that we have an ES/Tutor that comes about 3 times a month to spend an hour with each child enrolled (3 weeks on, 1 week off plus holidays/vacations). We have been very blessed to have one of my friends, and mother of one of my Little Flowers, as our ES this year! She comes on Thursdays for 5 hours… I LOVE it! It is such a blessing to have even the little bit of help, plus the fact that my older children have to be accountable to someone other than myself! Anyhow, Thursday is the day that she comes, so while she was working with each of the children, I was able to spend some time with the rest of the kids decorating cookies and preparing some treats for our St. Nicholas Day Brunch (which ended up being breakfast for dinner this year!
The other fun cookies that I made this year for the children (or rather from St. Nicholas) were these Saint Nicholas Cookies made with Nutter Butters! You can find the recipe over at Catholic Cuisine.
I made the bottom of each candy cane with 1 1/4 pkgs. of crescent rolls, using the remaining 1/4 package to cut strips to lay over the top. I topped each candy cane with half of the cream cheese mixture and half of the pie filling.
Update: You can find additional Advent and Christmas Posts listed here.
you will guide and protect our children.
Keep them safe from all harm and help them grow
to become loving disciples of Jesus in your sight.
Give them strength to always mature into deeper faith
in you, and to keep alive joy in your creation.
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
The Baker’s Dozen :: A Saint Nicholas Tale and Baking Cookies for the Feast!
Yesterday, in preparation for today’s feast of St. Nicholas, the children unwrapped The Baker’s Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale (a fun tale about generosity and the origin of the term ‘baker’s dozen’) for us all to read together. After reading the book the we baked Saint Nicholas Cookies using the recipe provided along with the template from the back of the book!
We finished decorating them this afternoon, in between early morning Orthodontist appointments, lessons with the tutor, and lego robotics for the big boys. It was a busy day, but ended with our usual St. Nicholas Brunch (for dinner this year) and another wonderful picture book!
The Baker’s Dozen St. Nicholas Cookies
First we collected all the ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- About 4 1/2 cups flour
*I’m including this picture just so you can all see the piles of random items on my counter at any given time… (And show you why I’ve been hesitating to post any more of the gift ideas I have for my children this year, since I frequently find the kids reading my blog!)
Directions:
1. Melt the butter and set aside.
2. Beat the egg in a large bowl until the yolk and white are well mixed and fluffy.
(Measure the correct amount of honey, if you can get it out of the bottle!)
3. Add the honey, milk, almond extract to the egg mixture and beat well.
(Have you gotten that honey out yet, honey?)
4. Mix the brown sugar, spices, and salt.
5. Add to the egg mixture and beat until well mixed.
6. Add the melted butter slowly and beat until well mixed.
7. Watch mom dump the flour in and make a BIG mess
Add the flour slowly until the cookie dough is solid enough to knead.
8. Transfer to your work surface and knead in more flour to make soft, slightly sticky dough.
9. Shape the cookie with a pattern, cookie cutter, or cookie mold.
Even though we do have a few various St. Nicholas Cookie Cutters, we opted to copy the pattern provided on the back of our book.
(I have been keeping an extra close eye on that baby, who is very interested in our Advent Wreath!)
10. Preheat the oven to 350˚F, or lower for especially thick cookies. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are slightly brown around the edges. Transfer to cookie racks and cool.
11. After the cookies have cooled, decorate with red and white icing.
We started with the red frosting last night, and finished decorating the cookies today, once we picked up some more white cookie icing on our way home this morning. The children all really enjoyed decorating their own cookies, and helping with the rest! (The big kids helped Snuggles and Rose decorate their cookies.) I thought they did an excellent job!
12. Enjoy!
13. (We have to have a Baker’s Dozen for the directions, right?)
With a generous spirit like dear St. Nicholas,
package up some of the cookies to deliver to friends!
Scroll through all our past St. Nicholas posts here and order a copy of The Baker’s Dozen here.
You can also find my free St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins printable here.
{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.
Anyways, as I was taking this picture, Sean snuck up behind me and gave me a hug… The kids all immediately yelled “DAD HAS MOM!!! DAD HAS MOM!!!” Hmmm? Maybe he does have me?! (Snuggles yelled “Dad’s MOM!! DAD IS MOM!!!” He still doesn’t quite get it! 😉
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
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