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New Christmas Books for the Feast of St. Nicholas {and a St. Nicholas Giveaway!}

Nov 15, 2019 | , , , , , | 0 Comments


“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God’s giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves.” – St. Nicholas of Myra

The feast of St. Nicholas is just three weeks from today! On December 6th our children always wake up to find that the letters they wrote to the Holy Child and/or St. Nicholas have been taken and their (sometimes new/replaced) slippers have been filled with little treats, oranges, chocolate gold coins, candy canes, and often times a note from St. Nicholas.

Our children (and teens!) have also always received a new Christmas book as well, which has helped us build an amazing collection over the last twenty years. It will be so great to pass each of their collections down to them when they eventually start families of their own.


The darling wooden St. Nicholas toys in the above pictures are from Marzipantz and Ostheimer Wooden Toys.  The kids haven’t seen these yet, but they will be added to our collection this year.

Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.


Here is the list of books I picked out for our children this year:
(I didn’t get books for our college boys, but ‘m hoping to mail them a St. Nicholas care package too!) 

For Twinkle Toes: 



“First published in 1998, The Twelve Days of Christmas Cats is a beloved picture book with full color illustrations by Don Daily. The traditional twelve days of Christmas poem is creatively transformed, with each spread featuring one of the twelve cats with its resepective adorable artwork. Siamese, leopards, persians, calico cats and kittens playfully ring in Christmas cheer as they dance across the pages of this heartwarming classic.”



For Chiquita:



“Red and Lulu make their nest in a particularly beautiful evergreen tree. It shades them in the hot months and keeps them cozy in the cold months, and once a year the people who live nearby string lights on their tree and sing a special song: O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree. But one day, something unthinkable happens, and Red and Lulu are separated. It will take a miracle for them to find each other again. Luckily, it’s just the season for miracles. . . . From Matt Tavares comes a heart-tugging story combining the cheer of Christmas, the magic of New York City, and the real meaning of the holiday season: how important it is to be surrounded by love.”

I had such a hard time deciding which book to give to Chiquita and which one to give to Rose…
This one goes so well with Rose’s little collection of wooden birds (the tooth fairy brings her a sweet little bird every time she loses a tooth!) but her older sister will love it too!



For Snuggles: 



“Once Upon a Silent Night is a beautifully illustrated book for children ages 4 to 8 about the creation of the famous song. After the mice in a small Austrian town destroy the church organ, the parish priest and the choir director compose a song to fill the silent church on Christmas Eve. The townspeople and the mice celebrate Christmas with a new tune that reflects the humble birth of the Savior and inspires joy in the hearts of his people.”



For Rose: 


(Updated Edition with Paperdolls)

“Early one Christmas morning in Sweden, Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka opened their eyes. Soon they would have their Christmas gifts! For the first time in over thirty years, this classic holiday tale returns, in a deluxe hardcover edition. Longtime fans of the series will delight in revisiting the story, and new readers will find fun and excitement as the girls must save their friend Bertie after an ice-skating disaster.”




For Bud: 



“As Christmas becomes more and more commercialized, it is easy to get lost in the shopping and decorating; the parties and the lights; the presents and the food. In this charming and beautifully illustrated story, Santa himself comes to town and reminds everyone of the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Show your children—and remind yourself—that without Jesus, there is not Christmas. Santa’s Priority is an instant Christmas classic, that your family will read together for years to come.”

This seven, soon-to-be-eight year old, needs an extra reminder on what Christmas is all about! 😉




For Grace: 




“A small, crookled fir tree is left all alone after the others near it in the forest are chosen by families as Christmas to bring home. But when the forest animals gather around the lonely little tree to cheer it up and celebrate the season, it finds the warmth of the holidays in the heart of a cold, snowy forest.”




For Lily: 



“Told from the perspective of a barn owl, Guess Who’s in the Manger is a beautiful Christmas story sure to delight children four to seven years old–and their parents as well. Guess Who’s in the Manger is perfect for reading aloud (what child doesn’t enjoy the gentle “hoo” of an owl, reflected here in the sound of “who’s in the manger?”). Written by Vicki Howie, author of Once Upon a Silent Night, this Christmas story is sure to delight.”



Bonus Books for the Family: 


I also picked up these three new books this year too! They’ll either be given to the children on the first day of Advent or in their Epiphany Book Stacks. 


(My girls are going to love this!) 

(I picked up my copy from Sacred Heart Books and Gifts! Keep this small Catholic family owned business in mind for Christmas book shopping – all their items are automatically 15% off!) 







.: Giveaway :. 

Once again this year I will be hosting FOUR Advent and Christmas themed giveaways! Here is the first giveaway in preparation for the feast of St. Nicholas:

Prize #1 – Set of Five Cookie Stamps with Recipe Booklet 




sponsored by Rycraft Cookie Stamps (combined value $64.95)

Congratulations, Debora!
“Beautiful giveaway! Thank you for the opportunity to enter!”


Prize #2 – St. Nicholas Special Edition Box


“This special edition box contains a beautifully designed canvas with paint and a wooden easel, my favorite story on St. Nicholas, a fun ornament craft, yummy recipe, a beautiful St. Nicholas statue and all of the materials needed to make a trip to Turkey, passport and map included!”
sponsored by Saints Around the World (value $55.00)

Congratulations, Kathryn! 
“Thank you for the giveaway! St. Nicholas is on one my favorite saints and the patron of one of our children. “

Prize #3 – Advent & St. Nicholas Prize Package



sponsored by My Little Patron (value $52.24)
*Stickers are currently 50% off thru today only with code: LITTLETHINGS

Congratulations, Elizabeth!

“I’m so grateful for all your ideas and inspiration. God bless you and your beautiful family”


Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter box below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway



You are welcome to download my St. Nicholas labels over at Dropbox with either Black or Green text…

And here is the link to the St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins! 
(You can find another option, an adaptation this original idea of mine, over at St. Nicholas Center.
I also just made an updated printable for this year which I will try and share soon!)


For additional Christmas book suggestions you can find some of our lists in the archives: 

 Saint Nicholas & the Nine Gold Coins {Beautiful book!}

 Christmas Mosaic: A Review & Featured Book List

 35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books for Children

 Feasts & Seasons :: Advent & Christmas Collection

Our 2015 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels 

 Our 2016 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels 

 Our 2017 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels 

 Our 2018 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels 
{I’m planning to share our 2019 Basket and Labels soon!}

New Christmas Books for the Feast of St. Nicholas: 
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Stacks of Books on Christmas Morning or Epiphany: 
2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017


Even more St. Nicholas themed gifts can be found in these past posts filled with Christmas Gift Ideas & Stocking Stuffers from 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018!

Martinmas Lantern Walk

Nov 13, 2019 | , | 6 Comments

In A Book of Feasts and Seasons author Joanna Bogle shares that “the main festivity on St. Martin’s Day especially in France and Germany is that of making paper lanterns and carrying them in procession.” Our family decorated glass jars years ago for our annual Lantern Walk on Martinmas.

Sometimes I really miss our old home, especially on special feast days. We lived there for over 18 years and left with countless wonderful memories. Lately I’ve been missing all the beautiful trees on our old property. As much as I love our new home, we only have a handful of very young trees… Even though we aren’t riverfront, we DO have river access, so for this year’s Martinmas Lantern Walk we headed down to the river to enjoy the trees, the gorgeous sunset, and create some new memories!

 
 

 
 

Martinmas Lanterns 🍂🍁🕯✨

“Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to go on my journey to the Lord.” – St. Martin of Tours

November Book Cart

Nov 12, 2019 | | 4 Comments

We are blessed to have two of these lovely portable libraries! We keep one upstairs in the “school room” which we update seasonally or with books featuring specific subjects we are studying… and this one, kept downstairs in our dining room, is updated monthly with picture books for upcoming feast days. Here is a peek at this month’s book cart: 
The All Saints’ Day Party • The Mantle of Charity • St. Martin of Tours 
Fir Tree Stacking Set • St. Elizabeth from Naturally Catholic
Various Ostheimer Toys including St. Martin and the Beggar
Wooden Story Stacking Toy (Natural) from The Wooden Wagon
You can check out the complete list (or at least complete as of a few years ago) 

Saints Around the World :: St. Martin de Porres

Nov 12, 2019 | , | 2 Comments

My kiddos got so excited when another blue box showed up in the mail. Here is a peek at what was included in this month’s Saints Around the World subscription box. 
Praying “please let it be another boy saint!” Silly boy.

St. Martin de Porres by Little Drops of Water • Saint Martin de Porres and the Mice
(We already owned a copy of the book so we’ll probably pass this extra copy along as a gift or a future giveaway prize!) 

Some books from our November Book Basket
Searching for Peru… Found it!
 

In addition to all the goodies for St. Martin de Porres, the box also included an Advent Calendar and Our Lady of Guadalupe Ornament Craft that we’ll save for next month! 

Note: Saints Around the World is offering a special edition box for the upcoming feast of St. Nicholas! Check out all the details here.

St. Martin de Porres, ora pro nobis!

Veteran’s Day Wreaths Across America Fundraiser

Nov 11, 2019 | | 0 Comments

Two of our nieces are American Heritage Girls and they are currently raising funds for their troop and Wreaths Across America! Please consider sponsoring a wreath.

 

From my sister-in-law: 

“On December 14, 2019, Christmas wreaths will be laid on the gravestones of fallen U.S. veterans across the nation.

By sponsoring one (or more!) of these wreaths for $15, you can support our Troop MD0134, which will receive $5 for every wreath sponsored. When joined to prayer for the deceased veterans in Purgatory, you are fulfilling the spiritual work of mercy, ‘to pray for the living and dead,’ and the corporal work of mercy, ‘to bury the dead.’

November is the month of the Poor Souls, so it is a perfect time to pray for these deceased American heroes, who put their lives in harm’s way, to liberate the oppressed and to defend the freedoms – especially religious freedom – that we enjoy in abundance here in America.

See our troop’s Wreaths Across America fundraising webpage here. Please forward to family and friends to raise even more donations for our troop and to honor veterans!”

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Where’s Waldo?

Nov 9, 2019 | | 5 Comments

The boys sent me some pictures from Christendom’s Halloween Dance and said that I could share them with you all! They ended up dressing up (with a couple friends) as “Waldo and Wenda” from Where’s Waldo? and “Westley and Buttercup” from The Princess Bride. We had so much fun coming up with costumes while they were home over fall break.  Just six more weeks and they’ll be home again for Christmas!
 
 

I love that I can spot Waldo (and Wenda!) so easily in the crowd! 

 I heard that Westley and Buttercup ended up with Honorable Mention (or was it 3rd place?) for their costumes in the costume competition. 

 And from Christendom Today…. “Where’s Waldo?”

All Saints Guessing Jars {Printable Guess Pages}

Nov 9, 2019 | | 2 Comments

On October 31st, just before this year’s party, I quickly created some last minute printables to go along with each of this year’s All Saints Guessing Jars… In the past I’ve always used guessing slips, keeping each participants guess a secret, but with so many people expected at our parish party (we ended up having over 400 people!) it would have taken forever to figure out the winners.

I have had some requests to share these so I’m adding them to the blog now. These guessing jars don’t need to be exclusively for All Hallows’ Eve/All Saints Parties! They are also great for feasts and seasons throughout the liturgical year, as well as sacramental (confirmation and baptism) parties.

(If I can eventually get around to making the rest I will be sure to share them as well.) 

All Hallows’ Eve Party at St. Joan of Arc Parish

Nov 6, 2019 | , | 15 Comments

Some of our children’s favorite childhood memories are the All Hallows’ Eve Parties we had at our old parish (up through 2010) and hosted at our old home (from 2011-2017). When we moved last October they were so disappointed that we wouldn’t be hosting our annual All Hallows’ Eve party… and I was relieved since, with our last baby (and now another!), I just haven’t had the energy to host it anyway!

One of my dear friends was asked by Father Gordon to put together the parish’s All Hallows’ Eve/All Saints Party this year and she did an AMAZING job! We had a little planning meeting (just three of us!) at my house, but other than putting together some posters to advertise the party (above) and taking on the All Saints Guessing Jars game, I did very little. She did an incredible job and put in a lot of time and hard work into coordinating, preparing and pulling it all together. On our way to the party I told my kids, “I’m so glad this parish has a Geneva!”

It was a lovely evening beginning with outdoor games before it got too cold and dark. After that we moved inside for the Litany of the Saints and then Dinner. After Dinner there was more indoor games, including the All Saints Guessing Jars and a Pumpkin Carving Competition.

There ended up being OVER 400 people in attendance!

I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked while holding my little two month old (plus all I have is my iPhone camera now after a recent accident with my camera…sob… so some of the pictures are pretty blurry), but here are some that I did take to share.

Giving some instructions to the Maiden’s of St. Joan who were helping for the evening!

.: Costumes :. 

St. Lucia, St. Cecilia, St. Pio, St. Zelie, The Little Flower, St. Louis and St. Philomena – All Saints in Heaven, Pray for us!
Cassock or Costume? 

My favorite costume of the evening? … Father Gordon! 
It took a little convincing to get my husband to show up at the parish party dressed as his brother, but he did it and it was so much fun to see the reactions! #yetanotherfathergordon #fssp
I don’t think they look that much alike, but even in regular church clothes (slacks/white shirt/tie) Sean is often mistaken as his brother (who is always in his cassock). Last Sunday he held the door for someone and they responded “Thank you, Father!” and he’s even been thanked for “his” sermons. 

 
I missed seeing Father’s original reaction, I wish I would have been able to get it on video, but according to my 14 year old, “It was SO great!! Father said “WHAAATTT!” while pointing at Dad and then doubled over laughing!” She also said all evening she would notice some of teens *almost* say something to Sean and then realize he wasn’t Father Gordon! So funny! 

.: Outdoor Games :.

The Slay Goliath game was AWESOME! This is a larger version of the David & Goliath game we came up with back in 2007. The couple from our parish who put this one together did an incredible job. Definitely one of the highlights of the outdoor games, especially for all the teens!

 

Geneva came over and picked up some of our leftover moving boxes to put together this game.
Our little “St. Cecilia” spent a lot of time in there with her little friend but eventually emerged. 

 

Saint Michael’s Stomp was another hit at the other end of the parking lot! 

.: Litany of the Saints and Dinner :.

I didn’t get any pictures from the Saintly Procession, Litany of Saints, or Dinner, but you can find some over on the parish’s Facebook page!

.: Ora Pro Nobis :. 

The children were provided everything they needed (including 30 pieces of candy!) to put together their own Ora Pro Nobis Candy Bags for the month of November. 

.: Indoor Games :.

 

 
All the kids loved “Feed My Sheep” … Though it might have to do with how much candy St. Philomena was handing out to each of them after playing! 😉 
 
.: Pumpkin Carving Contest :.
There were so many entries for the pumpkin carving competition! Every table had a couple pumpkins on the center and there was a whole other table for all the overflow. Next year we need to line them up outside so you can better view them lit up with candles. 
Geneva’s carving of the Immaculate Heart which was outside and not included in the competition – So beautiful! 

The three parish priests choose the three winners from all the anonymously carved pumpkins. Second and Third place went to carvings of the Sacred Heart and Nativity.

I only carved one pumpkin this year, helping my frustrated twelve year old finish carving the design he had chosen for St. George Patron of Knights, and we surprisingly won first place! 
We ended up with St. Joan of Arc, a Cathedral, Carmel, 
St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. George Patron of Knights.

.: All Hallows’ Eve Bonfire :. 

 

The evening ended with some music around a bonfire! 

“The saints have not all started well but they have all finished well.”
– St. John Vianney
All Saints in Heaven, Ora Pro Nobis! 


Our Family

Sean & Jessica, Captain-24, Ranger-22, Twinkle Toes-21, Chiquita-19, Snuggles-17, Rose-14, Bud-12, Grace-7 and Joy-5 (blog nicknames)

A Little About Me

Hi! I'm Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings--the beautiful "Shower of Roses" that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

My Other Blog: Catholic Cuisine

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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.


Our Family

Sean & Jessica, Captain-24, Ranger-22, Twinkle Toes-21, Chiquita-19, Snuggles-17, Rose-14, Bud-12, Grace-7 and Joy-5 (blog nicknames)

A Little About Me

Hi! I'm Jessica, a Roman Catholic wife and home educating mother to our nine children. I was home educated myself, along with my eleven younger siblings. I have a special devotion to St. Therese, through whom I have been given much help and many blessings--the beautiful "Shower of Roses" that she has sent my way! Here I will record a few of the blessings I treasure. Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

My Other Blog: Catholic Cuisine

Please Visit My Sponsors…

This Week's Popular Posts

Shower of Roses Affiliate Links

All About Spelling
All About Reading
All About Reading Pre-reading
All About Reading Giveaways
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Our Advent & Christmas Books

Shower of Roses Christmas Gift Guides

Looking for Something?

looking-back

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Posts About:

Shower of Roses Alphabet of Saints

A Papal Unit Study & Lap Book

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All original photographs and written material are ©2007-2025 Shower of Roses. I'd love for you to link back to me, but please do not copy or take content from this blog without permission. Click here for my Copyright Terms & Conditions. Thank you for visiting!