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Our 2019 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels {Plus Lots of Christmas Books to Giveaway!}

Nov 22, 2019 | , | 0 Comments

Advent begins just one week from Sunday! 
The length of Advent always varies from 22-28 days, beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30th) and embracing four Sundays. The first day of Advent can fall as early as November 27th or as late as December 3rd. This year Advent begins on December 1st.  I love it when that happens! 
Every Advent our family counts down the days until Christmas with picture books, Advent Calendars, and the Jesse Tree. Years ago, when we didn’t have enough Christmas themed picture books to wrap one for each day of Advent, I would check some Christmas books out from the library just before Advent began, using Christmas Mosaic as a guide. We have added many books to our home library since then, giving one Christmas themed book to each of our children on the feast of St. Nicholas, and our collection has definitely grown.  (You can find this year’s St. Nick books here!) 
In the past I have filled our Advent basket with Christmas Mosaic titles and our children’s 35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books. One year I picked twenty-six of MY favorites (although I still find new favorites to add to my list each year!) and one year I left the choosing up to my husband and our oldest daughter. We’ve had great lists the last two years too: 2017 and 2018. 
I currently keep all of our Christmas picture books on the bottom two shelves of a corner bookshelf upstairs… The other night I went up there and pulled out a whole bunch of my favorites. I sorted through them all, removing the ones I wrapped and read to our children last Advent (with the exception of a few annual favorites including The Donkey’s Dream, The Miracle of St. Nicholas and Bambinelli Sunday) and that’s how I came up with this year’s list! 

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

December 1 – 1st Sunday of Advent: Waiting for Christmas: A Story About the Advent Calendar – set up Advent Calendars and Jesse Tree
December 2: Christmas Farm
December 5: The Legend of St. Nicholas – write letters to Christ Child/Saint Nicholas, bake Speculaas or St. Nicholas Cookies, and decorate St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins to give to others
December 6 – St. Nicholas: St. Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins
December 7 – St. Ambrose: The Attic Saint – (New Release… Coming soon!) Bake a Honeycomb Cake, decorate Christmas Candles
December 8 – Immaculate Conception and 2nd Sunday of Advent: Apple Tree Christmas
December 10: The Bears’ Christmas Surprise (Back in print!! Find this year’s reprint here!) 
December 12 – Hanna’s Christmas – prepare for tomorrow’s feast day
December 13 – Santa Lucia Day: Lucia Saint of Light
December 14: Bambinelli Sunday (this year we’ll read it on the eve of Bambinelli Sunday) 
December 15 – 3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday: The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher
December 17 – O Sapientia: The Miracle of St. Nicholas
December 18 – O Adonai: The Donkey’s Dream *Catholic Mosaic – pray Litany of Mary from which the names of Mary used in this book were taken 
December 19 – O Radix Jesse: My Wonderful Christmas Tree
December 21 – O Oriens: Bethlehem (Catholic Edition) 
December 22 – 4th Sunday of Advent – O Rex Gentium: Small Camel Follows the Star
December 23 – O Emmanuel: The First Christmas (Brand new! O Antiphon gift for this year.) 
December 24 – Vigil of Christmas: There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve

About four or five years ago I switched to brown paper along with purple and pink ribbon, instead of the original purple and pink wrapping paper I would use years ago… This year I’m reusing brown paper bags along with the ribbons I reuse every year and our homemade labels!


As always, we’ll unwrap and read one book each night during Advent, following our family rosary. The rest of our book collection will be placed in additional baskets for the kids to read whenever they’d like during the seasons of Advent and Christmas. 

If you’d like to use my little labels too, you can download my Advent Book Basket Labels for 2019 over at Dropbox.
(Note: I made two versions this year: Extraordinary Form or Novus Ordo…The difference is that the feast of the Immaculate Conception is transferred to the 9th on the New Calendar and remains on the 8th for Extraordinary Form. I included the Ember Days on both sets.)

I’m still waiting for The Attic Saint to arrive and I’m also saving the new brand new book I ordered for December 23rd to wrap along with this year’s O Antiphon gifts for O Emmanuel. It’s a really cute book with rhyming text, but not quite as cute as our brand new baby. We are all looking forward to having everyone home again for her First Christmas!
.: ADVENT BOOK BASKET GIVEAWAY :.

Congratulations, Emily! 
“Thank you for your wonderful ideas!”
sponsored by author Susan Peek (value $61.79)

Congratulations, Piper!“Thank you for your list. I reference it every year”

Prize #3: The Rosary for Little Ones 
and Divine Mercy for Little Ones

sponsored by author Kimberly Fries (value $25.98) 

Congratulations, Maria!
“I love your blog! So inspiring. Thank you for your gentle, loving example of motherhood.”

Prize #4: Digital Copy of Awaiting the Messiah: A Family Advent Journey with Handel’s Messiah sponsored by Barefoot Abbey (value $15.00) 

Congratulations, Gian!
“Look like lovely books. Thanks for sharing!”

Christmas Carols (Little Golden Book)

Nov 18, 2019 | , , | 0 Comments



Back in print—a Little Golden Book full of classic Christmas carols to sing!
“This festive Little Golden Book from 1946 is back in print for the first time in 40 years! Beautiful vintage illustrations bring to life sheet music and lyrics for beloved carols and hymns that families have sung together for many generations: “Away in a Manger,” “Joy to the World,” “Deck the Halls,” and more. Perfect for placing on the piano, or to give to a child or a collector of the classic Little Golden Books, this book will be cherished each holiday season.”

Here are some pictures of this gorgeous little book:

One of our favorite ways to prepare for and then celebrate Christmas is with a basket filled with beautiful books! We started our book collection nearly 20 years ago when our eldest son was a baby and, even though we now have a pretty incredible collection, I still love adding to it each year! One of our new additions for this year will be the recently republished Christmas Carols and I’m excited to send a copy of this sweet book to one of you too!

Once again I’m teaming up with a group of ladies over on Instagram to give ONE FAMILY the opportunity to receive *OVER 30 BOOKS* for their very own Advent Book Basket!! With a title for every day of the season this Advent Book Basket makes a perfect literary Advent Calendar.

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

All Saints Guessing Jars Printable Guess Pages

On October 31st, just before this year’s party, I quickly created some last minute All Saints Guessing Jars Printable Guess Pages 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 our All Saints Guessing Jars Printable Guess Pages 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.

Download my All Saints Guessing Jars Guess Pages here

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

Update: You can find all 130+ here!

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 
 
 

 


Our Family

Sean & Jessica, Captain-25, Ranger-23, Twinkle Toes-22, Chiquita-20, Snuggles-18, Rose-15, Bud-13, Grace-8 and Joy-6 (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.

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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-25, Ranger-23, Twinkle Toes-22, Chiquita-20, Snuggles-18, Rose-15, Bud-13, Grace-8 and Joy-6 (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 Giveaways
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Our Advent & Christmas Books

Shower of Roses Gift Guides

Looking for Something?

looking-back

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Posts About:

Shower of Roses Alphabet of Saints

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All Saints Party Printables

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!