Home Sweet Home
*I’ve been informed that the green, orange and red thing in the bottom left corner is our burning bush! 🙂
O Adonai ~ O Lord and Ruler (Dec 18th)
I also thought it would be fun to tie in the part of the Antiphon “Ruler of the house of Israel“ with putting together our own Gingerbread House House of Israel. I can’t wait… The children will LOVE it!
Well, I am off to enjoy our snowy day. If you don’t have snow where you live, and even if you DO, don’t miss Charlotte’s Texas Snow Day! It sounds like SO MUCH FUN!!!
O Sapientia ~ O Wisdom (Dec 17th)
There is an old monastic custom of providing special treats, representing each of the O Antiphons, after dinner each night leading up to Christmas.
Since the symbol for wisdom is a book, our “treat” for this first night is usually a book. I wish I would have ordered all those amazingly priced Father Lovasik books earlier… Anyhow, this year I choose Saints and Angels
A Visit with Santa
When we were at “The Farm” our children had the opportunity to visit with Santa, aka St. Nicholas. It was a first for them, and even though they knew that he wasn’t THEE St. Nicholas, they really enjoyed it!
Santa, of course, asked each one of them what they wanted for Christmas. Rascal’s response was the Playmobil Roman Arena
As for Captain, his response was “A book.” Santa replied, “A BOOK! Which book?” Captain said, “A war book.” Afterward, Santa told me that in all his years of being Santa Claus, he had never been asked for a book. =) He also said that when he asked Captain if he would like a candy cane, he replied, “No thank you.” And that that was a first too. I’ll have to see what we can do about that book. 😉
Snuggles didn’t want anything to do with Santa… He preferred hanging out with his Auntie Julianna. That is, until she tried to put him on the pretend pony!
Celebrating the O Antiphons
Just like last year, Advent is flying by, and Christmas is almost here!!! Tomorrow is already the 17th, and we will begin praying the “O” Antiphons.
I have a half written post in my drafts folder with our plans for celebrating the O Antiphons this year, but I never did have a chance to finish it. In the meantime, Jenn was thinking along the same lines and put together a wonderful post for Catholic Cuisine! She is amazing, isn’t she?!
If you’d like a few more ideas, you can check out my post from last year!
I hope you are all having a very blessed Advent!!
No time to blog…
… I’m too busy shopping!
Tomorrow is the last day for Amazon’s
Anyhow, I can NOT think of something to get for Snuggles… I have a board book for him, and I was thinking about maybe getting him this sweater, but I should get him at least one toy, shouldn’t I? He just has so many hand-me-downs from his older siblings… Do any of you have any suggestions (preferably something that is not expensive, battery operated, too big, and preferably not plastic unless you absolutely love it, lol!!) for me?? I’d love a few!!!
OH, and while I am on the topic of shopping… One of my dear visitors sent me some information on an AMAZING deal on Father Lovasik books!!! I hope she won’t mind if I quote her here:
You can get all kinds of ten-packs of the St. Joseph Picture Books for children for $1.50 (for all ten)! Plus, most of them qualify for Amazon’s 3 for 4 promotion where if you buy 4, you get one free. So you can get 40 books for $4.50 if you have other purchases that can qualify you for free shipping. I thought the $1.50 listing for ten books had to be a fluke until I ordered some last week and found that even some that didn’t say they were 10 packs actually were (I ended up with 30 copies of one book b/c I thought I ordered 3)! I learned that you have to look at the item weight down in the description–if it’s over a pound, it has to be a 10 pack. If it’s 2-3 oz., then it’s just one book.
Isn’t that awesome! I just placed an order, and I have 140 picture books
OK, I gotta go! I’ve spent too much time online already… Have a great evening and God bless!
A Trip to “The Farm”
My brothers are spoiling us!! Not only did they surprise us with a tree this year, they also took us all to an indoor winter wonderland at “The Farm” this weekend! The lights were beautiful, and most of them (at least all the ones up high) were hung by my brother(s) — who has an Artistic Lighting/Holiday Lighting business. There were 10 fun kid’s play stations, festive Christmas music playing, Santa to visit with, and it even featured a petting zoo which included “Delilah,” the deer that starred in the movie “Twilight”!
I am pretty sure that the little kangaroo was our favorite animal. The deer were freaking me out! I think that “Delilah” must have thought I was a bale of hay in my brown sweater… Every time I turned around she was nibbling on me!
The Farm wasn’t that busy, which was really nice since we had such a BIG group including a whole bunch of my siblings (Paul, Brian, Julianna, Scott, JoAnn, Mary, Kevin and David), Brian’s fiance Meghan, and our family of seven!
Here are some pictures from the evening:
~ Grooming the Horses ~
~ Learning how to be a “pooper scooper” ~
~ Making Music ~
~ Roping ~
~ Playing in the Corn Box ~
~ The Petting Zoo ~
A few more of my favorites from our evening out:
L: The twins ~ R: JoAnn, TT, and Julianna
Mary, Me, Julianna, Meghan, and JoAnn
(It looks like Brian was trying to get all the lights in the picture… We were wondering what he was aiming at?!? lol!)
Chiquita with Uncle Brian and his fiance, Meghan
Snuggles with his Daddy and Momma
WOW! That was more pictures than I thought, and that is some of them! It’s a good thing my camera died before we hit the rest of the stations, including the crafts, the carousel, and a few other things! I didn’t even know that I had all these photos since my sisters were using my camera some of the time… I *did* get a few pictures of our children with Santa, but I’ll have to post those later, my computer time is up, and I need to go and finish dinner!
My Daybook ~ December 15th
Outside my Window… there is a blanket of snow covering the ground! We woke up to snow for the first time this winter on Saturday morning, and it has been snowing each night since!
This is pretty rare for here, and although it does snow a few times each year, it usually isn’t this early!
I am thinking… about the fact that this is the first time in just over 9 years that I have not been pregnant and/or nursing a baby. I don’t know what to do with myself!
From the school room… The boys are still working on their Advent Lapbooks, which they are loving. We will also spend sometime finishing up all their English, spelling, phonics, etc, so we can take the next 2 weeks off.
I am thankful… for our fireplace/woodstove on these cold mornings.
From the kitchen… I have a pot of oatmeal simmering on the stove, leftover Santa Lucia bread, and a pot of coffee brewing. I think I will make a sauce for Spaghetti or Lasagna for dinner, and sometime this week, I want to bake a cake or cookies for St. Joseph. Oh, and remember that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are Ember days!
I am creating… a list of Christmas gifts that I still need to purchase or mail. I am *so* behind this year!
I am going… to mail some packages this week, and hopefully finish my shopping.
I am wearing… my jammies still, though I need to change soon since the tutor is coming this morning.
I am (still) reading… The Practice of the Presence of God
I am hoping… that my sister can come over today and help me put together our Christmas card. I still haven’t done that… The past few years we have sent out the same one (from Costco) as a number of friends, and so we can make a custom one this year. Wish me luck!
I am hearing… little feet running up and down the hall, and many excited voices. My kiddos love the snow!
Around the house… I have so much to do this week to finish preparing for Christmas! I am hoping to be able to clean the house real well, and catch up on that never ending pile of laundry!
One of my favorite things… our new flannel sheets!! We finally bought a set, when Costco had a great deal on them, and they really make all the difference in the world on these cold winter nights!
The tutor will be coming today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, and then that will be it until next year! - Hubby’s last day of work for the year is Thursday, and then he will have the next 2 weeks off!
- Possibly take the kids roller skating with our home school group. We have ice skated many, many times, but I don’t remember having ever taken my kids roller skating!
- Friday my tutor will be baysitting so I can run errands, and do a bit of shopping! I am SO excited!!
- I am also going to try not to take on too much… I don’t say no enough, and my list of people that I need to say no to, is the same as Jennifer’s! I don’t know why I am always trying to accomplish more than is humanly possible…. Sheesh!!
A picture thought I am sharing:
To view more Daybooks visit Peggy here.
Happy Santa Lucia Day!
Mexican Fiesta for Our Lady of Guadalupe
…followed by coloring a beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, while listening to this CD and this picture book
.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, mystical rose, intercede for the Church, protect the Holy Father, help all who invoke you in their necessities. Since you are the ever Virgin Mary and Mother of the true God, obtain for us from your most holy Son the Grace of a firm faith and sure hope amid the bitterness of life, as well as an ardent love and the precious gift of final perseverance. Amen.
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