Santa Lucia Day
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| St. Lucy made by Naturally Catholic from St. Nicholas Day |
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| Singing Santa Lucia from Lucia, Saint of Light |
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| Singing Santa Lucia from Lucia Morning in Sweden (we have the hardcover edition) |
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| Once our power was restored, we baked our annual Santa Lucia Braided Bread to serve Monday morning! |
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| Our oldest daughter received her new Christmas Eve nightgown a little early this year! The girls have been using the same Lucia gowns for years, but this year it was too small. She loves her new flannel nightgown! |
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| The star wands came in handy for waking up those teenage boys! 😉 |
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| A Special Nameday Gift – St. Lucia 11×14″ Print from Audrey Eclectic |
Snow Day
We woke up early this morning on the feast of St. Lucia, Saint of Light, to a power outage and our first snowfall since December 2013! #gaudetesunday #santaluciabreadpostponed #lightthecandles
Celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas :: 2015
Well… Our schedule has been so full lately and, despite ordering books and picking up some chocolate coins and our favorite candy canes, I wasn’t as prepared for the feast of St. Nicholas this year as I would have liked! I realized Saturday morning that I only had one new pair of slippers for our oldest… (Giving our children each a new Christmas picture book along with a new pair of shoes or slippers has always been our personal family tradition.) I had ordered a couple pairs of slippers over Thanksgiving for our two youngest (which finally arrived today! Good thing their birthdays are next week…) and I hadn’t been able to get out shopping for the rest. I thought I would go shopping sometime on Saturday, but the three boys had hockey games in the morning from 8:00-12:00, I worked at my Dad’s office from 12:00-2:00 (last week was my third week working part-time for him), then took the girls to confession and out with my mom, before hurrying home for dinner then back to the rink with the whole family (and some friends!) for the older boys very first High School game that started at 8:30 pm. I ended up sneaking away during the break between the second and third periods and was able to quickly pick up four more pairs of new slippers (at great prices!) along with some Santa Hat Hershey Kisses and Cherry Pie Filling at a store across the parking lot. Whew!
When we got back home, sometime just before midnight, I quickly finished this year’s St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins to go along with our new book, filled each candy bag with three large decorated coins (I’m saving the rest of the large coins for Christmas or O Antiphon Coins), the rest of the small coins, and a handful of Santa Hat Hershey Kisses each, so that they would all be ready for St. Nick when he arrived. 😉 Somehow it all came together!
You can find my review along with additional pictures of Saint Nicholas & the Nine Gold Coins here.
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| Captain LOVES his new Captain America slippers. |
After being out so late on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas, everyone woke up late with no time to spare before leaving for morning Mass and our local parish’s anniversary brunch. All the treats were still waiting for them when we got back home!
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| “Daddy! You read it to me?!” |
The older boys also loved their new books, Confederate Night Before Christmas and An Irish Night Before Christmas. The themes were perfect for them and they have enjoyed reading them to their younger siblings. You are never too old for picture books, right?
… and I still managed to make our annual Cherry Cheese Candy Cane Coffee Cake(s) as an afternoon treat for my family. Sometimes sticking with my AIP diet is SO hard! 😉
On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
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| “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Our Lady of Lourdes from Shining Light Dolls |
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| I had hoped to make a {AIP Approved!} Pumpkin Spice Cake with Gingersnap Crust, but we’ve had another full day with very little time left over for baking with spices… There might still be time, after Mass this evening, but I picked up these Sweet Potato Pecan {Spice} Cakes when I saw them at Costco last night, just in case. My family will enjoy them and, after nine months on the AIP diet, |
THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the Christmas Giveaway I hosted! I’m so amazed by the enthusiastic response with 600+ comments and 15,000+ entries! Wow!!! I wish I could send each and every one of you a prize… Instead I will offer my communion and rosary this evening for your intentions. I just finished updating the post with the names of all the winners and I will contact each of you individually later this evening for your mailing addresses. Thank you also to all of my amazing and generous sponsors. Please be sure to remember them for any last minute Christmas shopping! God bless you all!
Bargain Priced Books :: Little Blue Truck’s Christmas, Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree & More
I’m in the middle of putting together a post with some pictures from St. Nicholas Day and happened to notice that one of our New Christmas Books for the Feast of St. Nicholas is 47% OFF right now over at Amazon! I posted additional pictures of Little Blue Truck’s Christmas here.
I’ll be back later with the rest of the pictures from St. Nicholas Day. Don’t forget to enter the Christmas Giveaway by tonight, if you haven’t already!
Bargain Priced Toys :: My First Tug Boat
I have been watching the price on the Green Toys My First Tug Boat for the past couple months. My husband had asked me to order it as a birthday gift for our youngest son, whose birthday is coming up soon. (The Tug Bowl Dinner Set he received last year is still one of his favorites.) I was so excited this morning when I logged into Amazon and saw that select Green Toys (including the Tug Boat!) are up to 50% off today!
I just placed an order for the Yellow Boat. Now I need to go back and browse through the rest of the sale items. Any favorites that you would suggest? I’m considering the Dish Set or the Cookware and Dining Set for our youngest daughter’s birthday next week.
Bargain Priced Toys :: Ticket to Ride
One of our family’s favorite board games is Ticket to Ride. I mentioned it in my recent Christmas Gift Ideas post and wanted to share that right now (today only!) Amazon is offering up to 40% off Top-Rated Strategy Board Games including Ticket to Ride. Ticket to Ride – Europe, which has been on my wish list, is also included in the sale! I need to mention it to my husband. 😉
Christmas Giveaway Reminder & Prayer Request
I hope your Advent is off to a beautiful and blessed beginning as we prepare for Christmas!
Have you entered the “Sleighful of Giveaways” I am currently hosting here at Shower of Roses? I have 31 PRIZES to giveaway with a combined value of over $1,200! The giveaway will remain open through December 7th and the winners will be announced in the giveaway post on December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception!
For some reason Facebook has blocked the direct link to my Christmas Gift Ideas {Plus a Sleighful of Giveaways}… With the countless hours that post took to create, and Facebook usually being the most effective way I have to share posts, it’s been a little frustrating that they are not allowing the link to be shared. I have tried to contact Facebook many times over the past couple days without any success. Oh well. I’m hoping that those of you who would like to share the link over at Facebook can share the link to this post instead? Thank you for your help and I apologize for the inconvenience!
UPDATE: Facebook has finally unblocked the link! Thank you all for your help! 🙂
May God reward you all for all the prayers for my mom! We appreciate them so much! Can I ask you for one more favor? Yesterday my mother-in-law was hospitalized and my father-in-law received his results from some recent tests. They both have serious medical conditions and are in need of urgent prayers. We are offering our St. Andrew Christmas Novena for my mom and my husband’s parents. Could you please offer a prayer for Sean’s parents too? Thank you!
Saint Nicholas & the Nine Gold Coins
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| Saint Nicholas & the Nine Gold Coins by Jim Forest |
Saint Nicholas & the Nine Gold Coins, an Eastern Orthodox “retelling of the legend of Saint Nicholas illustrated in exquisite iconographic style”, is still temporarily out of stock, but they are saying they will have it back in stock on December 1st (there should still be enough time to get it for his feast day with prime shipping!!!) and the price has dropped 14% from the full MSRP of $20 down to $17.28, PLUS right now you can save an additional $5.18 (30% off one book, up to $10 and one time use so make it count!) with coupon code HOLIDAY30 (good through 11/30/15) which would bring it down to only $12.10.
Here is a little peek inside our copy for those who would like a closer look…
It is a beautiful and inspiring book. I’m looking forward to unwrapping and reading it on the feast of St. Nicholas this year!
Bargain Priced Books :: Puffin in Bloom Collection
The Puffin in Bloom Collection
A collection of classics with stunning cover art by renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co.’s principal artist, Anna Bond, now available as an exquisite gift set! Featuring all four Puffin in Bloom classics with illustrated covers by Anna Bond in a charming keepsake box designed in her signature style.
Right now Amazon is offering The Puffin in Bloom Collection at a 40% discount, PLUS right now you can save an additional $10 (30% off one book, up to $10) with coupon code HOLIDAY30! I’ve been keeping an eye on this set, hoping to get it for my girls, and this is the lowest price I’ve seen it listed. I think I’m going to order it to include in one of my daughter’s Stacks of Books this upcoming Christmas.
Sean and I were at Barnes & Noble one night last week and I happened to see the brand new addition to The Puffin in Bloom Collection commemorating the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland this month!
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is larger than the other Puffin in Bloom titles, and filled with lovely illustrations! However, after seeing the $30 price tag, I placed it back on the shelf. (It was too expensive, even with my Barnes & Noble Educator Discount.) With the 50% discount that Amazon is offering (up from 40% yesterday!) I am reconsidering it for this Christmas.
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