Regina Martyrum Productions {Sponsored Giveaway}
I know I told you all that I wasn’t planning on hosting any more giveaways this year, but when Regina Martyrum Productions contacted me about hosting a giveaway here at Shower of Roses for $150 IN GIFT CARDS I knew I had to carve out a little time, in between the birthday parties this week, to put together one more giveaway post for you all!
Regina Martyrum Productions produces the finest works of Catholic audio theatre. With emphasis on the lives of the Saints, these products are edifying, and entertaining.
Stories hold our attention, teach us morals, and can teach a moral lesson while entertaining. We all love stories. Here at Regina Martyrum Productions, we provide high-quality, fully-dramatized Catholic stories. From Old Testament scenes to New Testament saints, we provide the best, timeless stories for today’s Catholic audiences. Engaging the power of your imagination while listening, you and your children will walk through the pages of the Church’s history. These are not your run of the mill “books on tape!” Every production is packed with full cast, great music, and realistic sound effects! They are great in the car, at story time, or at anytime!
I have been a fan of Regina Martyrum Productions ever since our oldest children were toddlers! I treasure our collection of CDs, and even some audio cassettes which we were given many years ago. Now these timeless Catholic stories are available as digital downloads!
These inspiring stories of the saints will make a deep impression on both children and adults! We love all the stories, but my personal favorite (and my husbands too!) is the story of St. Gerard Majella, To Heaven Through the Window.
Regina Martyrum Productions is working on adding new stories to the digital collection each month and yesterday they released the story of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton! I downloaded and enjoyed listening to Valiant Daughter of America last night and look forward to sharing it with our children on her feast day next month.
Regina Martyrum Productions offers Gift Cards which would make perfect Christmas gifts for family, friends, Godchildren, and Godparents! You can purchase gift cards for 1 story, 2 stories, 3 stories, or more!
I have FOUR GIFT CARDS to give away from Regina Martyrum Productions totaling $150! Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter box below. Four winners will be randomly generated using the entries from Rafflecopter and contacted via email on December 23rd:
- First winner will receive: $60 Gift Card
- Second winner will receive: $45 Gift Card
- Third winner will receive: $30 Gift Card
- Fourth winner will receive: $15 Gift Card
Note: Bonus entries will be awarded for helping to spread the word about this great company, visiting and following them on Facebook, subscribing to updates, and/or ordering a gift card!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Roses in the Snow {A Brand New Picture Book!}
We are celebrating a sweet little girl’s 5th birthday today! I can’t believe my little “Rose” is already five years old… How did that happen so fast?!? I’ll be back later with pictures from our party, but in the meantime I wanted to share one of her birthday gifts with you all.
This sweet book about St. Elizabeth of Hungary was just released on December 6th and would make a lovely Christmas gift! It was written by Dessi Jackson and Illustrated by Lydia Grace, the same author and illustrator of Saint Felix and the Spider, and it is beautiful! I can’t wait to read it to my children! You can order it from Amazon here.
Update: The publisher has audio pronunciations for the Hungarian words in the story! Visit www.quisutdeuspress.com then click on “Roses In The Snow” On the bottom left hand side of the page you will find the pronunciations for nagymama, édesem, kifli and kalács!
Santa Lucia, Saint of Light
Celebrating the O Antiphons :: The Golden Nights
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| Photo from Christmas 2011 – Details about our O Antiphon House |
Ever since our oldest children were very little, we have been implementing an old monastic custom in our home of providing special treats, representing each of the “O Antiphons,” on the days leading up to Christmas. The O Antiphon Prayers begin on December 17th and end on the 23rd, which is the last Vespers of Advent, since the evening prayer on the 24th is the Vigil of Christmas.
The Benedictine monks arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. If one starts with the last title and takes the first letter of each one – Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia – the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for in Advent and whom we have addressed in these seven Messianic titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.” So the “O Antiphons” not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but bring it to a joyful conclusion.
Each night, after our family rosary, we pray the O Antiphon for the day, sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel (which was inspired by this ancient tradition), and then give the children a special treat. Some years it has been little gifts/activities for the family, some years it is all food related, and some years it is a mix of both. You can see some of my past posts from 2007-2013 by scrolling through the archives and visiting Catholic Cuisine.
Our family just loves this little tradition. It is such a fun way to teach the children about these beautiful prayers of the church and also increase their excitement as Christmas gets closer!
This year I choose this new Catholic Trivia game. I’m looking forward to playing it after dinner on December 17th!
This year I purchased this cute 3-D Mini Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter made by Sweet Creations! I’m planning to wrap it up with some Christmas sprinkles. (I still need to pick them up at the craft store this weekend, but hopefully they will have this Gingerbread Boy Mix, Candy Canes, and Snowmen.) I’m also planning to buy a package of pre-made dough, to keep it as simple as possible, and let the children bake and decorate the cookies, while I bake and decorate a birthday cake! (I just hope the cookie cutter arrives on time, since I still haven’t gotten a notification that it has shipped… If it doesn’t arrive I might shop by the local kitchen store to pick up this pan instead. I came close to buying it the other day when the girls and I discovered an amazing kitchen store in a nearby town!)
Since this is initially a monastic tradition, and on this night, the monk in charge of the wine cellar would provide a special bottle of wine. We usually always serve a special drink with dinner. Sometimes I also serve a Key Lime Pie as well! One year I purchased a couple key hook rails from Target to use to hang our Rosaries, and another year we gave the children this Key Puzzle/Brainteaser!
This year, in addition to a special drink with dinner, the four oldest children will be given tickets (the key/admission) to see A Christmas Carol at the theatre!
Our favorite tradition for this O Antiphon is to pile in the car after dinner with hot cocoa and drive around to look at all the Christmas lights. In the past we have also given the children this set of sun blocks, decorated our own house or tree with Christmas lights, enjoyed “O Dayspring Ice Cream,” and addd the Kurt Adler 10-Light Candle with Gold Dish Light Set to our Christmas Tree!
This year, in addition to driving to town to look at Christmas lights, since we didn’t have the chance to make it on the feast of St. Ambrose or the Immaculate Conception, we are going to decorate this year’s Christmas Candle using a tiny wax baby Jesus I purchased years ago along with Stockmar Gold Decorating Beeswax.
O King of the Gentiles Stained Glass Nativity Puzzle
This year we will begin working on this beautiful Stained Glass Nativity Puzzle which I mentioned in this year’s fun finds for Advent post.
.: December 23rd :.
In the past the children have been given special Holy Cards or Coloring Books, including the beautiful Eucharistic Adoration: With Saints And Symbols Of The Eucharist Coloring book, this 500-Piece Stained Glass Jigsaw Puzzle, added various Children’s Nativity Sets to our collection, made a Chocolate Nativity Scene, and received the Holy Family Puzzle with a lovely embroidered Mass bag from Catholic Embroidery.
This year we are going to introduce our children to the Polish tradition of Oplatki Wafers! On Christmas Eve the Polish people celebrate a traditional vigil supper called “Wigilia” which means “to await”. The children of the family look for the appearance of the first star at dusk and then to begin the meal members of the family break up pieces of Oplatki and give them to each other with a blessing. Then the actual supper begins. (Read more at Aquinas and More.)
I ended up ordering this set from Aquinas and More and this set (with greeting cards to give to extended family) from the large selection of Oplatki Wafers over at Amazon.
For a simple treat for each day, here is the link to my printable in the archives for O Antiphon Chocolate Coins!
Instagram Recap
We just finished reading about Saint Eloi whose (historical) feast is celebrated today. He is the patron of metalworkers and jewelers. St. Eloi, pray for us!
December 4th:
At the theatre with my little sis and a couple of my girls… Fiddler on the Roof is about to start!
The girls with Tzeitel! #meetingthecast #fiddlerontheroof #previewnight #somuchfun
December 6th:
After a fun morning at home, complete with treats from St. Nicholas on his feast day today, the boys just won their Hockey game for the first time this season! It ended up at 12 to 11, and they scored two-thirds of all the goals for their team! Our oldest scored six goals, our second scored two, and the youngest playing didn’t score any since “Nobody was passing me the puck!!!” (lol they were) It was also the first game I was able to go watch this year… They said “Mom needs to come to every game!” Happy St. Nick Day!
Touring the historic Catholic Rectory built in 1861! #catholic #victorianchristmas
Exploring downtown with their Daddy after attending a Christmas Concert! (They really enjoyed watching their piano teacher sing!)
Nutcracker Soldiers! They had such a fun night! #daddydatesarethebest
December 8th:
Enjoying the gorgeous sunset on our drive home from the woods with our Christmas Tree!
The next time we decide to buy a $5 permit and go cut down our own Christmas tree, we need to make sure we take along a tape measure!!! Our beautiful 11 FOOT tree didn’t look nearly as tall out there in the woods! #rearrangeallthefurniture
It’s a little early for us to go get our tree, but remember last year?! 🙂 The tree is all set up, but we haven’t decorated it yet. We are going to add the lights Friday night to turn on the next morning for Santa Lucia Day (Lucy means light!) and then add all our ornaments and decorations on Gaudete Sunday!
The older kids are really enjoying their literature study of A Christmas Carol! Last week they all wrote biographies on Charles Dickens and started studying some of the vocabulary. Today we discussed the characteristics of a narrative story, inferences, the setting, characters, and they started rewriting a scene from the story in their own words. They are excited to be working on a Lap Book again!
For all those who have asked: We are using most of this Lap Book. It’s pretty extensive. I’m not sure if we will be able to finish it before we go see the play on the 20th with everything else that has been going on plus two birthdays next week, but at least we’ve gotten started. I’m also reading the story aloud, we’ve listened to the audible version, and we are also incorporating this new picture book about about The Story Behind A Christmas Carol.
Preparing for Christmas :: Seven Fun Finds for Advent
Advent has arrived and the Christmas countdown has begun! This past Sunday, in addition to celebrating the feast of St. Andrew, we lit the first candle on our Advent Wreath, drew names for our Christkindl, read The Beautiful World (chapter one of Read-Aloud Book of Bible Stories) for our Jesse Tree, and unwrapped our first book after our family Rosary and Christmas Novena. I love the season of Advent and preparing our hearts for Christmas!
I also love sharing some of my “Fun Finds for Advent” each year. Here is my list for 2014 in Seven Quick Takes:
#1: New Advent Wreath and Candles
(pictured on this Heritage Lace Silent Night Runner)
I’ve been admiring this beautiful wreath for a couple years now and purchased it during a great sale last month after discovering the lovely 100% Beeswax Taper Candles made by the Cloister Shoppe. We will still have our usual large Advent Wreath in our family room, but this has been a nice addition to our dinner table. My only complaint is that it’s a little small, but that could be just because our dinner table with a family of nine is so huge! 😉 Someday I would love to have a hanging Advent Wreath above our table, but for now this has been a lovely addition to Advent in our “Domestic Church.”
#2: St. Nick’s Goat Milk Soap
Speaking of the beautiful new Advent Candles, I also purchased the St. Nick’s Goat Milk Soap from the creative sisters at the Cloister Shoppe. It will be a great addition to our home for the rest of the Advent and Christmas season, following the feast of St. Nicholas. I also ordered a couple books that I’m looking forward to giving our children in their Stacks of Books on Christmas morning.
#3: Advent Adventure Activity Books
From Instagram: On our way to Mass on the First Sunday of Advent! I have some #AdventAdventure brochures to hand out to other families, our new Advent candles to be blessed, and we just finished going over the Mass Quiz in the children’s Advent Adventure Activity Books. I love #Advent
You can also see pictures of our children creating the candles here.
#4: Advent Calendars
Since Advent began on November 30th this year, on the official “Day 1” we unwrapped and set up all our Advent Calendars, our original favorites and some new ones as well.
I wasn’t going to do the toy Advent Calendars again this year, but our children had so much fun with them last year that I couldn’t resist… This year we have four, one for each bedroom. I already had last year’s Lego City Advent Calendar (for the younger boys to share) and I ordered the new 2014 LEGO City Calendar for the older boys and Friends Calendar for the older girls. (NOTE: The best time to purchase these is during a Buy-one-Get-one-50% off sale at Barnes and Noble sometime before Thanksgiving with the extra member discount, which brings them down to about $20 each from $29.99.)
Lego Friends Advent Calendar, Lego City Advent Calendar (2013), and Lego City Advent Calendar (2014) – all way overpriced at the moment… These always sell out quickly each year.
I really wanted to order this Schleich Christmas on the Farm Calendar for Bud (I’m considering a Barn/Farm themed Birthday for him this year) but it seemed overpriced for what is included…
I was a little skeptical when I placed an order for the new Playmobil “Santa’s Workshop” Advent Calendar for Rose, but I LOVE IT!!!!
Look at that! It even has a HANGING ADVENT WREATH! Go buy it now for next year! 😉 You could even swap out Santa for St. Nick!
Rose has been having so much fun opening a new box each morning and discovering the little toys to add to her scene.
I also ordered the Playmobil Christmas Room and Nativity Scene to give to Rose for her birthday. (These have also increased in price since I placed my order…) Once again it was the beautiful Advent Wreath, as well as the sweet little nativity and traditional candles on the tree, that made me want to add these sets to our collection.
#5: New Family Puzzle
Our family really loves to assemble puzzles during Advent! In 2010 we assembled the Our Lady of Guadalupe Puzzle. In 2011 the kids loved The Nativity in the Woods Puzzle, followed by the gorgeous Holy Family Jigsaw Puzzle and the They Come Bearing Gifts Puzzle for Epiphany. In 2012 we assembled the beautiful Glorious Nativity 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle and this lovely stained glass puzzle. Last year we assembled “The Invitiation” – a gorgeous Noah’s Ark themed 1,000 piece puzzle and also assembled this lovely 12 Days of Christmas Puzzle during the 12 days of Christmas.
This year I was excited to discover this beautiful new Stained Glass Nativity 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle! Isn’t it gorgeous?! I will probably wrap it up as the special treat for the “O Emmanuel” Antiphon. I also have this Christmas Angel puzzle that I purchased last year that I hope to assemble with the children as well, just as soon as our Christmas break from school begins.
#6: Saint Blessing Blocks
Charlotte emailed me the link to this brand new Etsy shop! I’ve made my own Saint Blocks in the past and they were a lot of work… These little blocks are reasonably priced at just $5 each! I placed an order for the Deluxe Nativity (birthday gift for Bud), the December Feasts Saint Blocks, and 5 additional Catholic Saint Blocks. There were additional saints that I would have loved to add to my order, but those will have to wait until Easter.
UPDATED with new photo: These weren’t suppose to arrive until tomorrow afternoon, but the mailman just dropped them off! St. Nicholas must have helped get them here in time for his feast tomorrow! 🙂
Speaking of Saint toys, Last year I shared the Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Nicholas Collectible Vinyl Figure from Shining Light Dolls… It looks like they have a couple new dolls available including St. Patrick and Our Lady of Fatima.
Also, be sure to keep an eye on Charlotte’s Etsy shop. She sold out of Saints n’ Stitches Kits pretty quickly the other day, but she might list more on Monday.
#7: Gift Ideas
I posted about Christmas in Harvard Square when it was first released in October, but wanted to remind you all again that it would make a lovely Christmas gift!
I also wanted to mention Treasure and Tradition for anyone out there who would like to learn more about the Latin Mass. It is a gorgeous new book from St. Augustine Academy Press and I’m looking forward to reading my review copy!
You can find my past “Fun Finds For Advent” in the archives:
Preparing for Christmas :: Seven Fun Finds for Advent (2013)
Preparing for Advent: A Few Fun Finds for 2012
Feasts & Seasons :: Our December Book Basket
At the beginning of each month I fill a basket with books featuring the the various saints whose feast days will be celebrated during the month and place it in the living room. Throughout the month I will find the children curled up on the couch reading books they have chosen from the basket, either on their own or to their younger siblings. I also choose books from the basket for some of our afternoon family read-alouds. Our collection started very small and we have continued adding additional books over the years which we have either purchased or have been given as gifts. Some are picture books, some are chapter books, and some are collections of saint stories. This post is a work in progress and I will continue adding links as I sort through our collection.
Advent & Christmas:
December 1st, St. Edmund Campion (Hist.):
- St. Edmund Campion (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Edmund Campion, Hero of God’s Underground (Vision) by Harold C. Gardiner SJ
December 1st, St. Eligius (Hist.):
- Saint Eloi (Saints: Lives and Illuminations) by Ruth Sanderson
December 2nd, St. Bibiana (Trad.):
December 3rd, St. Francis Xavier (New, Trad.):
- St. Francis Xavier (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Francis Xavier (Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
- St. Francis Xavier (Lives of the Saints: An Illustrated History for Children) by Bart Tesoriero
- Saint Francis Xavier (More Saints: Lives and Illuminations) by Ruth Sanderson
- St. Francis Xavier: Apostle of the Japanese (The Book of Saints and Heroes) by Andrew Lang
- X – Alphabet of Catholic Saints by Nippert
- St. Francis Xavier and the Samurai’s Lost Treasure (DVD with Companion Book)
- St. Francis of the Seven Seas (Vision) by Albert J Nevins
- Set All Afire: A Novel about St. Francis Xavier by Louis de Wohl
- St. Francis Xavier (Cooking with the Saints)
December 4th, St. Peter Chrysologus (Trad.) (New – July 30th):
- St. Peter Chrysolugus (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 4th, St. Barbara (Trad.):
- Barbara (Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
- St. Barbara (Lives of the Saints: An Illustrated History for Children) by Bart Tesoriero
- Saint Barbara (Saints: Lives and Illuminations) by Ruth Sanderson
- St. Barbara (Cooking with the Saints)
December 5th, St. Sabas (Trad.):
December 6th, St. Nicholas (New, Trad.):
- St. Nicholas (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Nicholas (Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
- St. Nicholas (Saints and Angels) by Claire Llewellyn
- St. Nicholas (Lives of the Saints: An Illustrated History for Children) by Bart Tesoriero
- Saint Nicholas (Saints: Lives and Illuminations) by Ruth Sanderson
- N – Alphabet of Catholic Saints by Nippert
- St. Nicholas (Picture Book of Saints)
- Saint Nicholas by Ann Tompert
- The Legend of Saint Nicholas by Demi (great book, definitely a favorite)
- Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend (board book)
- St. Nicholas: A Closer Look at Christmas (coffee table style book)
- The Real Santa Claus: Legends of Saint Nicholas (another favorite, most appropriate for older children, especially love the illustrations)
- The Baker’s Dozen: A St. Nicholas Tale (our “Baker’s Dozen” inspired cookies)
- The Miracle of Saint Nicholas (about a church named “Saint Nicholas” – definitely near the top of my list of favorites for Advent and Christmas)
- The Church Mouse of St. Nicholas
- Kersti and Saint Nicholas
- A Gift from St. Nicholas (we don’t love the illustrations in this one)
- St. Nicholas (Cooking with the Saints)
- Nicholas of Myra: Giver of Many Gifts
- Saint Nicholas and the Mouse of Myra (comic book style)
- The Legend of Saint Nicholas (love this new book about St. Nicholas!)
December 7th, St. Ambrose (New, Trad.)
- St. Ambrose (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Ambrose (Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
- Saint Ambrose and the Bees (Brother Wolf, Sister Sparrow) by Eric A. Kimmel
- St. Ambrose (Cooking with the Saints)
December 8th, The Immaculate Conception (New, Trad.)
- The Immaculate Conception (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- The Immaculate Conception by Jude Winkler
- Just Like Mary
- Mary Most Holy (Coloring Book)
December 9th, St. Peter Fourier:
- St. Peter Fourier (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 9th, St. Juan Diego (New):
- Saint Juan Diego (More Saints: Lives and Illuminations) by Ruth Sanderson
- Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe
- Juan Diego: Mary’s Humble Messenger
- Fresh Flowers in Winter – The Story of St. Juan Diego (Glory Stories)
- Cloak of Roses – Our Lady of Guadalupe (Regina Martyrum Productions)
December 10th, St. John Roberts:
- St. John Roberts (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 10th , Our Lady of Loreto (Hist.):
December 11th, Bl. Franco Grotti:
- Bl. Franco Grotti (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 12th, Our Lady of Guadalupe (New, Trad./some places):
- Our Lady of Guadalupe (Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
- Our Lady of Guadalupe by Father Lovasik
- Our Lady of Guadalupe(Coloring Book) by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
- The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe Empress of the Americas by C. Lourdes Walsh (*there are still a few copies available here at the old price, plus you can support the sisters with your purchase!)
- Our Lady of Guadalupe by Carmen t. Bernier-Grand
- Our Lady of Guadalupe by Francisco Serrano (beautiful pop-up)
- Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe
- Fresh Flowers in Winter – The Story of St. Juan Diego (Glory Stories)
- Cloak of Roses – Our Lady of Guadalupe (Regina Martyrum Productions)
December 12th, St. Finnian:
December 13th, St. Lucy (New, Trad.):
- St. Lucy (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Lucy (Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
- Lucy (Lives and Legends of Saints) by Carole Armstrong
- St. Lucy (Lives of the Saints: An Illustrated History for Children) by Bart Tesoriero
- L – Alphabet of Catholic Saints by Nippert
- *Lucia, Saint of Light by Katherine Bolger Hyde
- Hanna’s Christmas by Melissa Peterson (Hanna’s Christmas is out of print and hard to find at a reasonable price, especially this time of year, but you can watch the author read it aloud on Youtube!)
- Lucia Morning in Sweden by Ewa Rydaker
- Lucia, Child of Light: The History And Traditions of Sweden’s Lucia Celebration
- Bells of Santa Lucia
- Kirsten’s Surprise: A Christmas Story
- A Story of Saint Lucy by Brother Ernest
- Lucia, Saint of Light
December 13th, St. Odilia (Hist.):
- St. Odilia (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- (Saints: Lives and Illuminations)
- Odilia, the Blind Princess (Golden Legend of Young Saints)
- O – Alphabet of Catholic Saints by Nippert
December 14th, St. Spiridion:
- St. Spiridion (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 14th, St. John of the Cross (New) (Trad. – Nov. 24th):
- Saint John of the Cross (More Saints: Lives and Illuminations) by Ruth Sanderson
December 15th, St. Nino (Hist.):
December 16th, St. Adelaide (Hist.):
- St. Adelaide (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Alice (Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
December 17th, Pope Francis’ Birthday:
- Jorge from Argentina: The Story of Pope Francis for Children
- Our Holy Father the Pope, From St. Peter to the Present
December 17th, St. Olympias (Hist.):
- St. Olympias (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 18th, St. Flannan:
December 19th, Bl. Urban the V (Hist.):
- Bl. Urban the V (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 20th, St. Dominic of Silos (Hist.):
- St. Dominic of Silos (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 21st, St. Thomas, Apostle (Trad.) (New – July 3rd ):
- St. Thomas, Apostle (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Thomas the Apostle (Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
- St. Thomas (Saints and Angels) by Claire Llewellyn
December 22nd, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (Trad./some places) (New – Nov.13th):
- St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Francis Xavier Cabrini (Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
- Saint Francis Cabrini (Saints for Girls) by Susan Weaver (Neumann Press)
- Mother Cabrini, Missionary to the World (Vision) by Francis Parkinson Keyes
- The Orphans Find a Home: A Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini Story
- Noble Heroine of Charity (The Story of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini) Audio from Regina Martyrum Productions
December 23rd, St. Servulus (Hist.):
- St. Servulus (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 24th, Bl. Paula Ceriolo:
- Bl. Paula Ceriolo (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
December 25th, Christmas, The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ (New, Trad.):
- Christmas, The Birthday of Our Lord (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Solemnity of the Nativity of Jesus (Mondays With Mary) by Meredith Henning
- Our Advent and Christmas Book Collection
December 26th, St. Stephen (New, Trad.):
- St. Stephen (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- St. Stephen (Saints and Angels) by Claire Llewellyn
- Saint Stephen (Saints: Lives and Illuminations) by Ruth Sanderson
- Good King Wenceslas by John M. Neale
- Good King Wenceslas by Jane Seymore
- A Story of Saint Stephen by Brother Ernest
- Stephen’s Feast
December 27th, St. John the Evangelist (New, Trad.):
- St. John the Evangelist (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- St. John (Saints and Angels) by Claire Llewellyn
- John the Evangelist (The Twelve Apostles) by Marianna Meyer
- St. John the Apostle (Lives of the Saints: An Illustrated History for Children) by Bart Tesoriero
December 28th, The Holy Innocents (New, Trad.):
- The Holy Innocents (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- The Holy Innocents (Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints) by Ethel Pochocki
December 29th, St. Thomas Becket (New, Trad.):
- St. Thomas Becket (Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year – Vol 2)
- Saint Thomas Becket (More Saints: Lives and Illuminations) by Ruth Sanderson
- T- St. Thomas (An Alphabet of Saints) by Robert Hugh Benson (Neumann Press – also available from TAN)
December 29th, St. David the King (Hist.):
- King David And His Songs by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
December 30th, St. Anysius (Hist.):
December 31st, St. Melania:
Other Links for December:
Saints n’ Stitches
Click over to Waltzing Matilda Makes to place an order!
Celebrating the Saints :: St. Andrew the Apostle
St. Andrew is a patron saint of one of our boys and we had so much fun celebrating his feast day in addition to our usual First Sunday of Advent family activities, stories, and prayers.
The beginning of Advent is alway determined by St. Andrew’s Day so I decided to have the children roll 100% Beeswax Advent Candles using this lovely Advent Candle Kit. It is one of our Advent & Christmas Favorites from Holy Heroes!
Like the candles we’ve rolled in the past, these were so simple to make, even the little ones were able to help with a little supervision.
Breakfast for dinner… Yum!!!
I adapted a recipe from Cooking with the Saints and baked them in this Traditional Heart Waffle Maker. They turned out amazing! We won’t be waiting a year to make them again… As soon as I have a chance to share the recipe at Catholic Cuisine, I’ll update this post with the link.
St. Andrew the Apostle, Ora Pro Nobis!
Our 2014 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels
I finally gave up looking for purple wrapping paper and wrapped all the books for our Advent Book Basket in brown paper since I had plenty… It’s the first year I haven’t been able to find the purple paper locally and I couldn’t bring myself to order it online… I ended up making little tags for each and am loving how they are turning out! Almost done, just in time for Advent.
If you’d like to use them too, you can download my Advent Book Basket Labels for 2014 here.
This year the books in our basket are a mix of some of the children’s 35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books with a few new ones mixed in to surprise them… We’ll unwrap and read one book each night following our family rosary. The rest of our Advent & Christmas book collection is in additional baskets for the children to read whenever they’d like. The children will also each receive a new Christmas picture book on the feast of St. Nicholas. You can find this year’s picks here.
Here are the 25 picture books that ended up in our 2014 Advent Book Basket:
November 30 – 1st Sunday of Advent: Waiting for Christmas: A Story About the Advent Calendar*
December 1: The Christmas Cobwebs*
December 2: Marta and the Manger Straw: A Christmas Tradition from Poland
December 3: The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey*
December 4: Cobweb Christmas: The Tradition of Tinsel*
December 5: The Miracle of Saint Nicholas (study guide in Catholic Mosaic)
December 6 – St. Nicholas: St. Nicholas: The Legend of St. Nicholas(NEW) GREAT new book for the feast!
December 7 – 2nd Sunday of Advent: The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree(NEW) details here
December 8 – Immaculate Conception: Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree
December 9 – St. Juan Diego: The First Christmas Stocking*
December 10 – Our Lady of Loreto: A Small Miracle*
December 11 – Our Lady Queen of the Angels: The Donkey’s Dream
December 12 – Our Lady of Guadalupe: Our Lady of Guadalupe
December 13 – Santa Lucia Day: Nutcracker(NEW) Purchased on clearance last January. I also hope to take the girls to see the performance on either the 13th or 14th.
December 14 – 3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday: Bambinelli Sunday: A Christmas Blessing
December 15 – Rose’s Birthday: The Legend of the Christmas Rose
December 16: Katie’s London Christmas(NEW)Love all the Katie Books and look forward to reading this one too. They have been a great addition to our art course.
December 17 – O Sapientia: Christmas at Stony Creek
December 18 – O Adonai: The Doll’s Christmas
December 19 – O Radix Jesse – Bud’s Birthday: Christmas in the Barn
December 20 – O Clavis David: A Christmas Carol: A Pop-Up Book(NEW) This will wrap up our December Christmas Carol Literature Unit Study and we’ll be going to see the performance at a local theater.
December 21 – O Oriens: One Christmas Dawn*
December 22 – O Rex Gentium: Christmas in the Trenches
December 23 – O Emmanual: Bethlehem
December 24 – Vigil of Christmas: The Night Before Christmas(NEW) So excited to see this book back in print this year. It’s the version I remember from my own childhood.
* = Study Guide Available in Christmas Mosaic
I also purchased A Tree for Peter (and pre-ordered The Chestry Oak for Snuggles’ Easter Basket). I’ve had these book on my wish list for years and had been unable to find a reasonably priced secondhand copy. I’m so excited to see that it was re-released last week! It will end up in one of the children’s Stacks of Books on Christmas Morning.
I hope you all have a blessed First Sunday of Advent!
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