Merry Christmas to You

On this last day of Advent,

we wish each of our loved ones

a very Blessed and Merry Christmas!!

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the Newborn King

Epiphany Care Package

Last year I made Saint Nicholas Day gifts for my far flung family. Since it was such a hit (well, at least that's what they told me ;-) I decided to sent them an Epiphany party. 

**Included in the Kit**

** A letter inviting them to celebrate the 12th day of Christmas

** A beautiful print of the Three Kings

** Myrrh incense with a little background information from Wiki (just a few facts, not the whole article)

** A note about feasting and our family friendly baking with links to Catholic Cuisine, Shower of Roses, and Catholic Icing for inspiration

** A recipe for King Cake

** A baby Jesus, of course

** Instructions for a home blessing

** Blessed Chalk

** Jewels and crown to decorate

** A few coloring pages from the Internet

** Gifts of gold chocolate coins and peanut butter cups

** Follow the Star cookies

A few more ideas for Celebrating from Christmas to Epiphany

* Move your Wise Men around the house each day with them getting closer and closer to the Christmas Crib for their big arrival on Epiphany. The kids can wake up each morning and find the travelers.

* Leave up all the decorations for the full 12 days (That one is hard for me!)

* Act out the arrival of the Wise Men with capes, crowns, and gifts

* Save a present to be opened on Epiphany

* Sing 'We Three King of Orient Are'

* Go to Mass on January 6th

Books to Read

The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola

The Story of the Three Wise Kings by Tomie dePaola

The Last Straw by Fredrick H. Thurry

And then your children can pretend to be Hoshmakaka, the camel!

Saint Andrew Christmas Novena

This is our first year praying the St. Andrew Christmas Novena. For many years I've read about Elizabeth Foss's devotion to this prayer.  Every year I have wanted to craft beautiful chaplets, print inspiring prayer cards, and pray in soft candlelight with my family. Every year I have procrastinated and done nothing. 

But this year, I am praying for a miracle, one of those miracles that can only occur through the grace of God. Well, I suppose all miracles are like that.

So, this year we made chaplets from ribbons and pony beads. The children each chose their own color of beads to string. I printed a quick prayer card. And we all prayed in flickering light of our new electric candles. It does not look at all like I had imagined so many times, but the prayers are fervent and sincere. God knows our hearts and may He grant our prayers.

Advent 2010

I know this is extremely late, but I wanted to record a few Advent adventures and crafts to remember for the future. Christmas, also late, will follow shortly.

Advent Wreath

Being as I am a procrastinator of epic proportions, hence the tardiness of this post, I did not have any candles on hand for advent. The few craft stores that I visited were also bereft of purple and pink candles. So, thinking fast and a wee bit desperately, I decided to use the clear votives left over from a previous project. My plan was to quickly decoupage pink and purple tissue paper on to the glass. But, of course, no pink and no purple were to be had in my home. As the store is 45 minutes away, a quick trip to pick up supplies was out of the question. I did have white tissue paper in the drawer and a nifty solution in the end!

The Desperately Late Mother's Guide to Advent Candles

4 clear glass votive candle holders

White tissue paper

Water colors

Modge Podge or Elmer's Glue

Glitter

Purple Ribbon

Simply water color the white tissue into purple and pink sections. The colors will be molted but that adds to the charm when lit at night. Allow the paper to dry. Have your small children tear it up into quarter size pieces. Give the little ones paint brushes and a small bowl of Modge Podge or watered down Elmer's glue. Let them paint the tissue paper on with lots of sloppy glue. When they get bored and leave, finish up by patching any bare spots and adding a final coat over the whole exterior of the candle holder. Invite the children back in to dump sprinkle glitter on the wet glue. Add a ribbon around the top with a bit more glue and let dry.

These Advent candles have ended up being my favorite by far. They look so pretty and sparkly at night and during the day. The littles can help to their hearts content and the results are lovely.

Here are a couple 'Babe in the Manger' crafts

This one was completed by my girls at their American Heritage Girls meeting. It simply involves half a styrofoam cup, brown felt, a wooden peg doll found at the craft store, gold pipe cleaners, and some raffia. Wrap the baby Jesus in brown felt and glue gun on his halo. Add some cut raffia to the cup with glue gun and then add your little baby. Some of the girls glued him in, others wanted to be able to move him around. So sweet!

My little ones painted these wooden mangers last year after we read Angela and the Baby Jesus. Then, throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas, I would hide them all in one room. Each day the children would search for the their sweet Jesus' just as the Wise Men were searching after the Newborn King. I bought these through Casey's Wood. I believe we are still searching for one baby. He will be found one day!

Playing Christmas

 In the children's playroom, I set up a few Christmas items: a very small fake tree, a few unbreakable ornaments in a basket including a nativity set, a Santa Claus hat, and some pretend milk and cookies. The child had a grand time decorating and redecorating the room and tree. Then one would don the Santa hat while the others pretended to sleep. Freshly wrapped blocks and trucks would be waiting for them every time they awoke from their giggly slumber. 

The Prophets Visit

Finally, every Advent the prophets Isaiah and Micah come visit and perch themselves on the kitchen window sill to remind us of His coming. Each year I light a candle, read the corresponding Bible passage to the children, and have a little discussion about God's great mercy in sending the prophets to prepare all those who were awaiting the birth of the Savior. And then, we too continue to wait and prepare.

Saint Nicholas

An idea for far flung family: a Saint Nicholas Day activity package!

Since it is St. Nicholas' job to bring cheer and joy to those patiently awaiting the birth of the Christ child, I thought it might be fun Christmas gift to bring the celebration of his feast to my nieces and nephews. 

Included in the package:

One letter with the St. Nicholas Center's web address

1 memory game from the St. Nicholas Center

Various coloring pages found on the web

A St. Nicholas Story by Maragret Meyerkort

Gold chocolate coins

Chocolate star cookies which coordinate with the story

Some instant hot cocoa

A handmade St. Nicholas ornament

And a St. Nicholas picture for display

One thing that I did not include, although I had bought seven of them, was the Saint Nicholas book. Upon reading it, I found out that all traces of Bishop Nicholas had been removed. The book has a very protestant feel to its language, which is just fine for those looking to reclaim the wonderful saint who inspired our current Santa Claus, but it was not what I was looking for.

Instead I found the wonderful story by Maragret Meyerkort at the St. Nicholas Center. While it does not have any details about St. Nicholas' life, it tells why he comes to visit the children in such a beautiful and moving manner that I had to include it. Here is an excerpt:

Today St. Nicholas is in the heavens. Every year on his birthday he starts on his journey down to the earth. He asks for his white horse and journeys from star to star. There he meets Mother Mary, who gathers silver and golden threads for the shift of the Christ Child. Mother Mary says to him: "Dear St. Nicholas please go again to the children and bring them your gifts. Tell them, 'Christmas is nigh and soon the Christ Child will come."

Isn't that beautiful and perfectly touching for a young child?

Some other ideas to include in a gift package:

Crayons or watercolors

Homemade peppermint scented playdough

Painted wooden saint

A St. Nick puzzle

Chocolate St. Nicholas

An activity that I will do with my children at home is a CGS style presentation of St. Nicholas' life. 

I made my presentation a few years ago from the directions at St. Nicholas Center. However, they have made the presentation much more accessible by having printable cards for each component of the story. This is such a wonderful and tangible way to share the great saint's life!

St. Nicholas, Pray for Us!