November 30th is the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle. He was first a follower of John the Baptist and then Saint Andrew became the first Apostle of Jesus. This particular feast has a lot of strange traditions for unmarried women. In Europe, tradition states that single women who wish to marry ask for Saint Andrew for assistance. The night before his feast, they should sleep naked and they should dream about their future husband. There is another tradition that says that unmarried women should pay attention to the direction of barking dogs on Saint Andrew’s Eve, that is the direction that their future husband will come from that direction. On the day after the feast of Saint Andrew, young men and women gather cups and write their names and "priest" on the cups. The cups are then set to float in a tub. If a specific boy‘s and a girl‘s cup drift together and are met by the cup with “priest” written across, it indicates marriage.
In honor of this patron saint of fisherman, it felt only acceptable to enjoy a seafood feast. I decided to bake some breaded cod, coconut shrimp, shrimp tempura and panko crusted shrimp with grilled asparagus and quinoa. It was a hit with the whole family. NO LEFTOVERS! We also got to finish off some sparking apple cider from Thanksgiving!
Tonight was also the evening we decided to decorate our Christmas tree. It has been a family tradition to decorate our tree on Thanksgiving evening but with my increased work schedule we had to push it off. I really wish that I could convince my family to wait until closer to Christmas to setup and decorate the tree but it's hard to break a tradition we've been honoring for as long as my kids can remember. Another special tradition we have to celebrate our Christmas tree, is we add special ornaments each year that represent accomplishments or something special that we hope to remember and we add that ornament on Christmas Eve. We still are on the hunt for our ornament for this year... I can't wait to share what we decide to get. Do you have traditions surrounding your tree? ornaments? something else?
After the tree decorating and enjoying some hot beverages, (hot cocoa for the kids and hot tea for me and the hubby) we moved onto the kids' Advent Adventures with Holy Heroes. Are you participating? If not, you should! It has been part of our Advent tradition for the past several years and it is amazing! Today the Advent Adventure included information on Saint Andrew, which only added to the excitement of this feast day!
Today is the day to start a famously known novena called the Christmas Novena. You say it fifteen times a day until Christmas Day. It is said that anyone who completes the novena will not be denied their request. I will be completing my novena tonight while I am finishing my Advent devotions.
With Advent fully underway, I have been reminiscing on Christmas pasts, the traditions, the family time and the amazing memories. This time of year is so intriguing. It's a time for forgiveness, love and growing in faith. For my #WorthRevisit this week I am sharing a look into our Christmas in July. This is being shared by Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Christmas in July Celebration
Does the hot rainy weather of the summer ever make you miss the cool crisp winter air of Christmas? I LOVE the Christmas season. The music, food, smells, movies and sweaters! It has become tradition in our household to have a Christmas in July Celebration to help us all beat the heat and get into the Christmas spirit!
We started the day out at Mass. It was Little Man's first time altar serving at our new parish. He did amazing and I love how prayerful he looks. Goalie really wants to be an altar server but he is too young and I am afraid that his ADHD will inhibit him from doing altar server duties for awhile. Checkout 5 Tips to Help Your ADHD Child During Mass.
After Mass, we headed to the pool! It is still summer time and it is hot outside. We have been experiencing rain quite often in the afternoon so we decided to head out early. It was a little too chilly for me to jump in the water but the boys had a great time.
While I prepare our yummy Christmas Feast, the boys will be able to read some Christmas books, color and learn about Saint Nicholas all while listening to Christmas music. I think that the music is my favorite, honestly I could listen to Christmas music all year long.
This year I decided (last minute) to keep our celebration pretty simple. I made a Christmas Pork Roast and Christmas Cookies!
Here are some more classic Christmas foods you can enjoy with a summertime twist for a Christmas in July Celebration! I have done all of these at one time or another but I just did not have time to incorporate them this year.
Smithfield Pecan Praline Spiral Sliced Ham
You can purchase this at any large grocery store chain. It's wrapped in a bright blue colored foil too! What I love about this ham is it is packed with a pecan praline sauce that is more summery and gives the ham amazing flavor.
Christmas Watermelon
Slice your watermelon into medium slices and use christmas cookie cutters to cut the watermelon.
Frozen Hot Chocolate (1 serving)
6 fluid ounces vanilla coffee creamer (I use creamer made with almond milk) 1/2 cup hot cocoa mix (2 packets) 1/2-2 cups ice whipped cream (optional) cinnamon sticks (optional) shaved chocolate (optional) sprinkles (optional)
Pour Creamer into the blender. Add cocoa mix and ice with the creamer. Blend until ice is crushed and drink is at a slushy consistency. Don't be afraid to add a splash of peppermint extract while you are blending if you like peppermint cocoa. Pour into a mug or glass and garnish with whipped cream, cinnamon sticks and sprinkle with shaved chocolate and/or sprinkles if you wish. Enjoy!
**This can be made into an adult beverage if you add 2 oz of Baileys and/or Peppermint Liquor**
So last minute I did make some frozen hot chocolate! We will end the day with a Christmas Movie Marathon that will include the classics! Polar Express, A Christmas Story, Silent Night and A Christmas Carol. My most favorite Christmas movies are White Christmas and It's A Wonderful Life. I force my hubby to watch them with me quite often.
A Movie Marathon would not be complete without popcorn and frozen hot chocolate for the boys and a nice big glass of wine for me and my husband. Now to be patient... just another 5 months until the real Christmas season begins. I am sharing this at Talk it Up Thursday.
Children's Prayer to Saint Nicholas:
God Our Father we pray,
That through the intercession of St. Nicholas,You will protect our children.Keep them safe from harm,And help them grow,And become worthy of Your sight.
I am so excited that Advent is finally here! The amazing music, food and memories. We still have tons of leftovers and will be using them in our dinner recipes and for lunch leftovers for the rest of the week. I have been working a little extra and am slowly returning our family dinners to more healthier selections. Although it is the holidays, fitness and clean eating are extremely important! Here are my recipes for this Menu Plan Monday.
Monday:
Leftover Turkey Casserole
Tuesday:
Pigs in a Blanket or Pizza (Daddy is cooking)
Wednesday: Feast of Saint Andrew
Baked Fish with Quinoa and Asparagus
Thursday:
Boys will Eat at Cub Scouts Meeting and Salad for me!
Friday:
Boys will Eat at Pack Meeting and Salad for me!
Saturday: Feast of Saint Francis Xavier
Xaver Suppe
Sunday: Second Sunday of Advent and Parish Faith Night
Picnic at Parish Faith Night
In honor of the festive get togethers that come with the holidays, here's a tasty recipe for sangria that is sure to please! I made this during our Thanksgiving Dinner and it was amazing! You could always omit the alcohol and make a tasty mocktail for the family too. Also, keep an eye out for another great resource that will be shared by the Zelie Group containing some Holiday Recipes that you are sure to love!
Cranberry Apple Cider Sangria
1.75ml bottle of Red Wine 2 Cups Cinnamon or Honey Whiskey 1 Cup Cranberry Juice Cranberry Sprite Sparking Apple Cider 1 Cup Fresh Cranberries 1 Naval Orange (Sliced) Cinnamon Stick (Garnish) Fill a Gallon container (or something larger) with the whole bottle of Red Wine, Whiskey, fresh cranberries and squeeze and drop orange slices into the mixture. Allow to sit overnight in the refrigerator. Add the Cranberry juice and then equal parts of the Cranberry Sprite and Sparking Apple Cider until the pitcher is full. Mix and serve in wine glasses with extra fresh cranberries, oranges and a cinnamon stick. Enjoy!
Today is the First Day of Advent! It's finally here! The season I have been preparing for over the past month and I could not be more excited about how the day progressed. Do you have family traditions that begin with Advent? We do! We normally welcome back our Elf on the Shelf (yep, we do it! and we use it to highlight the liturgical year too)! Our Elf is named Buddy.. I know it's real original but the kids' love him and his name.
We always set him up near our Advent Wreath on the day of his return so that the boys remember that it will be our first day lighting a candle in honor of Advent. We also have a Welcome Advent/ Welcome Back Buddy Breakfast! Buddy the Elf is so sweet that he even sets the plates, cups and forks on the table so its less work in the morning. We enjoyed caramel pumpkin pancakes because we love pumpkin everything in this house and it was a breakfast that could be "stirred up" on this Stir it Up Sunday. The first Sunday of Advent is called Stir it Up Sunday because of an old Advent prayer that begins with "Stir up, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people".
If you are interested in the adventures of Buddy and how we utilize him in our Liturgical celebrations follow me on Instagram or checkout #BuddyKongElfAdventures.
After breakfast, we enjoyed a little family time before heading off to the boys' first Christmas Children's Choir practice. Goalie has been beyond excited since he learned he was FINALLY old enough to join the choir this year and has been asking constantly when he could go to practice. Little Man on the other hand, wasn't planning on participating. He actually asked if he could just read while his brother rehearsed. I try my best not to force push my children into activities but I was disappointed Little Man didn't want to participated. It's funny how God intervenes because the music teacher running rehearsals was offering lollipops to the children participating in the choir and that's all it took for Little Man to change his mind and want to join. Go figure!
I have to be honest and say that I was not 100% ready for Advent to begin today and ran to three different stores searching for Advent Candles so we could Bless our Wreath and light our first purple candle during dinner. I was frantic until I came across some ribbon and decided to tie it to our white taper candles as a substitute until I can obtain some colored candles. I guess it looks a little fancier this way too... maybe I'll add the ribbon to the colored candles too?
I am a SUPER corny person and I love when you can play on words so even though I stirred up some pancakes for breakfast, I thought it would be fun to enjoy some turkey "stir"-fry for dinner (we still have TONS of leftovers from Thanksgiving) and I had plans to stir up some Christmas pudding too! Making Christmas pudding is actually a real tradition that often happens on Stir it Up Sunday but we ran out of time so we will be making our pudding tomorrow afternoon. Looking for an easy recipe? Check out my Menu Plan Monday post from this past week. It includes a recipe for a no steam Christmas pudding packed with protein and a little healthier than most Christmas Puddings. Do you have any Christmas Pudding recipes? If so, please share them!
Dinner was devoured and we ended our evening completing Day 1 of the Holy Heroes Advent Adventure as a family! It has been a tradition of ours for the past four years and the boys love it! Free coloring pages, cute videos and prayers all sent directly to your email each day.. you can't beat that! While I was running around town searching for Advent candles, I purchased some purple folders to hold the boys' Advent Adventure printouts and brand new notebooks for them to utilize in this new liturgical year as a prayer journal and to keep work that we do on the saints throughout the year.
Now that everyone is in bed, I am beyond thrilled to get started on my devotions too! I am using Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta, The Little Blue Book and my prayer journal. I will be writing out some New Liturgical Year Resolutions and evaluating why I haven't met some of these resolutions in the past.
What devotions are you trying out this year? I am ashamed to admit that I cannot remember an Advent season that I actually completed a full devotion and it is one of my goals to complete these properly this Advent season. Prayers would be greatly appreciated as I tackle this goal!
I know that it seems that this day was just packed full of family fun but I also am participating in an Advent Photo Challenge hosted by the Zelie Group! It started today but it's never too late to join in the fun. Check out the amazing pictures that were shared with us today by searching through the hashtags listed. How was your start to Advent? If it's not how you planned you still have plenty of time to get things prepared the way you want them! I hope this Advent season is prayerful and meaningful for you and your families.
This is my final post in my Advent Series. If you missed out on any of the previous posts, I included links to this posts below. To finish off the series, I compiled an Advent Bucket List and some Christmas Shopping Guides! These are activities that you may already do but maybe you'll get some ideas for some more family traditions during the Advent season. I have them divided into each week of Advent and are broad options but I will be sharing how my family celebrates specifically throughout the Advent season so make sure to come back and see what we are up to and please share your family's traditions too! I was hoping to have this posted yesterday but you still have plenty of time today to finish preparing and starting your Advent celebrations!
I shared a simple and healthier recipe for Christmas Pudding on my Menu Plan Monday Post if you are looking for a quick and easy family recipe. Make sure to have everyone stir up the pudding together and make a wish!
Do you have favorite holiday movies? I've suggested a few throughout this series but there are so many great films to share as a family during this time.
Remember to send Christmas cheer to your friends and family! Send Christmas cards or bless someone during this week. It's time to Rejoice that Christmas is almost here!
This is the culmination of Advent! Finish your cooking, cleaning and preparations because after this you have Twelve Days to celebrate the Christmas season! Begin to plan your Twelfth Night Party and all your other fun Christmas activities.
Christmas Shopping Guides:
This season is a season to bring joy to friends, families and strangers. A time to evangelize and show the world what being Catholic is all about. Gifts for our loved ones has become a tradition to help spread love and gratitude so in honor of this tradition i have compiled some amazing Christmas Shopping Guides!
If you have a gift guide you would like added please contact me with your link. Well that's the end of my Advent series. I will be looking forward to see how everyone starts their celebrations today! We had our traditional Welcome Advent and Welcome Back Buddy the Elf Breakfast this morning but I'll be sharing more about that later today. I am keeping all of your families in my prayers during this holy season. Use the next four weeks to prepare for Jesus!
Welcome to the weekly link-up recently turned Blog-Hop Just Enough Info or just, JEI for short. This lovely Blog-Hop is hosted by The Zelie Group and we would love for you to join us! This week we are discussing Thanksgiving! I'll also be sharing some of our fun activities we have been doing during this fun family holiday! Let's get started with this week's questions:
Do you have to cook for Thanksgiving? If yes, what’s on the menu? If no, high five!
Yes! I always cook for Thanksgiving! I love to do it and I hope I am able to do it for years to come! We were lucky enough to enjoy a Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving feast at the kids' school this past Friday, a Friendsgiving in my cousin's home this past Sunday and an amazing Thanksgiving with new friend's yesterday. We like to cook a lot so we have leftovers to make soup and casserole over the week after Thanksgiving. Here was our menu:
Appetizers:
Crockpot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Meat and Cheese Tray
Vegetable Tray
Dinner:
Turkey
Cranberry Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Macaroni and Cheese
Peas and Onions
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry Sauce
Gravy
Drinks:
Cranberry Apple Cider Sangria
Sprite
Cranberry Sprite
Sparkling Apple Cider (Non-Alcoholic)
Desserts:
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Fruit Salad (Brought by our friends)
Pumpkin Roll (Brought by our friends)
Ube Cheesecake
(I purchased this homemade dessert from a coworker who makes this dessert from scratch!)
I am still in a food coma and exited about leftover meals this week! I am also excited to start my new workouts starting today! I have to get back to where I was so I am healthy for myself and my kids. Want some of my recipes? Just comment below!
What famous person would you like to invite to your family Thanksgiving?
If I could invite any famous person to our family Thanksgiving, I would love to have Pope Francis over! How amazing and life changing of an experience that would be! I could imagine that there would be no better Thanksgiving!
Excluding family, health and basic needs met - what are 3 things that you are thankful for?
Well since I am not suppose to mention my husband, kids, health and my basic needs.. this list may seem weird to some but I am truly thankful for my cats, coffee and time to make memories! These aren't things that I need to survive, unlike my family, health and home, but they definitely make life more amazing!
1. My Cats: Lemon, Shadow and Cloudy
I know that's probably funny to hear but these little fur balls of pure love really keep me sane sometimes. As I am typing this, Lemon is snuggling with me on my heated blanket and purring. It's an amazing feeling feeling of relaxation and love combined into one. You like our holiday accents for our fur babies?
2. Coffee!
Coffee is a life-saver for me! I live off of it. With juggling the kids crazy schedules (sports, therapy, cub scouts and friends) with my work schedule, household work and the million other things I find myself getting into, the caffeine pickup is a necessity! Plus it tastes amazing! Pumpkin Spice, peppermint mocha, hazelnut flavors ... lattes, cold brew or a cup of french press... so many options and I love them all!
3. Time to Make Memories
Making memories and enjoying experiences are the MOST important to me. I love having time to celebrate things, even if it's not super exciting to anyone else. For example, the boys had a Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving celebration at school and I decided to make Turkey T-shirts and masks. I think the whole family had a blast! All the stuff I needed to make these fun turkey costume pieces I found at the local craft store. Even the shirts the boys are wearing in the first picture at the top of this post.
For the masks:
Plain white mask
Brown felt (Turkey mask base)
Yellow Felt (Beak)
Red Felt (Wobble)
All I did to make the masks was place the felt over the brown felt and layered it with a second mask to draw the outlines of the mask. I should have drawn the eye outline as well instead of guessing as you can see from the white part of the mask showing through. I hand drew the wobble and beak in the corresponding felt and used fabric glue to stick it all together! If you have elastic, you can skip the white mask all together and just add the elastic to the felt mask itself. Super easy and super cute.
For the shirts:
Plain T-shirt (I wanted to find brown shirts but could only find black shirts)
Red, orange, yellow felt (feathers but you can use any colors!)
White Felt (Eyeballs)
Black Sharpie
Yellow Felt (Beak)
Red Felt (Wobble)
Draw some feathers in the colored felt, cut them out and fabric glue them on the back of your shirt to be able to make the 'Shake Your Tail-feather" Shirt. If you like the one pictured at the top too you could add it to your tail feather shirt or by itself! Just cut some white felt circles for the eyes (Sharpie to make the pupils). Yellow felt for a beak and red felt for the wobble.
You have all week to answer this week's questions all about Thanksgiving:
1. Do you have to cook for Thanksgiving? If yes, what’s on the menu? If no, high five!
2. What famous person would you like to invite to your family Thanksgiving?
3. Excluding family, health and basic needs met - what are 3 things that you are thankful for?
Next week we will be discussing all about Holiday Get-Togethers:
1. What's your go-to "someone's coming over" recipe?
2. You have 5 minutes to tidy before guest arrive. What are your tidying shortcuts?
3. What sort of music sets the mood for the perfect gathering?
The Zelie Group has some fun questions coming up in the next few weeks so make sure to follow us on Facebook and we would love to hear what you are interested in! What are you looking to learn about? Do you have questions about the Faith? Questions about the Liturgical Year? We want to help and learn and grow with you and your families!
Also stop by the new Page I created on my blog for new information concerning The Zelie Group. It is a work in progress but it has a good start!
In honor of all the Little Cooks that will be helping out Thursday for Thanksgiving dinner preparations, I thought I would share a post I wrote on Saint Zita. Please remember to say a little prayer for those little cooks in the kitchen this week. My boys love being in the kitchen so I need to do a better job of including them in meal time preparations. I am beyond excited about the upcoming holidays and all the fun memories that they involve. We already got to celebrate Friendsgiving this past Sunday so we are all eager with anticipation for Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas!
Today was an insanely crazy day! I started the day at my Nanny job and then it was a whirlwind of dropping our cat at the vet for shots, taking Goalie to therapy and then to school and then jumping to preparing for our apartment inspection and the kids sporting events today. Did I mention the boys had soccer and football at the same time today! All in all, today might have been crazy but it wasn't all that bad. I am disappointed I was unable to hit the gym today but that means I'll just have to run even father tomorrow to make up for it!
It is funny how today is the feast of Saint Zita because she was a servant and I am sure her days were much more busier than mine could ever possibly be. Her motto was "A servant is not holy if she is not busy; lazy people of our position is fake holiness". She is the patron saint of maids and domestic servants/workers. I was shocked to learn that she is also called upon to find lost keys! There is a beautiful story of a day she stayed at church longer than intended on her baking day but when she returned home she found that angels had prepped all the dough in neat rows and all she needed to do was place it in the oven. This is how she got the nickname "The Little Cook"
In honor of Saint Zita, I thought it would be fun for the boys to be their own "little cooks". Goalie and I attended a "Kids in the Kitchen" class about a month ago and we received the cutest little recipe book for attending the class.
I thought making little pizzas would be the most time efficient and since Saint Zita was Italian, it seemed appropriate! Baking bread is a traditional way to honor Saint Zita but the boys only had an hour before it was bed since we had so many extracurriculars today so bread would have taken a little to much time for us to enjoy tonight.
The boys had a blast making their mini pizzas! I also really enjoyed it because we had leftover veggies that needed to be eaten and there was little prep and mess! I highly recommend having a mini pizza party with your family.
Lately I have been allowing my daily duties to become "burdens". Reading about this patient, kind and hard working Saint has reminded me that I should complete my duties in a prayerful manner and be gracious for the abundant blessings that have been given to myself and my family.
I have really enjoyed writing this Advent Series. I have shared a broad overview of ways to celebrate Advent with your family, traditions prayers and discussed devotions, music and much more. If you have missed any part of the series there are links below. Part 3 of this Advent series will focus on the O Antiphons also known as the Golden Nights. If you haven't had a chance to check out the first two posts you can find the links below:
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What are the O Antiphons?
The O Antiphons, also known as the Golden Nights begin on December 17th and end on December 23rd. Each Antiphon begins with "O" and addresses Jesus with a special name that came from the prophecies of Isaias and Micah. The titles of Jesus and whose initials, when read backwards, form an acrostic for the Latin "Ero Cras" which means "Tomorrow I come." Those titles for Christ are listed below with the dates they are celebrated on with ideas to make them special for you and your family. Something else that is important to mention is that these are called the Golden Nights because that is when they are meant to be celebrated.
December 17: Sapientia
O Wisdom of our God Most High,
guiding creation with power and love:
come to teach us the path of knowledge!
I have read several blogs that suggest purchasing a book for their families that focuses on the churches teachings, ways to celebrate the Liturgical Year or other ways to bring the faith alive. I like this idea and I have purchased books in honor of this night. We have also set up special trips to the library on this day and we search for books together that we would like to read about the Advent season. This is also the night we complete our Christmas cards and share the knowledge of Christ's coming.
December 18: Adonai
O Leader of the House of Israel,
giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai:
come to rescue us with your mighty power!
As a family activity we normally enjoy creating a gingerbread village and decorate individual gingerbread houses. I would like to start a new tradition this year where we "Tinsel" a home on this evening too. Essentially we would put a little basket together for a family somewhere in the area and leave it at their doorstep. I envision this basket being filled with a couple goodies and things that will represent Jesus and hopefully be reminders to whoever is gifted the basket the true reason for the season. This is also a great night to enjoy a fire! Especially with the reference to Moses since he came across of the burning bush.
December 19: Radix Jesse
O Root of Jesse’s stem,
sign of God’s love for all his people:
come to save us without delay!
On this day I normally purchase a Poinsettia to represent the "root of Jesse". It is a beautiful flower and is a great representation of what is celebrated on this day. Root vegetables would make a great meal and maybe including some Root beer or Root beer floats would be a special treat the whole family would enjoy.
December 20: Clavis David
O Key of David,
opening the gates of God’s eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!
I read somewhere that on this night that there was a monastic tradition on this night and the monk in charge of the wine cellar would provide a special bottle of wine to celebrate.Obviously I will be finding a special bottle to share with my husband on this night and I will open up some sparkling cider for the boys to enjoy! I have also seen a few other blogger families that enjoy a Key Lime Pie too! In addition to our special drinks, the kids will also be receiving their own special house keys this year.
December 21: Oriens
O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.
With all the references to light in this O Antiphon, we normally go on our annual Christmas Light viewing complete with everyone wearing their favorite pajamas, wrapped in a warm blanket and enjoying a hot cup of cocoa or apple cider. I have included scavenger hunts on our ride throughout the neighborhood to make things even more exciting too. We will also put a candle light in our window on this night as well thanks to this amazing article I came across the other day:
“Placing lit candles in windows arises from the British persecution against the Catholic Church in Ireland. Since the time King Henry II invaded Ireland in 1171, persecution against the Irish has existed. This persecution increased tremendously in the wake of the Protestant movement, especially under Elizabeth I and then Oliver Cromwell. The logic was simply this: the British conquerors were Protestant and the Irish people were Catholic; therefore, to totally subjugate the Irish people, the British had to crush their religion, and that meant crushing the Catholic Church…During Christmas, every faithful Irish Catholic family hoped to have a priest visit their home so that they could receive the sacraments and in return offer him hospitality. So they would leave their doors unlocked and place candles in the windows to signal a priest that he was welcome and would be safe. Sometimes, a single candle would appear in several windows, or three candles in one window, one each representing Jesus, Mary and Joseph.”
Since Christmas is approaching so quickly, this is the night I usually present the boys with their new Christmas outfits or additions to an outfit to make it look more presentable. This year both boys are in need of new dress shoes and a new shirt so they will get their clothes "fit for a king" this evening. Goalie will be singing in the children's choir and Little Man might be altar serving so I know they value wearing their Sunday Best. In addition to our tradition of new clothes, I have seen that it is common to celebrate with a crown cake or complete some crown crafts.
December 23: Emmanuel
O Emmanuel, our King and Giver of Law:
come to save us, Lord our God!
If possible, I try to take the kids to see a LIVE Nativity on the last night of the O Antiphons. There have been times due to weather, illness or other things that kept us away from attending the LIVE nativity so the boys will make nativity puppets and act out the story. I feel like these kinds of activities really increases the amount of anticipation that the children feel waiting for the baby Jesus to arrive. It would also be a great day to go sit with the Blessed Sacrament for an hour since Emmanuel means "Christ with us". He is most definitely with us when we go to visit him in the tabernacle.
If any of the names of Jesus seem familiar to you, the O Antiphons are the reason behind the lyrics to the Advent song, O Come O Come Emmanuel. At the end of your Golden Night celebrations, singing this song together would be a great way to bring things full circle.
Looking for more ways to celebrate the Golden Nights? Check out the Resources below:
I am in the process of creating my very first O Antiphon House as we speak and I am revamping of Jesse Tree this year so keep a look out for upcoming posts sharing all about these great ways to keep Advent Holy. The final part of my Advent series will include an Advent Bucket List, Shopping Guides and talk about a few other ways to Prepare for a Holy Advent. How close are you to being ready for Advent? What is it you are looking for more information on? I'd love to help and I would love to hear what you think about the O Antiphons. I just learned about the Golden Nights about 7 years ago and fell in love with them!
