12 Days of Christmas Celebrations

The most exciting thing about Christmas in the Catholic faith (well other than the birth of Jesus of course) is that we really have 12 days to celebrate!  We start the true Christmas celebration on Christmas - December 25th and continue until Epiphany - January 6th.  Here are a few SIMPLE ways that we like to celebrate during these 12 days!  We also leave our Christmas tree and decorations until after the Epiphany as we continue to celebrate!

Christmas:  We try to make sure that the focus of our Christmas day is surrounding the birth of Jesus!  We go to mass as a family and then open our Christmas presents as a family.  We have decided the past few years that we get three Christmas presents for each child to represent the three gifts from the Wisemen.  It helps to keep the amount of presents under control and gives purpose as well.  We celebrate gifts from St Nicholas on his feast day, so the children have already celebrated that part of the Christmas season by the time we get to Christmas Day!

We bake a birthday cake for baby Jesus and sing Happy Birthday!  We also add baby Jesus to our nativity set, because during Advent we display a pregnant Mary figurine.  The children also get to put Baby Jesus in their sacrifice manger filled with hay and sing "Away in a Manger".  The rest of the day we just try to relax and spend quality time together as a family!  See our Christmas Celebration HERE!

Celebrating Baby Jesus's Birthday last year

1.  12 days of Christmas:  Remember all of the lovely ornaments that I have from JesseTreeTreasures that I use during Advent?  We use these ornaments for Our Jesse Tree and also for reflection upon O Antiphons.  Well she also has one for celebrating the 12 days of Christmas!  They are lovely and have a great little reflection with them! 

 

2.  Feast of the Holy Innocents:  We celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28th when young male children were murdered in Bethlehem by King Herod according to the Gospel of Matthew.  This day is also our son's birthday, so it's really a celebration day at our house!  We take time this day to pray for the innocent who have been prosecuted in the past and for those who are prosecuted today!

Feast of the Holy Innocents

3.  Feast of the Holy Family:  This feast is celebrated on December 29th and we celebrate Mary, Joseph, and Jesus together as a family.  This is a great day to relax with a fun family activity to show appreciation to our Holy Family!

 

The Holy Family

 

4. Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God:  This feast day is on January 1st and is a Holy Day of Obligation when we celebrate Mary's motherhood of Jesus.  We go to Mass and also say the rosary in prayers of thanksgiving for Mary.  Also, since this feast day is on January 1st, we also use this day to pick our family Saint of the Year!  Together we pick a saint that we will pray to as a family and learn more about.  This past year we had chosen St Luke, the patron saint of physicians as our son Luke had just been born and my husband was completing his medical training!

We have this print in our nursery at our home


5.  St Elizabeth Ann Seton:  We celebrate the feast day of St Elizabeth Ann Seton on January 4th!  Since we began homeschooling with Seton Home Study School, we have really loved learning more about this saint!  We even were able to visit her shrine when my husband and I visited New York City this November!  We will take this day to praise St. Elizabeth Ann Seton for her gifts as a mother, wife and educator! 

 6.  Epiphany:  Ever since I was a little girl this was my favorite Catholic feast day because it is celebrated on January 6th, my birthday (It's kind of crazy that we have two family birthdays already during the 12 days of Christmas)!  It is on the Epiphany that we celebrate the visit of the Magi to Baby Jesus and also Jesus' physical manifestation to the Gentiles as the Son of God. 

There is so much to do to celebrate Epiphany, one of my favorites being the blessing of your home.  There are special prayers to say, and then you take a piece of chalk (you can have your priest bless it) and you write the initials of the three Wise Men (Caspar, Melchoir, Balthasar), connected with Crosses, over the inside of your front door.  You then write the year, breaking up the numbers of the year so they fall on both sides of the initials.  You leave this marking on your door until Pentecost, which this next year is Sunday May 24th.

So for this year you would write 20 C+M+B 15

It is also believed that the King's initials also stand for "Christus mansionem benedicat" ("Christ bless this house").  You can also make a King's Cake, which is a cake baked in a tube pan to look like a crown.  You can also put a little trinket inside and anyone who finds it inside is "King for the Day"!

We also make sure to leave our nativity set up (and all of our Christmas decorations) and take special time to talk about the wisemen's journey to Bethlehem.  We also have a set of Candles from Dayspring with the Nativity, Shepards and Wisemen that we use throughout Advent/Christmas.



Our "Blessing of our Home" Last Year

Ryan with our Three Wiseman Candle

Those are some of the fun ways that we celebrate during the 12 days of Christmas!  What are some of your fun family traditions during this time of the liturgical year?

7QT- Christmas Homeschooling

This weeks 7 Quick Takes are about the fun Homeschool Activities that we have been doing this week to learn about and prepare for Christmas! 

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We celebrated Guadete Sunday and also Bambinelli Sunday this week, blessing the baby Jesus's from our nativities.  We had so much fun reading this story, which is new to us from our Advent Stories and also saying the prayer from the book for our baby Jesus's (Bambinellis)!  We also extended our celebration of St Lucia and drove around looking at Christmas lights as a family that night since we had my husband's work party the previous evening!  It is such a fun family tradition!

 



 

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We have been having so much fun with our Saint Peg Dolls that I made with a swap this fall and that we gave as a gift for our children on the Feast of St Nicholas.  Our middle son loves order in his life and is constantly putting things in lines or sorting by color, size, etc.  This week I walked into our living room to find this, all of the little saints lined up!  I am so impressed with having these in our home for only a little over a week how many saints that our children can recognize.  It is also a great way for them to ask questions about saints that they may not know about.  It has been a great learning experience for all of us, plus they are adorable and easy for the kids to handle! 

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We got the Christmas coloring books with our Pre-Kindergarten curriculum from Seton and we saved them to use them during Advent/Christmas time!  They have great narration along with fun pictures to color.  We also have been having fun with the dot marker coloring sheets from 3 Dinosaurs Nativity Preschool Pack!  We love using all of their fun printables when we are looking for things to add to our homeschooling!

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We have these fun puppets from the nativity story that we made with a kit from Hobby Lobby!  They have been a great and interactive way for the kids to act out and re-tell the nativity story!  Our 3 year old really likes the part when the wise men bring PRESENTS!!  This has provided me with a great way to lead into the discussion of what the true meaning of Christmas is!

 

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Do you remember how I said that we like puzzles?  Well one of our favorites is this fun puzzle of the nativity!  We have had a great time putting it together multiple times this week and talking about the nativity story.

 

 

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One thing that was recommended to me when I spoke of my favorite resources for Homeschooling last month was called Catholic Mosaic.  Not only did I pick up a copy of Catholic Mosaic but I also got Christmas Mosaic and we are LOVING it!  A lot of the books listed in Christmas Mosaic were also books that we already had in our book list for Advent/Christmas or books we could easily get from the library.  It has been such a great resource to open up more discussion and activities with great literature!  It reminds me a lot of a Catholic version of Before Five in a Row, which we used last year for our homeschooling!

 

 

--- 7 ---

For a fun craft time activity this week we painted Christmas ornaments!  The boys had SO much fun doing these to help get ready for Christmas!  It's one of those craft activities that makes me glad to have stuff to keep it neat and tidy, but I know it makes lots of fun memories and we all had a great time!

 

Well that is some of what we have been up to this week for some homeschooling fun!  I hope you have had a great week of Advent, preparing for Christmas!

For more Quick Takes, visit This Ain't The Lyceum
 

Happy Birthday Pope Francis

Happy Birthday Pope Francis!   We love to use the Pope's birthday as another day to celebrate in our domestic church. We enjoy saying special prayers for the Pope, learning something fun about what he has done or is doing and sometimes even make a birthday cake to help celebrate!

I still remember March 13th, 2013 like it was yesterday!  I was still working outside of the home at the time as a Maternal/Child home heath nurse and I was at a meeting at the Nebraska Children's Home for one of my patients.  I had been following the conclave since it started and there was rumor that a decision had been made for our new Pope.  I rushed home to try to be able to watch the news with my family and made it home just in time.  Our oldest son had just gotten up from a nap so he was able to watch with us as Pope Francis stepped out on the balcony for the first time!  Then came the exciting part, getting to know our new Pope!

Watching the Conclave and Announcing of Pope Francis in March 2013

My husband and I were first excited to find out that Pope Francis is a Jesuit, as our alma matter is Creighton University, a Jesuit college here in Omaha, Nebraska.  We soon learned that piece of information was just scratching the surface at how amazing he is.  He is a true humble servant of God and demonstrates this in so many little ways.  Although he has received criticism, he has also received great praise and thanksgiving and I have great faith that God has Pope Francis leading our Church here on Earth right now for a reason. 

If you are looking for fun things to do with the kids (or yourself) here is a great website to teach you about Pope Francis or also a fun coloring sheet!  We also love making the Saint Puppets from Catholic Icing and made this one of Pope Francis last year!

One of the prayers that I have added to my daily prayer life this past year is the Morning Offering.  I try every day to pray the Morning Offering, read the daily readings of the mass, say a daily rosary, pray the Angelus, and learn about the Saint of the Day.  There are definitely days that go by where I do not fit all of that in, but the one thing that has remained consistent is that I always find time to say the Morning Offering.  Also, homeschooling our children has helped greatly with this because we add the rosary, saint of the day and the Angelus at noon into their school day!  My favorite line of the prayer is "I offer thee, all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day".  It is a great reminder to me to offer everything, the good and the bad of my day to God.  I also love that it gives us an opportunity every day to pray for the Pope!



Morning Offering Printable from Catholic All Year



Happy Birthday Pope Francis!

O Anitphons

As we are preparing for Christmas, from December 17-23th we recite the O Antiphons during evening prayer before and after the Canticle of Mary, The Magnificat.  The O Antiphons are very important within the Catholic Church and have been a part of the Church history since the 4th century. 

The O Antiphons express the longing for the Jesus and each one highlights a title for the Messiah:  O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and O Emmanuel (O God With Us).  The first letter of each of these titles, when read backwards, form the Latin words: "Ero Cras" which means "Tomorrow I come".

This year we are using our beautiful O Antiphons Ornaments from JesseTreeTreasures and their reflections.  Some people give special gifts and do activities with each day as well, which I hope to add in years to come as our children get older (baby steps!)  If you are looking for ideas my favorite are from Jessica at Shower of Roses!


Our "O Antiphons" Ornaments

Isaiah 9:6:  For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.

December 17th:  O Sapientia (O Wisdom)

Isaiah 11:2-3:  And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness.  And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord, He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears.

December 18th:  O Adonai (O Lord)

Isaiah 11:4-5:  But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall prove with equity the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.  And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the girdle of his reins.

December 19th:  O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse)

Isaiah 11:1:  And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root

December 20th:  O Clavis David (O Key of David)

Isaiah 22:22:  And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.

December 21st:  O Oriens (O Rising Sun)

Isaiah 9:2: The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.

December 22nd:  O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations)

Isaiah 9:7:  His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. 

December 23rd:  O Emmanuel (O God with Us)

Isaiah 7:14:  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.  Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel. 

Feast of St Lucia Celebration

Wow, we had a fun week celebrating so many fun Saint feast days!  Within 9 days we celebrated St Nicholas, Immaculate Conception, St Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St Lucia and now Guadete and Bambilini Sunday!  I think that the fantastic thing about celebrating the liturgical year in your home is you can make it as simple or as elaborate as you want!  Right now with little ones the main thing that I want to accomplish in celebrating feast days is to learn something about the saint and also to have fun! 

 

For the feast of St Lucia I had great intentions to make the tradition St Lucy rolls, but sometimes the best plans go arise.  So, my back up plan was to make some basic canned cinnamon rolls (which I usually have a can or two in our fridge).  We opened the fridge and had none, so now to back up plan number 2 which was to use regular crescent rolls, shape them into Lucia rolls and to put butter, cinnamon and sugar on them!  The great thing about having little kids is that they thought that they were as great as the real thing!

 

In the morning we read the story of Lucia: Saint of Light from our collection of Advent books and made our Saint Lucy and Star Boy from Catholic Icing Advent Saint Ornaments. 

In the afternoon we went to an amazing Living Nativity in the woods at the Knowles Mercy Spirituality Retreat Center about 20 minutes from our home.  It was a lovely interactive event where we traveled into the woods to walk to the manger scene and see live animals.  This is definitely a tradition that we would love to continue to come back to year after year!

 

 

We usually take the evening of St Lucy's feast day to put the kids in their pajamas, get a big thermos of hot chocolate and drive around looking at Christmas lights around town as a family.  Last night we had my husband's Christmas party with his work so we postponed looking at Christmas lights until tonight! 

We had a wonderful feast of St Lucia and are looking forward to the coming week of Advent where we get to light our pink candle of Joy!

Beauty in the Silence

My husband and I went on another date night this week and it was one that I was really excited for!   When we were on our trip in New York City earlier this fall, taking a well needed break away from our kids to give a little time to our marriage, I got an e-mail that Steven Curtis Chapman was coming to our hometown for a Christmas concert.  I love Stephen Curtis Chapman and really most all Christian/Religious music.  During my teen years listening to Stephen Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Point of Grace, etc would help give me words to express my faith, joy and praise.  But do you ever have those moments when you think you want something, until you have it, and then you realize that it is not what you want?

I have really been growing in my faith in the past few years.  Once we started having children and I quickly realized that God put the responsibility to teach our children about the Catholic Church in my husband's and my hands.  I learned that I wanted to know more about the Church and grow in my own personal faith to be able to better teach it to our children.  We started homeschooling with Seton and by simply teaching their pre-school curriculum and implementing liturgical living in our home we have seen our entire family grow in our faith.

I have been taking time to read fantastic books this Advent, pray, journal and reflect on this Advent season longing and preparing for Christmas.  We have gone to great talks and have been trying to focus more on the Advent Saints and fun Advent activities, including listening to Advent music.  I've been listening to Marian Grace and Advent at Ephesus and truly trying to let myself long for Jesus.  My song that I play on repeat is "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" by Marian Grace and think of the lyrics often "Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set the people free.  From our fears and sin release us, let us find our rest in thee".  Yes, Jesus, you are long expected during this season of Advent!

So then we went to the Steven Curtis Chapman and Brandon Heath Christmas concert.  First, let me tell you that I think that they have an amazing gift and I truly appreciate artists who use their lives to praise and glorify God.  The concert was held in a Baptist church in town and I am grateful for them to host the concert.  My husband and I sat in this church and I looked around.  I was sitting in a church, but I did not see Jesus anywhere.  There was no cross, no holy water, no stain glassed windows of Jesus or saints, no altar and no tabernacle.  We were sitting in an auditorium, that was a church, without even one simple cross.  The concert was loud with praise as everyone sang "Joy to the World" and I could not help but think "WAIT, we are still in Advent, longing for Jesus!"  Brandon Heath came out to sing his songs called "The Day After Thanksgiving" and "Momma Wouldn't Lie to Me" talking about waiting for Christmas until the day after thanksgiving (not until Christmas) and Santa Clause.  I tried to close my eyes and pray "God, what do you want of me, how can I say yes to you tonight, right now?" 

Intermission came and my husband could tell I was deep in thought.  He asked me what I was thinking about and I started pouring out to him "I'm not sure what it is, but I do not feel like this is where I am supposed to be right now".  He asked if I wanted to leave, but that sounded silly since we paid for these tickets and we were there seeing an artist who I have always enjoyed and respected.  I continued to try to explain how it was so loud, that it felt so premature to be celebrating Christmas in song, and although people around us were raising their hands in praise, that this just was not what my soul needed to prepare for Christmas.

Now, don't get me wrong, I already have a Christmas tree lit in my home and sure a few carols have been played, but overall I find myself waiting and longing more for Jesus.  Also, it was a wonderful concert and it is not that I think anything is wrong with listening to Christmas music, it just was not what I was looking for in our evening all of a sudden.  In this moment my wonderful husband said "Well sometimes I think we can best experience Jesus in the silence!" 

So, right then and there, we got up, headed out, and drove across the street to the Boystown Chapel.  We walked in and immediately I was surrounded by the beauty of the Catholic church.  Gleaming down the aisle was the bright gold tabernacle, with the beautiful red candle lit, there was Jesus! 

Boystown Dowd Chapel

We knelt down in the pew together, in the silence, and prayed.  It was glorious!  I thanked God for giving me this experience with my husband.  I thanked him for teaching us communication so that we could support and understand each other in order to maybe do the unexpected in return to understand what God is really asking of us tonight.  He is asking for us to come to him and to be present in him.  I know that God is present in different peoples lives in different ways, and I am so thankful that God is able to reach so many people because of that. 

Yet, tonight, I was so thankful for Jesus creating the Catholic Church.  I told my husband "God is here, not always in the song, but in SUBSTANCE, in the Eucharist!"  As it says in A Eucharistic Christmas, which I am reading this Advent, "Through the gift of the Eucharist, we receive the very person of Jesus Christ, and in so doing become a chalice of his life".  God please let me be a chalice of Jesus's life.  Please let me carry his truth and love within me and pour it out to those around me.  As I looked at the manger with shepherds and animals beneath the altar I truly longed for the birth of Jesus, to complete the manger scene and to come into my heart.  In that quietness of the Church, we sat, held hands, prayed and God was there. As for me, I choose to still wait in the silence for Christmas, and to long for my Savior.