More Advent Fun

I'm catching up with fun Advent memories and thoughts, with lots of fun pictures as well!

The Magic of Christmas

I love to watch little ones examine the Christmas Tree.  They love everything about it; the lights, the texture, examining the ornaments.  Those first few Christmas's are so much fun to see it all through their eyes. 

Making Potecia with my Parents

Making Potecia (a special sweet bread) has been a family tradition since I was a little girl.  I love that now my parents continue this tradition with our children.  

Christmas in the Forest 

A local retreat center has a great event during Advent called Christmas in the Forest.  You walk around outside, the children get to dress up in costumes and you reenact and learn about the nativity story!  We have gone for a handful of years now and always have a great time.

Christmas Run

This past year I have really been focusing more on my own personal health and fitness.  I have started running a lot more and I ran my first 10K with my sister!  It was great to do something good for myself as well as create a special memory with my sister.

Special Time with Jesus

Throughout our weeks our little ones often ask to go to "see Jesus".  I try to go to Adoration one a week, and often will take either all or a few of the kids with me.  Sometimes I/we go for an hour, but more often than not its for 15-30 minutes.  Especially during this time of year it is so nice to go spend some special time with Jesus.

Christmas Reading

We always love our read aloud time in our house, but there is something especially nice about cuddling up next to a big stack of Christmas books.  We read, read, and then read some more.  Its a beautiful way to spend out days.

A Preschoolers Nativity

I love to see how little ones play independently and how they imagine things.  I found our three year old setting up our Nativity figurines to travel in the school bus!  These are the memories I adore.

Ice Skating

I cannot believe how great our oldest two sons are doing at Ice Skating.  Last year they they still needed quite a bit of assistance so I was shocked at how well they did independently!  It is so much fun to see them learn these new skills.

Christmas Homeschool Fun

 

I adore how programs that we follow for homeschooling naturally flow into the different holidays and liturgical themes of the year!  Even our Latin program has us learning Christmas words and phrases, which is so much fun this time of year!  It truly makes it feel like we are just living life, learning about the world and experiences around us and not even doing "school".  We still love Memoria Press's Enrichment guides and all of the rich literature, art, music and poetry that it introduces to our family.  The past few weeks we have been reading and expanding upon The Polar Express and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  I am enjoying having two of our children fluently reading so that they are able to read the books independently and out loud for us all!  We also have read a "new to our family" book this season called Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree which we all simply adored and have read again, and again and again!

St Lucia's Feast Day

We LOVE St. Lucia's Feast Day, and started celebrating it in our family four years ago now with the tradition of driving around and looking at Christmas lights to celebrate the Patron Saint of Light!  I have a good feeling what our a part of our kids top 10 favorite feast days, but they announced this year that St. Lucia's feast day may be there FAVORITE, even more than St. Nicholas.  I adore that they are getting old enough to really remember traditions that we are making and to take responsibility to help put them together!

 

This year, a new tradition that we started was that each week of Advent our children got to each light the next candle (in their birth order).  Our third son Luke, had been WAITING to light the pink candle and was so excited when Guadete Sunday arrived!  We also got out my Kirsten American Girl doll and read her Christmas story.  My husband was off work in the evening and surprised us by preparing an amazing leg of lamb for dinner.  It was truly a feast!

 

After dinner the kids got in their pajamas, we made popcorn and hot cocoa and Ryan decorated our van with Christmas lights (which we learned is their favorite part of this tradition).  We then went around and looked at Christmas lights. It was SO MUCH FUN to ride around town, singing Christmas carols as a family and watch all of the kids different personalities shining thru.  Ryan wanted to know how everything worked, Connor laughed and shrieked in excitement at beautiful displays, Luke danced to the music and Peter pointed at everything saying "WHOA!"  It was a night to remember.

 

 

 

Below is a blast from the past to remember all of our other St. Lucia celebrations!  I love to see how the kids have changed and how we have celebrated!

 

2013

 

2014

 

2015

 

 

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe and National Poinsettia Day

We celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and also National Poinsettia Day on December 12th.  We are so lucky to have a BEAUTIFUL poinsettia display in our town at the Lauritzen Gardens.  We went to daily mass and then met my parents to explore the beautiful gardens and watch the trains that weave amongst the wintery plants.  

Because it was National Poinsettia Day the garden was giving out free poinsettias.  When we got home we chose to read The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola together and then read more about Our Lady of Guadalupe and the people of Mexico!

Happy Baptism Anniversary Connor

Connor loves celebrating his Baptism Anniversary during Advent every year as his baptism anniversary is on December 11th.  This year was extra special because his baptism anniversary fell on Gaudete Sunday!  We got out Connor's baptism candle to light, said a special family prayer and he received a fun little gift.  Then we went to mass, and afterwards our parish priest gave Connor a special blessing.  These little things make these anniversaries fun and memorable for the kids and make them understand the gift and importance of the sacraments that they recieve!

Connor's Baptism Anniversary 2015

Connor's Baptism Anniversary 2014