The Final Days

I wish all days of winter or at least all the days leading up to Christmas looked like this:

That's my vision of the beauty I wish Advent had held. Sure, it really did on a good portion of the days. With the right mix of prayer, reflection, steady days, and family time, the past weeks have been good ones. While those proportions weren't evenly divided, we did our best to make our Advent the preparation time. 

The pink week gave us extra feelings of Advent preparing as we headed out of the house to enjoy the season. 

The girls were pumped.

Our more recent annual tradition of taking the kids to experience a local Live Nativity, was a hit once again. We bundled up and headed into the 20 degree weather to see the camels, goats, donkey, and of course those dressed up in costume. It's simple, but it has also become one of our favorite evenings each year. It is usually the week before Christmas and fills us up and puts us in the right spirit. We also take in some great Christmas light displays along the drive as well. 

The following evening, we again headed out (mark your calendars, that's two nights in.a.row out of the house!) and attended the kids' piano recital. 

Another job well done by both of the them and another excellent way to get in the Christmas spirit. 

They are growing up, don't you think? 

The weekend proved to be a fruitful one without much on the agenda. I have most all of the loose ends tied up at home, so I could help Reed with some of his baking and we could make our holiday meal plans. My parents came to visit and we enjoyed a couple of meals with them and a peaceful evening watching a movie together. 

Sunday after Mass we had one of my aunts and a cousin over to our house for a baking afternoon. In honor of my grandma's love of baking and having family gathered around her, I decided to extend the hospitality that she always shared with so many people. We had a great time reminiscing and remembering my grandparents, laughing, and making cutout cookies using my grandma's recipe. 

Perhaps this will be the beginning of a new Advent tradition?

As the weekend came to a close, our priest's homily theme echoed in my mind....

There is still time: Prepare!

With the final countdown to Christmas ahead of us, let us not forget all that has led us to that Holy Night.

My hope is that my family can put our feet up, rest, and enjoy each and every day this week.

And keep on smiling.

I hope that you can do the same and enjoy each precious moment with your family too. 

Angels, Kings, Llamas, Camels...Oh My!

Last night we headed out to the town nearby to take in some Christmas. We planned a little Christmas light tour to see some spectacular displays and a living nativity as well.

Bundled up, we headed out.

"Why, oh why, mother dear must we head out in the dark when it's only 10 degrees?"

Because, little one, there are signs of Christmas to behold.

Kings to be seen in their ornate robes.....

A llama, surrounded by goats....

With a shepherd to lead them...

"Oh really? I am so unimpressed."

Oh, dear child, there are camels to see too....

"Ok, so now I am impressed! What is this big animal that stares at me?"

Don't forget, most important of all are Mary and Joseph and tiny baby (not a real baby)...

We came, we watched in wide-eyed wonder.....

(Yes, that would be my boy who 'forgot' his hat and mittens. You'd think we weren't Minnesotans or something)

All the while, one of my favorite bloggers was waiting to behold her own little Christmas gift....

Have you seen him yet? He's definitely a keeper. Welcome, Nicholas and Congratulations, Minnesota Mom!

Lighting The First Candle

Happy Advent!

Truly one of my most favorite times of year, despite the chaos and stress that it seems it inevitably brings. How could I not love a season of preparation, baking and gift giving? All of those things that are near and dear to my heart.

In an attempt to actually get a post up on my new background and feel like an ACTUAL blogger again, this is gonna be quick.

Advent seemed to sneek up on me despite my planners heart. Oh sure, I read your posts and your wonderful ideas and longed to do such beautiful things in our home this Advent. However, keepin' it real is how we roll lately and with a bout of a series of colds in our family, I just plain ran out of time.

And then Jamie's post arrived in my reader. She's inspirational, that Jamie. And practical. That's exactly what I've got to stick to right now. Her post that had photos of an easy Advent countdown that gave ideas for each day was right up my realistic alley.

Away I went, cutting and creating our own Advent coutdown on Friday. With some of our own creativity and help from the big kids, we came up with a number of simple ways to prepare our hearts, our home and our days.

Our completed countdown serves hangs on a cupboard in the kitchen and serves well as Chrismtas decor too.

A few items from our list:

Several other ideas we came up with included:

-a couple of baking days for the kids and I

-preparing a plate of goodies for a family member in assisted living

-praying for certain intentions

-celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe

-purchasing items for the food shelf

-the kids' Christmas piano recital that is at a home for elderly

-going to confession as a family

-driving around looking at Christmas lights

-watching a Christmas movie as a family

Jamie even did a follow-up with her list so I could fill in where my feeble mama brain was lacking. Thanks Jamie! Check it out if you haven't already.

Another Advent favorite has been the St. Andrew Christmas novena, which we started on Friday. We have so loved making this an Advent tradition in our home over the last few years.

Tonight, as we lit our first purple candle, we also began our Advent family story book. This year we continue through the books by Arnold Ytreeide and are reading Tabitha's Travels.

Finally, in order to give our Advent a fun jump-start we had one of our diocesan seminarians over to visit this weekend. He came yesterday evening and stayed until after supper this evening. You can't believe the fun our kids had with him! He had my big kids kept busy with card games, board games and Wii while it allowed for Reed and I to catch up on odds and ends around the house. Of course, we visited with him too. Hopefully he felt right at home, because we felt right at home with him here. Hey, he was a cheap 'nanny' for a day! I sure wish he wasn't going back to Rome to study after his pastoral year this year. I would hire that guy for my 'manny' in an instant. I guess God has other plans for him instead.

I hope that all of you are enjoying the beginning of Advent in your home as you celebrate this beautiful season of preparation.

Rose And Joy: They Just Kind Of Go Together

Today is Gaudete Sunday! It's always been one of my favorite Sundays. I think it's a Pink thing.

I recall most of my life liking the 'Pink candle' Sunday (Or as our priest reminded us at Mass this morning, it's ROSE, not PINK). It means that Christmas is near, but there still is just enough time to try and enjoy Advent.

For me, the word 'Rose' alone gives me Joy. It has held so much meaning over the last couple of years, so when I hear it I cannot help but smile. That the Rose Sunday comes amid my most favorite time of year, just happens to be an added bonus.

Oh sure, it's stressful these days and at this time of year. Too many, many things that take our time, our effort, our sense of peace and our joy. Somewhere though in the midst of that, is the quiet place. The waiting place. The place I find and grasp just for a quick moment, because in the busyness it can be so fleeting.

It's there though, softly whispering. Beckoning us just to BE in the joy. BE in the season.

Today I am embracing the joy and peace of Gaudete Sunday. Time with my family, wrapping gifts, a family walk and stolen moments of pink.

I know all around me there are many suffering, there are many family and friends that have reasons to be without joy today. This evening we'll turn on our outside Christmas lights for the first time this year and hope to spread our JOY to those around us.

I hope that you are finding plenty of pink and lots of joy to celebrate today.

Our Family Advent

It's several days into Advent and I've been reading post after post of amazing Advent plans. You all have such wonderful ideas and book lists galore!

For some reason, Advent snuck up on me and I was unprepared. Some place in my brain I am still stuck in September. Not sure why.

When one of my kids asked on Saturday morning what book we were reading this Advent season as a family, I sat with a blank stare. I hadn't a clue. In fact, I had completely forgotten to research and purchase something for us. Shoot!

To Amazon I went and found that the author of Jotham's Journey (a past Advent read we all enjoyed)had two other books to choose from. I ordered both so as to be prepared next year and not be caught off-guard again!





We'll be reading Bartholomew's Passage this year, after it finally arrives today or tomorrow. We'll be starting a little late, but we'll be sure to catch up. Within a day after purchasing these books, I read from several bloggers and facebook friends that they too were planning to read Bartholomew's Passage. Looking forward to reading along with so many of you!

Throughout the weeks we'll also pull out a number of excellent Christmas books that I've bought over the last few years. In addition to those, I've got a mile long list of them requested from the library. I've gotten my list over the years mostly from Jessica that she posted again this year.

Our other Advent family tradition that we will again do this year is the St. Andrew Christmas Novena. It has blessed our Advent abundantly and our evening family prayer time as we prepare for Christmas. We prayed it two years ago in hopes of our own little one and last year we prayed it again and offered it for Mr. and Mrs. B. They are expecting Baby B this year in a couple of weeks! This year we will pray it for Baby Gem and a safe delivery and many bloggers/friends/family who are expecting little ones in the coming months.

The novena starts TODAY, St. Andrew's feast day!


St. Andrew Christmas Novena Prayer to Obtain Favors

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.


(It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew (November 30) until Christmas will obtain what is asked.)


No other big plans here for Advent, but I think a few small traditions are wonderful memories to make with our growing family. If you have a prayer request you would like our family to pray for during our Advent novena, please leave a comment or email me (see sidebar). We'll gladly include your intentions with ours.


Happy Advent!!

Advent Tradition/Novena

Today begins the St. Andrew Christmas Novena! We joined in last year and enjoyed adding this to our Advent prayer as a family.

Of course, the novena can be prayed for any petition to be obtained but it is also known to be prayed by/for those wishing to conceive. I believe that our Advent prayers last year were leading our family in preparation for our child we are awaiting the arrival of this year. Believe me, this year we will be praying with heartfelt gratitude to St. Andrew during this beautiful season.

This year we will pray too for so many blogging women I've met whose hearts and arms still remain empty this coming Christmas. We will especially be praying for Mr. and Mrs. B who continue to walk the infertility journey. Mrs. B over at Joy Beyond the Cross offered St. Andrew novena chaplets she made to her readers. I just received mine yesterday and my kids will appreciate it since they enjoyed counting and following along faithfully every evening last year.

Join me in this time of preparation (today until Christmas) in prayer as we make way for the child Jesus to be born in our hearts.

Blessed Advent to all of you!!

Goodies In The Kitchen

Our kitchen has been hustling and bustling most every day throughout the last week. Cookies and Goodies are produced most every day and our freezer is filling quickly. This is the most wonderful time of the year! My favorite, remember?

Do we perhaps have more than enough treats for our little family of four? Well, of course, but there is just something about the time spent in the kitchen with the kids and the sweet aroma that fills our home. While all of the delicacies are tempting, we do tend to ration them out quite nicely and they serve their purpose well into the new year. We also do our best to share them with family and we arrive bearing Christmas goodies when we go to visit. Although I am no Martha Stewart, I do my best and I also realize that not everyone has the time or energy to put into their own cookie creations. It's a fun family memory and tradition to share with our children while they are young.

Treasured moments...except when mama is shouting at the little elves about accurate measurements and to keep their grubby paws out of the mixing bowl! Little sneaks, they are. All part of the fun, I suppose.

Here's a little of what's been filling our kitchen:

Caramel Truffles (seriously, easier than you'd think)

Cookie Dough Truffles pictured here with Jubilee Jumbles

Chocolate Cookie Bark(super easy, kid-friendly recipe)

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Can anyone name the common ingredient in all of these? This mommy loves her chocolate! Should we meet after the holidays and you notice I'm looking a little plumper, let's just agree not to mention it. Alright?

Happy Advent Baking!

Our Busy Schoolroom

'Tis the season for Christmas preparation! And we're gearing up with lots of coloring pages, crafts and numerous projects.

Each day, we're creating an ornament for our Jesse Tree along with Holy Heroes Advent Adventure. And then there are plenty of printable coloring pages, crosswords and word searches that they offer too!

I found these online that we'll use for coloring and some will be used in conjunction with other planned crafts:

(Check out Apples4Theteacher, to print yours. And here, for the religious themed ones.)

If your basket is filled with Jan Brett books for the Christmas/Winter Seasons (shh..don't tell, I think I've got EVERY one from our local library!), then you can find plenty of printables like these, over here.


I've also pulled out an old issue of The Mailbox magazine for Dec./Jan. and found a good number of reindeer, gingerbread man, Santa and snowman simple craft projects. I hope to share them as we finish them.

With all of these fun projects we are keeping busy, but not overly so. We're taking our time and enjoying it all as the winter weather settles in around us. Enjoying our days and preparing our hearts this Advent.

Did I mention all the baking that's going on in the kitchen?! We'll save that for another day. Oh, the goodies!

Thoughts On St. Nick

Yesterday was the feast of St. Nicholas and we celebrated. Where, then, are my photos? Well, they are captured in my memory this year and not on my camera. And I'm okay with that.

A whirlwind of a weekend that kept us moving from one place to another, pretty much left the camera in my purse as I became more tired by weekend's end.

You see, we aren't big 'movers and shakers', my family and I. We enjoy getting out, but enjoy simple bliss at home on a weekend too. This past weekend was a busy one for us. We headed to my parent's house an hour away to spend the afternoon on Saturday and the night as well.

There was a Holiday Tour of Homes in my hometown we decided to take in. It was only four older homes with an abundance of history, but they were all decorated for Christmas. Some, more than others and I'll admit that I should have photos of the first home in particular. Oh was it gorgeous! Every nook and cranny was decorated tastefully, creatively and beautifully. But then, the owner's daughter did admit that her mother has over 30 bins FULL of decorations for Christmas. (And I complained about bringing out our 10 or so!) After the tour, we headed to Saturday evening Mass and a special guest arrived for the children afterward. Yes, good St. Nick made an appearance and brought treat bags with an apple and candy for the kids. And Jonah? He hid under the pew! Oh yes, he still wanted the bag of goodies, but wasn't about to come out for them. Bless her heart, an older lady after Mass found that Jonah was without and went and found him one of the leftover bags.

And overnight rest and then it was up at 5:30 am. For little boys who had been eagerly anticipating the arrival of treats from St. Nick all week, the time was none too early. But then, upon seeing that his gift was a book and a small set of Kid K'nex, instead of a beloved Thomas the train item....well, you can only imagine. After all, everyone wants to wake up to a little boy crying and shouting because he got a gift, right? No, we didn't have the cute little child all grateful for the thoughtfulness of St. Nick like many other blogging mom's did. But, he did come around...eventually. Credit to big sister though, she thoroughly loved her gift!

With that wonderful start to the day, Hubby and I got ready and made our half hour drive that morning to speak to engaged couples at our diocesan Marriage Course weekend. Do you remember our topic? Sexuality, in case you forgot. I wasn't feeling well, dealing with the nerves I usually get and then making a bad choice and chugging a cup of hot cocoa just before speaking. That hit me fast and left me feeling less-than-chipper about speaking on the topic at hand. I did muddle through, thanks to Reed's assistance.

And on from there we went. Picked up the kids in a flash at my parents and then off to our homeschool group's St. Nick party. I brought my cookies to share and there were plenty of other goodies and snacks for potluck. Afterward, the children sat for a story and were surprised with a visitor. Any guesses? Also want to guess which little boy ran from the front of the room? Yup, mine. Again, St. Nick treat bags for all the children, followed by a Talent Show from the children who had the courage. Of which, my children, had none. We've gotta work on that.

It was a wonderful weekend to celebrate St. Nick in many realms and be reminded of my fond childhood memories of our St. Nicholas traditions and my uncle who dressed up each year, stood outside, blessed our home and left us treats. All while we watched and knelt from our dining room window.

It also brought to mind that next year we should change our St. Nick traditions and just stick to an orange and some candy for our kids. It would make the heartbreak of children so much easier.

Wordless Wednesday: St. Nick

The Final Week!!

I'm checking and double-checking my lists. Running the numbers on the calculator and consulting the Christmas budget. Checking the pantry and pulling out recipes. I'm literally picking my brain to be sure that I have everything covered.

You remember when I mentioned almost a month ago that I had a goal? And that it was to be out of the stores BY December 1st? That's next week. You know what? I think I'm gonna make it.

I've shopped in-store and online. I've cut down our gift giving. Made a couple of cuts in our Christmas card list. I am minimizing stress.

The Christmas cards are written out (we kept it pretty simple this year) and addressed, gifts tucked away and even a couple of more time consuming and heartfelt gifts have been created and ordered. Even our Advent book basket/craft projects/family reading are shaping up. There is sweet relief in all of this. More than I had imagined.

Of course, there will inevitably be something that I missed or forgot. But then, that's why I've got hubby and I'm sure he'll make an emergency stop in the store for me if needed. It should only be for a gift certificate or two or the obvious groceries I couldn't stock up on.

But I will be out of the stores and in the comfort of my home next week. And if last week's quick run into the local Walmart is any indication (of which was already playing Christmas music), well, then I'll be avoiding a whole slew of crazy shoppers and their nasty coughs and colds too.

Advent Plans

I think I've got it all figured out and we're ready to roll into Advent. I asked, you answered. I knew you'd come through and help me out.

Thank you!!

I perused, I clicked, I read, I made lists and now I've got an idea of where we are headed. Relatively simple for this year, but there are just SO MANY ideas if you look for them.

I checked out these places:

O Night Divine blog

Love2Learn's Advent reviews

Elizabeth's Advent/Christmas reading lists on her sidebar

Tracy's Circle Time/Advent Plans

Jessica's December book list on her sidebar

From there, this is what I did:

1. Signed us up for the Advent Adventure through Holy Heroes. We enjoyed all they offered for Lent, so we should enjoy it for Advent as well. I also found out that this year they will walk us through Advent using the Jesse Tree, which was one of the many suggestions I received. So, I'm not going to have to do any further looking on that subject.

2. Ordered these:

**From Adoremus Books:

Destination: Bethlehem (for our family Advent Adventure this year)

Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers (for our bookshelf)


**From Catholic Company:

Advent Reflections Come, Lord Jesus (for my own Advent season reflection)

3. Put these on my library list and will request them this week:

Christmas in the Barn

Christmas in the Country

A Christmas Story

The Donkey's Dream

The Legend of the Candy Cane

The Legend of the Christmas Stocking

The Legend of the Christmas Tree

The Light of Christmas

While Angels Watch


Ideas, ideas, ideas! There are so many options. I think we'll have a good start with what I've listed here and perhaps whatever else we plan along the way.

I've filled this post with lots of things for you to clickety-click on, but if you are still looking for great ideas hopefully this will inspire you to just head on over to those places. Have fun with it and prepare away!

I'm looking forward to celebrating the beautiful season of advent peacefully, while preparing our hearts for the birth of Our King.

Looking Toward Advent

While we are just beginning November and the season of Advent is a few weeks off, I have already began to think on the season ahead.

In an effort to bring about a more peaceful and memorable four weeks of preparation for Christ's birth, I've already committed to being out of the stores by December 1st. Shopping done, pantry stocked. I'm hoping that only NEEDED errands will get me in the doors and gracing the aisles of Walmart and Target during December.

I desire simplicity. I desire peace, comfort and joy as my family awaits Christmas.

In order to do that, I would like to prepare our home and our hearts during those weeks of Advent. I'm looking for something simple, yet meaningful. Something perhaps for the mama, along with something for the family. We have walked the journey through the season of Advent in in the past with Jotham's Journey and we all enjoyed it. We may be ready for a new story and perhaps my children would still enjoy something similar.

Suggestions, anyone? What do you do? What does your family do? How do you prepare? I'd love to hear what you have to say and how you prepare for the great Gift of Christmas!

Many ideas are welcome, so share away!