Christmas 2011

I had wanted to bookend my advent posts. I began with a post on what we do (or have done) around here for advent. I was pretty diligent about blogging a bit of each week during advent. And, I thought, I would do a Christmas post to wrap it up with. I have to say, my brain pretty much turned to mush after our last official festivities ended (as in family gatherings) on January 1- effectively ending any coherent thoughts I had about pretty much anything!

In the absence any sharing that would require brainpower, here are a few highlights of our Christmas season-

Starting with Christmas Eve:

Christmas Eve morning

I have very few pictures of our family breakfast, but everyone took fought for a turn to hold and admire the newest member of the family.

the last candle is lit 

Christmas Eve with cousins

This little couch photo began about 22 years ago with just our oldest three
and our baby niece. Look how we have grown!

Followed by candlelight mass at 10:00 p.m.

When we got home:

Never too old to leave cookies for St. Nick 

Big sis read some books (including The Night Before Christmas)
while the "elves" finished wrapping. 

And the stocking were hung... 

stockings and gifts for youngest two, James and Mark, under the tree

Erin's gifts

Paul's gifts

We enjoyed:

 treats

 Thank you, Patty, for your recipes! 

 And play time: 

inside this box are those little hex bugs- go figure, it was the hit of the day along with... 

this silly book- "Are You As Smart As A Fifth Grader?"

And more baby snuggling: 

There were more friend celebrations, and family celebrations... 

and just savoring the season. 

Celebrating Christmas With My Family on the Solemnity of Mary The Mother of God

What a day! 

Today was our family Christmas celebration with my side of the family. 

 When my niece (Julia 12yo) arrived for our family Christmas party today, 

she had these cookies that she made and decorated. We were all so impressed we probably took more pictures of it than we did of any of the kids! 

Before sitting down to eat lunch, I spent a few minutes 

with the kids in honor of this special day.

I had them light the candles (kids do love fire!)

  

We used this from Tiffany's blog as a jumping of point: 

The Fleur-de-lis with its three petals united by a single stem has embedded in its emblematic symbolism Mary’s own supernatural relationship to the Holy Trinity:

Mary is the daughter of the father,

the Mother of the Son,

And the bride of the Holy Spirit.

(Magnificat, December 2010)

Beautiful.

The Fleur-de-lis is also considered a symbol of purity.

 I read this short page from Tomie de Paola's book,

"Mary The Mother of Jesus", to all of the cousins. 

Pointed out today on Waltzing Matilda's blog-
Our Blessed Mother's last documented words are 

"Do whatever He tells you." (from the above story) I just love that! 

 After we ate, we started partying! We don't do a gift exchange... we play DOO-DOO!! 

 Each player is given six cards. They keep the same six cards the whole game- mix matched card decks can be dealt as long as a player does not have two of the exact same card. Between rounds, to mix it up, the "caller" will randomly tell all the players to pass a card to the player on his left. Other than that, the the players keep their cards- no new hands are dealt.

Then the caller (using a complete card deck) calls the cards one at a time. In bingo like fashion, the players turn over the card if they have the one called. 

When a player has turned over all six of his cards he jumps up and yells 

"DOO-DOO!" and goes to the prize table to pick a present.

hubby calling cards

  The caller designates the number of winners per round- one time hubby set five winners, but three people won on the same card, so that round had 7 winners. 

Sometimes we play until everyone has won a prize in a round. 

The rounds can be mixed up- sometimes the caller will do "colors". When the caller picks a card, he tells just the color. The players turn over one card of that color. Suit can be done as well. But, only one card is ever turned over on a call. 

When the game is over, the fun really begins. Each player gets to pick a certain number of prizes (4 today) to put in his/her gift bag. Those prizes are "keepers". 

The rest are set on the table for trades. 

The players, in turns, get to choose any other player's prize to trade with (trades go in "keeper" bag). After each player does this, the kids all trade among themselves. The cutest part is the kids often "gift" other people their prizes. My Goddaughter won and gifted me a lovely photo ornament. My son traded a prize for an oven mitt that I wanted! 

Whew! We all had such a great time. 

 We took this picture after one daughter had gone home and before another daughter arrived, so this is part of the group. All 3 of my brother's boys, all 5 of my sister's children, 5 of my children, and 2 of my grandchildren. 

 Daughter holding her nephew with her son laying on the couch. 

 And, no Christmas party is complete without "Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus". We also have a Christmas birthday boy, so we sung to him and he blew out the candles. 

From Gardenia at My Little Flower and prayed today at our house before grace: 

Dear Blessed Mary, Guide us through this new year, daily, 

and lead us always to your Son, Our Lord. 

Thanking God for family and for the good weather that allowed room to enjoy them all!! That it was a bright warm day, even here in sunny CA, is miraculous. I really wanted to host my family, but our little 960 sq. ft. house would have been bursting at the seams with all (28 total) of us. I am so grateful to have the blessing of this day together!

Advent Week 4

The fourth week of advent in pictures (lots!)- just the good notes! 

The candles are all lit!

The second "O" Antiphon 

 Still learning about this new "tradition" that we began last year. 

 Food can be presented to go with each night of the antiphons. 

I was happy to have found these to go with the third night, "Root of Jesse". 

 Prepping some treats for our class party for Spanish co-op.
(check here if you are wondering about the crazy hair and face tattoos)

Found on Pinterest! 

 Mikes and Ike's candies for the noses, sprinkles for the eyes of the snowmen (couldn't find black writing gel- recommend finding the gel!! Sprinkles were a pain.), and round pearl sprinkles for the reindeer eyes (they worked well).

To prove that I actually have a daughter even if she is rarely home.
Also shown- her boyfriend, who we also rarely see as he works
very hard and goes to school.

More advent cleaning

And decorating...

And treat making! 

waffle pretzels + hugs + 2 minutes on 300 degrees

 let sit for 1 minute and top with another pretzel

don't let sit on tray for too long or they get too melty! :)

Mark lighting the candles with help of nephew, Nicolas.

 More antiphons

More uncle time.

I am going to end the week here. We have a Christmas tree to purchase and decorate, more Christmas treats to bake, a few more decorations to put up, and presents to wrap. We will also continue lighting our candles, adding ornaments to our Jesse Tree, and making an attempt at the "O" antiphons (my hubby suggested that our less than musical family should perhaps read and not sing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" ;)).

Have a blessed rest of advent and a 
Merry, Merry Christmas!! 

As I am sure many bloggers are, I am taking a break until after the new year to enjoy time with my family during this beautiful season. I have truly been inspired this year by what other bloggers have shared and I truly thank each of them.

Awesome "O" Antiphon resources: 


Catholic Culture

Shower of Roses

Waltzing Matilda 

Other Credits: 

The snowmen donuts were originally pinned from this post @ Creative Gift and Party Ideas

The reindeer donuts can be found here @ One Craft Mama

The ever so yummy pretzel hugs are @ Cookies and Cups

Christ In Christmas Picture Books

So much for plans to do a bunch of posts on our advent reading! The upside is that I have had a great time reading other bloggers who did share...

Shower of Roses Christmas Picture Book Link-Up

Reasons for Chocolate- Christmas Around the World

I thought I'd squeak in this post about some of our old favorites that keep Christ in the Christmas season- 

From the book cover- "On That First Christmas Eve is an enchanting lyrical timeline.... viewed through the eyes of a child." 

This simple book that covers the life of Christ is a wonderful introduction for small children (3+) to the meaning of Christmas. 

"Twas the night before Christmas in old Bethlehem. The town had grown silent and still..."

I'll admit that "The Real Night before Christmas" won't win any literary awards, but it does a nice job of telling the story of the birth of our Savior in a way that littles can understand and appreciate.

This one appears to be out of print.  I love the pictures and simple text. Lots to look at with little ones. 

Another one out of print! This is one of our favorites from way back when (I think we bought it 16 years ago). While the story is mostly about the boy and his donkey, it is one that small children will appreciate and relate to. You can guess that this small donkey has a big job to do.

Hopefully, some libraries or used book vendors carry some of the out of print titles!

Pin Boards::The Learning Curve

It is taking me a while to figure this "Pinterest" thing out, but here are some of my boards.

Christmas Board 

Advent Board

Christmas Gift Ideas 

Catholic Board 

Visit me if you would like! . :)

My Pinterest

Also, if you are looking for other Catholic "pinners", check out this really awesome link-up.

Advent Week 3

Tomorrow we light our fourth candle. We have been blessed this advent to have most evenings at home, so I feel like we have been able savor our time together. We are missing our daughter (Erin, 18yo) most nights as she is very busy and often at school. I am hoping that we can have her join us more frequently during this final stretch of advent.

 Tonight, Saturday, is the first night of the "O" Antiphons.

We are enjoying learning about this lovely tradition.

(coins)

All four candles will be lit tomorrow!

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe was Monday. Is there anyone who does not absolutely love this day? So sweet. While I thought I might be done adding to our picture book collection, this one, added for this special day, arrived this week:

It's a pop up book! I just love it. I guess I bought it more for me than the kids.

We were also blessed to have a priest say mass especially for our little homeschool group. It was wonderful! Father sat down and talked to all the children about this special day and gifted each of them with a little book about their faith. James was also seriously excited as Father let him serve at mass (the age at this church is 10+).

At home, we enjoyed some Mexican Wedding Cakes as a treat in honor of this feast day. 

To top the day off, hubby and kiddos went to Bethlehem. Yes, just down the street from us is a live nativity that is just awe inspiring. An amazing act of generosity is in each night of this performance. We have gone in years past (these pictures are from a few years ago), and it is always incredibly moving. 

 It's hard to tell in this picture, but that is an angel at the top of the building
announcing the birth of our savior to the shepherds. 

Tuesday was, of course, another special day- St. Lucia's Feast Day. Having no girl to wake everyone in the morning with special treats (well, I have one, but she would have not been happy to wake up early when she did not have to be to school until 1!), we don't have the traditional morning that some do. We did, however, endeavor (still not quite done) to put up Christmas lights on our house. I had thought we would go look at lights in honor of this special day, but I think this was a good trade-off. We might have created a new tradition.

Can you see Paul up there?

Wednesday was a big day of preparation. As this is our only whole day home that I can see in the near future, I wanted to get as much cleaning caught up on as possible. At one point I told the boys that they were complaining just like Big Anthony in Merry Christmas, Strega Nona. Their response was was- "yah! why can't you just use your magic to get this done!". :) Well, if I had some, I'd probably have used it.

An early Christmas present arrived at my house this afternoon. It is a bit big for our little dwelling, but I love it! I have wanted a table to set up for the special feast days and seasonal displays.

 Isn't it pretty?! 

My husband's customer just happened to be giving it away! Since moving our bookshelf to another room, we have no surface to set our advent candles and Jesse tree on. Each night they get shuffled back and forth from kitchen counter to table and back. Now they have a home. :)

Thursday was ortho appointment day. There is nothing that makes my son grouchier than having wires tightened, but his mouth really truly needed help!

We also managed to continue our advent purging and cleaning. It feels so good. Although... at the end of the day, just when I was ready to give myself a good pat on the back, someone (who shall remain nameless for the sake of this blog) tracked dog doo through the WHOLE HOUSE!!! Sigh. The upside is that hubby wiped down the entire kitchen floor while I spot cleaned the rest of the mess on the carpet. Grrrrrr. :)

Friday held a sweet morning of babysitting my 4 week old grandson and having Spanish class. In the afternoon, I took my 13 yo clothes shopping. What do you do when what your 13yo wants most for Christmas is clothes? I cannot pick them out myself. Size and style would be impossible to guess. We had a great time, found some pretty good deals, and Paul is happy with our finds. I just hope he is happy on Christmas morning when he knows (mostly) what he is getting.

I am also holding tight to my cleaning and purging theme- some time is spent each day working on this. Today (Saturday) was general cleaning and some clothes drawer purging.

Now for my advent faux pas (I figure this is a violation of accepted norms!)-

So this is how it happened- for his birthday, Marky got tickets to go see his favorite football team play. All of his brother-in-laws, his dad, his brother (Paul), and a good family friend are going. Way back when is September (when tickets were given), Mark asked if he could get a mo-hawk for the occasion. Being the super fantastic mom that I am (insert wink), I said sure- do whatever you want in your hair! Then he got it done. I had an appointment for him to get it shaved even on Monday, the day after the game. I am thinking there is nothing that is going to make this even. I am going to have Christmas pictures with this!!! (insert capital letters and bold type!!) I am half laughing and half crying.

God bless you on this final week of advent!

*On my daughter's camera, I have pictures of James serving mass that I hope to get and add.