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We began the second Sunday of Advent yesterday and it's been awhile since I've updated my little corner of blog land here.  I last posted about St. Cecilia's feast day on Nov. 22, then there was Thanksgiving (which was a blessing, despite our little one spiking a fever the night before Thanksgiving Day), then we had to deal with my 3 year old getting over being sick and coughing a lot and using our Kleenex box supply on her one tiny runny nose. :)  Before I knew it, it was the first Sunday of Advent on November 27!

Life is busy and life is full to say the least.  I've been updating my blog's Facebook page often and Instagram and Twitter accounts so sometimes the blog gets the back burner for many reasons.

But despite the juggling act of family life, I thought I would share some books we are enjoy during Advent because it is when I read aloud to the family that makes family life not seem so hectic (well, when I'm not telling my younger daughters to sit still a little better and to stop chattering while I'm reading or stop doing gymnastics off the couches. ;) ) 

Last year I listed many Advent traditions we do as a family and we are doing many of them this year.

On this post I wanted to share a new Advent book with you and list many of the Advent book read-alouds we use as a family.


I was first introduced to Bible Characters for Advent: The Stories That Brought Us Christmas because the authors and illustrators, Theresa & Charles Pobee-Mensah, are related to a friend of mine that I have known for several years.  Theresa and Charles were inspired to write this book because of the birth of their son (who was born on the first Sunday of Advent) and they wanted to "instill a Christ-centered focus in their Christmas tradition."

This is the first Advent book I've read that focuses on 25 Bible characters. Each chapter is short and a 2 page spread with brief information about the character and stories from Scripture that relate to the character.  With colorful, eye-catching illustrations this book appeals to young children, but even my older children and my husband and me enjoyed looking at the fun illustrations.  This book is only 58 pages long, which as a busy homeschool mom juggling a lot during Advent, the length is perfect and not overwhelming!  The book covers the more well-known characters such as Adam & Eve and Noah to maybe some characters we often don't hear a lot about like Jeroboam and Rehoboam. Here are a few photos I took of the inside so you can see how the book is laid out.


I especially liked that each Bible character's page has a reference to where you can find the story in the Bible, which encourages parents and children to connect this book with actual Bible stories and the faithful fun can be extended by finding the Scripture passage in your Bible.  In the Introduction Theresa and Charles give suggestions on how to read their book.  Since there are twenty-five characters that lead to Christmas, the authors state "you can read one each day starting on December first, or you can read a few at a time." Bible Characters for Advent: The Stories That Brought Us Christmas would make a great addition to your home and/or church library and it's a fun, meaningful way to have your children become familiar with biblical characters that center around the Advent season.

Be sure to Meet the Authors on their website My Jesse Tree. On Theresa and Charles' site you will find more information about their book, the Jesse Tree, printable Jesse Tree ornaments that go with the readings in the book and be sure to visit My Jesse Tree Shop that includes adorable My Catholic Saint magnets! My Jesse Tree is a wonderful resource and treasure chest to start or add to your Advent traditions and Bible Characters for Advent: The Stories That Brought Us Christmas is one of many treasures you can find there!  Thank you Theresa and Charles for sharing your gifts and love for our faith, family and Advent in such fun and meaningful ways!

Speaking of great books to read during Advent, we are continuing with our wrapped Christmas book tradition that we started many years ago where I wrap one Christmas book from our personal collection in purple/rose paper and my children take turns opening the books each day.

Here is our small, artificial Advent tree we put up on the first Sunday of Advent. I found my purple and rose decorations at the Dollar Store many years ago, but I recently found purple ones and rose ones on Amazon.   I also find purple and rose wrapping paper each year at the Dollar Tree.  The books wrapped in rose paper are those that will be read during the third week in Advent when the rose candle is lit on our Advent wreath.

I printed, cut and taped on the printable labels onto each wrapped book from Jessica at Shower of Roses.

The books that I have wrapped this year for our family's daily Advent read-aloud time are:

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We celebrated the feast day of Saint Nicholas which is on Dec. 6 each year.  The Advent season is full of great feast days of beloved saints and Saint Nicholas is a popular one for sure, though many may not realize that "Santa Claus' " name came from this real bishop of Myra.

For a great online resource about Saint Nicholas, be sure to visit Saint Nicholas Center.  It is full of stories, games, activities, and crafts all about Saint Nicholas.  

Here are some ways we celebrated this fun feast day...

This year my children colored this beautiful free Saint Nicholas coloring page from Audrey Eclectic.

It's a tradition that on the eve of Dec. 6, families put out their shoes in hopes that St. Nicholas will fill their shoes with treats.  Our children always find wrapped gold chocolate coins to represent the gold that Saint Nicholas left in secret to 3 sisters who couldn't get married because they didn't have enough money for their dowries.  Our children also find candy canes, clementines and new Christmas books.

The Saint Nicholas peg doll was painted by Suzanne for our Saint peg doll swap.


This year we added Our Lady of Guadalupe, Bambinelli Sunday and Gingerbread Friends to our collection.  We already had Saint Nicholas, The Real Story of the Christmas Legend from last year, but I like to set it out each year to read it again.


We also set out the Playmobil Saint Nicholas and Angel with our Shining Light Saint Nicholas Doll.
This year Saint Nicholas brought a Saint Nicholas Tiny Saint to add to our Tiny Saints collection.  My children love clipping these cute Saints to their bags and necklaces.

Our Wandering Wisemen and Camel decided to stop in and check out the Saint Nicholas treats.  The Wisemen have been traveling through our house Bethlehem and they will eventually find Baby Jesus on the Epiphany.



Saint Nicholas' feast day on Dec. 6th is the beginning of many feast days this week.

Here our more Advent feast days coming up that we hope to celebrate again this year:

Dec. 8 - Advent Feast Days: Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception 2014
Dec. 9 - Advent Feast Days: Saint Juan Diego
Dec. 12 - Advent Feast Days: Our Lady of Guadalupe
Dec. 13 - Advent Feast Days: St. Lucy

Have a blessed week during this second week of Advent!


 
 

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Christmas, despite what our world tells us, doesn't start the day after (or even before) Thanksgiving, but rather there is a period of preparation for the Christmas season called Advent.  Advent begins the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30) and includes four Sundays.  So the First Sunday of Advent can begin as early as November 27 or as late as December 3. 

(FYI: Christmas "officially" starts on Christmas Day until the Epiphany, the 12th day AFTER Christmas, and the Christmas season traditionally lasts beyond the Epiphany.) 

Advent is a time to prepare our homes, but most importantly our hearts, for the coming of Christ. 

Below is a roundup of Advent traditions we have done in the past and some are new ideas for this year.  I have gradually added on to our family's traditions for the past 15 years and some most years we don't get to do all of them.  Maybe if you see a new idea  that I have listed, you will feel inspired to include it in your own family's Advent season.  We try to incorporate our Advent traditions during our Couch Catechism devotional time each morning or in the evenings during and after dinner time when my husband is home from work.

To start out, I thought I'd share the post 8 Practical Ways to Get Ready for Advent over at Peanut Butter & Grace. It's a great summary of ideas and our family enjoys doing most of them.

One of the first decorations we pull out is our  Advent wreath which we display in our kitchen.  This year I bought my candles from Dominican nuns at the Cloister Shoppe as mentioned by Shower of Roses.  I am looking forward to burning these 100% beeswax candles during Advent. After we eat dinner as a family we light the candle(s) depending on which week of Advent we are in.  So during the first week of Advent, we will be lighting one purple candle after we bless our wreath with a special prayer.

Here is a beautiful paragraph I found about the Advent wreath from "The History of the Advent Wreath" by Father William Saunders:

The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent. A tradition is that each week represents one thousand years, to sum to the 4,000 years from Adam and Eve until the Birth of the Savior. Three candles are purple and one is rose. The purple candles in particular symbolize the prayer, penance, and preparatory sacrifices and goods works undertaken at this time. The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, when the priest also wears rose vestments at Mass; Gaudete Sunday is the Sunday of rejoicing, because the faithful have arrived at the midpoint of Advent, when their preparation is now half over and they are close to CHRISTmas. The progressive lighting of the candles symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord’s first coming into the world and the anticipation of His second coming to judge the living and the dead.