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It's hard to believe this is the 4th Sunday of Advent and the last Sunday before Christmas Day!

It will surely be a busy week for our family as I'm sure it will be for you too!

I thought I would post some crafts and baking links that I have done in the past and I hope to do some of these this week during our break from homeschool lessons.  Just click on link to find out more.

Sock Baby Jesus
We made our sock baby Jesus last year with our homeschool group after I read Saint Francis Celebrates Christmas, a great children's book about the first Nativity that began 800 years ago by Saint Francis of Assisi.

Handy Tree Skirt
This week we will be adding to our "Handy Tree Skirt" that we have been doing each Christmas since 2008.
It's always fun for our family to compare the hand sizes through the years and it is very festive under our tree. 

Gingerbread House Fun
We always make a gingerbread house each year.  This is on my "to do" list this week. 

We have also done these fun activities from the past and some of them we still do each year like making the Bua Bark, pretzel treats, and a birthday cake for Jesus. 



Also, my blog here has been nominated in 2 categories for the 2014 Homeschool Blog Awards.  I was nominated in the Best Variety Blog and the Best Homeschool Mom Blog.

If you feel my blog is worthy enough for both or either category, could you take a second to click on the links below and click the circle next to my blog name ( A Slice of Smith Life) ?  Then click "Vote".  You can vote once per day per device until 12/29.  Thank you for your support and vote!

 
  Click here to vote for my blog as Best Variety Blog 2014 


Click here to vote for my blog as Best Homeschool Mom Blog 2014 

Coming up soon on the blog this week will be a collection of our family's Christmas photo cards from the year of our wedding (1997) to present as a fun way to wish my readers a blessed and merry Christmas!  

See you soon!

Several years ago, I found an easy DIY (do it yourself) Christmas craft to not only decorate my Christmas table, but the craft was practical too because it is a festive way to hold silverware at our Christmas place settings. I can't decide why I like these so much...is it because they look so pretty on the table or that I didn't have to sew a thing to make them?!? :)



 

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I debated publishing my post here as I sit here shedding tears and praying for the Lenaburg family who is preparing to say good-bye to their sweet Courtney.  Courtney's life on earth will be ending soon.  :(  My heart breaks for them.  I've been following Mary's blog at Passionate Perseverance for several months now and her posts have touched my heart.  Mary's faith and strength is amazing and inspiring!  What a beautiful gift Courtney is to family, friends, and even to strangers like me.  Please pray for them during this sad time. 

But, I thought I would publish my scheduled post below after sharing with you about the Lenaburgs.

So now on to much, much, much less important matters now...

Unimportant Matter #1:  My blog redesign is coming along, don't you think? (It's still a work in progress) 

Unimportant Matter #2: The "O" Antiphons begin tomorrow,  December 17,  which means two things:
1) We will be pulling out our "O" Antiphons Lapbooks we started last year to learn and pray with the last 8 days of Advent and...
2) Christmas Day is almost here!

In previous years, I wrote blog posts about the 12 days of Christmas.  The 12 days of Christmas are the days leading up to Christmas Day right?  Not exactly.

I really never knew which days were considered  the "12 Days of Christmas" as I sang the "12 Days of Christmas" song as a child, but as an adult and a homeschool mom, I have learned that the 12 days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day and last for 12 days until the Epiphany, when the Wise Men visit the Christ Child. 

I thought I would share a great book series to help your family and friends "travel" through the 12 days of Christmas.   The series of books start with "The Twelve Days of Christmas in ______".  Fill in the blank with a US state (see list below) and you have a book that is fun, engaging, and educational too! 


I first came across the series when I gave The Twelve Days of Christmas in North Carolina to Patty at Reasons for Chocolate for a baby shower gift during Christmas time which was few years ago!   Patty does not live in NC so I thought I would give her a book from my home state as a way to share NC facts and fun with her and her growing family. I also thought it was cool to see that one of the cities highlighted was the city where I was born!  :)

Here's a little peek into the The Twelve Days of Christmas in North Carolina book that I am giving my nieces (one lives in New York and my other niece lives in Australia) and my nephew and Godson from Pennsylvania got a book too! 


Each book highlights the state with the popular landmarks and cities in the particular state.  The map  labels what each of the 12 days throughout the book are about.  I really like that this teaches geography in a fun way! 


Each of the 12 days is written in a letter format from a girl named Abby who is visiting her cousin, Mike, in NC.  Abby is writing back home to her Mom and Dad and telling about all her NC adventures with Mike.   Here on the 8th day of Christmas Mike gave Abby 8 kites a-flying so Abby writes in her letter all about Kill Devil Hills, where they flew their kites.  Kill Devil Hills is noted on the map above on the East Coast of NC.  She then tells her parents that they were pretending to be like the Wright brothers and goes on to give facts about the first NC flight.  Each page is full of color and fun facts like this. 


I have enjoyed reading our copy to my family and these books make great gifts!  Don't they Patty? ;)

But what if you don't live in North Carolina and I have peeked your interest enough that you want to look for a book in another state?  :) 

I've got the perfect suggestion! :)  Here is a list of these books about other states (in alphabetical order) in case you are looking for a last minute gift idea that is fun and educational too!

The Twelve Days of Christmas in....

Arizona

California 

Colorado

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Louisiana 

Michigan

Minnesota

New Jersey 

New York City

Ohio

Oklahoma 

Oregon

Pennsylvania  

South Carolina

Texas 

Virginia

Washington

Washington, DC

Wisconsin

Don't see a particular state?  I have searched Amazon for quite some time trying to find as many states as I could, but I might have missed a few along the way.  Maybe if you search Amazon other states will pop up?

I would like to share this video of the group, Straight No Chaser, singing a creative and entertaining version called "12 Days of Christmas Medley."  I always enjoy watching this and so do my Cupcakes!  :)  Enjoy!

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Last year my children and I made "O Antiphon" lapbooks for the first time and I'm reposting how we made the lapbook on this post for 2014. We cut out all the prayers and pages for our book, but we didn't finish coloring our lapbook so we will do that this year.  This lapbook is also like a prayer guide that can be read/prayed through during each of the "O" Antiphon days.    

Like I mentioned in this post, this Advent season I've made a conscious effort to try to learn and embrace the "O" Antiphon prayers and traditions as best as possible with my limited time and energy.  I spent many hours reading and researching great websites (and stayed up way too late) to learn about the "O" Antiphon prayers and then several more hours were spent creating a lapbook from several sources in hopes that our family could learn more together.


So what are the "O" Antiphons?  Lacy at Catholic Icing explains it all so nicely HERE so why reinvent the wheel right? :) 

With Lacy's post HERE at Catholic Icing and Chris' "O" Antiphon lapbook post HERE at Campfires and Cleats, I was inspired to create a lapbook  for my children. :)  I hope that this post will inspire you to learn more about the octave (8 days) before Christmas or the "Golden Nights " and that the lapbook will be used as a type of prayer guide for your children and/or yourself.  

I thought having my kids create a lapbook would be a fun way to learn the "O" Antiphons.  The lapbook was compiled and created from several sources which I will link in hopes that if you try this yourself, it will save you time and not take as long as it did for me. :)  The lapbook includes general information, a novena, Latin and English prayers, and coloring pages.   

The materials are basic:   2 file folders, printouts (refer to links below), one rectangular piece of purple cardstock and one rectangular piece of white cardstock (that is glued on the cover) , scissors, glue, crayons/coloring pencils.

I used 2 file folders, one yellow and one purple, to go with the Golden Nights and Advent theme.  I cut the tabs off the tops of the folders to make the sides look more even. (the right side of the folders below had the tabs that I cut off). 


I tied purple curling ribbon through the two holes to bind the folders together.

The Cover:
The top of the lapbook cover (O Antiphons general information) was printed from Lacy at Catholic Icing's Advent Christmas Planner that you can purchase HERE.  I folded the O Antiphons information in half, glued the bottom half, then glued a rectangular piece of purple cardstock (I actually just cut out a rectangle from another purple file folder) to the back of the top half as shown below.