Sarah over at Amongst Lovely Things is hosting a "Most" posts of 2013 where you create a post of "mosts"- highlight five of your own posts from the year that fit into the following categories:

• Post with the most clicks
• Post with the most comments
• Post with the best picture
• Post that was hardest to write
• Post that was your personal favorite (not your readers' favorite- your favorite)

The only rules are that the posts should be from your own blog, and they should be from 2013.

Post with the most clicks:  2013-2014 Classroom and Curriculum
(Like myself, others also enjoy peeking at where homeschoolers learn and what they are learning!)


Thanks for stopping by to visit some of my 2013 blog highlights!  May you have a blessed 2014!
Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

*I'm reposting this blog post from last year*  

Although the calendar says December 28 and the Christmas carols are no longer playing on the radio and in stores, it is still Christmas!  Christmas begins on Christmas Day and continues for 12 more days until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, when the Magi visit the Christ Child and bring Him gifts.


So did you know that the famous Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas", celebrates the beginning of the Christmas season, Christmas Day, in the liturgical calendar and ends on the Feast of the Epiphany?   Many mistakenly believe that the 12 days refers to the 12 days prior to the celebration of Christmas Day.

On our Christmas tree we have this beautiful ornament of a partridge in a pear tree that was given to my husband and me by an aunt who has since passed away.  We treasure this gift from our loved one and it wasn't until I started researching about the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" that I realized that there is some controversy surrounding what the partridge in the pear tree symbolized, as well as the other items mentioned in the song.  


Several years ago, I read that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" has religious symbolism and according to Father Edward Dowling in the article, "The Real Meaning of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was written to educate the faithful in the doctrines of the faith and yet not be obvious to the persecutors. The numbers are simply a mnemonic to help Catholics remember some basic facts. Recall the words of the song. “On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: twelve lords a leaping, eleven pipers piping, ten ladies dancing, nine drummers drumming, eight maids a milking, seven swans a swimming, six geese a laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree.”

After reading many articles about the real meaning of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song I'm not  sure if the song has religious symbolism or not since it appears there is no sound proof for it to be true or false.

What do you think?  Have you heard about the religious symbolism in "The Twelve Days of Christmas"?  Were you aware of the differences of opinions in whether or not the song was created as a type of catechism during a time of persecution?   I think this is a fascinating topic and would love to hear what others think about it.

There are many parodies that have come from "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song and I would like to conclude this post with 2 variations that you may have never heard, but I found them to be fun and entertaining. 

The first video is titled "The Twelve Days of Homeschooling" which I found funny as a homeschool mom myself.




This second video is the group Straight No Chaser singing a creative and entertaining version called "12 Days of Christmas Medley".





On this fourth day of Christmas, I wish you a Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

I recently read Tiffany's plans that she did for all the 12 days of Christmas and it was all just so beautiful and impressive so I am linking to Tiffany's page,  Catholic 12 Days of Christmas, over at Family At The Foot Of The Cross for my own future reference and to share the lovely ideas that Tiffany has done with her family during this holy season!  Maybe one year I will be able to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas as beautifully as she did!  Thanks Tiffany!

May you have a blessed and Merry Christmas as we celebrate our Savior's birth and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!

God bless from our family to yours,

Monica at Arma Dei Equipping Catholic Families has designed a wonderful and meaningful last minute Christmas gift idea for family, Godparents, and friends.  It is a Communion of Saints Family Calendar that can be used over and over again each year as you write in birthdays, baptism anniversaries, wedding anniversaries, and with my calendar I'm writing in my Godchildren's baptism anniversaries, as well as all my husband's side of the family's birthdays.  The artwork for the calendar is beautiful and I love that so many wonderful feast days of the saints are highlighted each month, along with popular devotions.   In the back of the calendar there are saint's feast days listed for everyday in each month.  Such a wonderful resource to deepen the faith life!  To find out more about how to purchase and download this product, go HERE.


Downloading and printing my calendars was quick and easy and I plan on giving a few family members and friends this perpetual calendar that can be treasured year after year.

I printed each copy of my calendars using heavy photo paper that is similar to card stock paper.  Here's a picture I took of the photo paper I used and the cover of the calendar.

I then found magnetic clips at the grocery store.  Although they are magnetic, the card stock paper is too heavy so the magnets were not strong enough to hold the calendar onto my magnetic dry erase board.  So since the clips have holes in them, I plan on using nails to hang my calender with the clips.
I look forward to giving this unique and special calendar as gifts this week and I look forward to never forgetting birthdays, anniversaries, feast days, and baptism anniversaries.  I also love the fact I don't have to write in all my family's special dates over and over again each year.  So this is definitely a gift that keeps giving.

Have a blessed Christmas week!
 

This past Friday, I hosted the craft activity that our homeschool group tries to do once a month at one of our homeschool family's homes.  As soon as I read Lacy's email from Catholic Icing on how to make a Sock Baby Jesus with No Sewing, I knew that was the perfect craft for our bunch!

Before we started the craft, I read a great children's book about the first Nativity that began 800 years ago by Saint Francis of Assisi. The title of the book is Saint Francis Celebrates Christmas.  I showed the children our statue of St. Francis and asked what he is well known for. They all blurted out how he was kind to animals and blessed them.  I then asked if there is something else he is known for, especially during this holy season.  A few children answered that he started the first Nativity as he gathered animals and people for a live Nativity.  It's a great story and book!  

After I read the book, we started our Sock Baby Jesus craft.  Everyone loved it! Thanks Lacy for the idea! 

Last night our family added to our "Handy Tree Skirt" that we have been doing each Christmas since 2008.  You can see my original blog post about the skirt HERE.  HERE are a few pictures from last year's tree skirt printing.   Below are a few pictures from tonight's hands on fun!
My cupcakes love to compare their hand size from year to year.  Here is one of my daughter's comparing her print from 2012.

This year we were all excited to have our sweet little one's 4 month old hand print added to the skirt.  This time last year this sweet little one was making me feel oh so yucky since I had recently found out I was pregnant then.  What a difference a year makes! :)

Besides the festive traditions above that we do each year, 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. 

LifeSaver Ornaments


"Bua Bark" and Sweet Pretzel Treats for Christmas Gifts


Silverware Stockings


Valentine Candy Canes and Christmas Crackers!


Happy Birthday Jesus Cake!


 

Our family tries to keep Christ in Christmas in many ways as shared in my Advent post HERE and just this year our family is learning more about the "O" Antiphons with our lapbook activity that I blogged about HERE.

As in year's past, we still put straw (yellow yarn) into Baby Jesus' basket/manger as my children make sacrifices or do good deeds throughout Advent. By Christmas morning, Baby Jesus will have a soft bed to lie in.  You can read more about this tradition HERE.
I wanted to add a few new resources we have especially enjoyed this Advent.

First up, is the family reading of Bartholomew's Passage.
Our family has really enjoyed this family story for Advent and it's one of those books that my cupcakes keep begging us to continue reading at the end of each chapter!

There are two other family stories for Advent by the same author that we have read in year's past which are Jotham's Journey and Tabitha's Travels.  We pick one of these three books to read as a family during each Advent season. 


Another Advent resource we have enjoyed as a family this year is a DVD called Advent Calendar on DVD, A Christmas Countdown for December. Each day in December there is a short video clip, about 2-3 minutes long, that talks about various topics including Advent history,  origins of Christmas carols and Christmas traditions, and just various topics surrounding the Christmas season.  It's very interesting and holds everyone's attention, adults and children alike. 


I hope you are having a blessed Advent!

Like I mentioned in my last 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 (while my 6 year old entertained the baby) creating a lapbook from several sources in hopes that our family could learn more together.

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 ".

 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.