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This Advent season I haven't been updating my blog as much as I'd like, but I've been updating my blog's Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter accounts with all the activities we have been doing during Advent.  We are continuing to read our Advent read-aloud books by unwrapping one Christmas book each evening under our Advent tree.  We are also enjoying the Advent storybook as a family, Ishtar's Odyssey.

There are many wonderful feast days in the Catholic Church that we celebrate as a family leading up to the celebration of our Savior's birth.  On December 6 each year we celebrate the feast of Saint Nicholas.

This year St. Nicholas left small bags of chocolate gold coins, clementines, candy canes, Little Debbie Christmas cakes, Little Drops of Water charms that I won on Allison's blog at Reconciled to You, the books Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins and The Miracle of the Myrrh, Our Lady of Guadalupe ornament, Nativity snow globe, Little Drops of Water Holy Family figurine that I also won at Reconciled to You and a Saint Patrick Shining Light Doll (in anticipation for St. Patrick's Day in March)

"St. Nicholas" also displayed items that we already owned: the Star from Star from Afar that I hide (when I remember) each day so my younger children can look for it, a Saint Nicholas printout from St. Nicholas Center, the St. Nicholas Shining Light Doll, the 3 Wise Men and camel from our Playmobil Nativity set that I also hide during Advent (when I remember), and the St. Nicholas and angel Playmobil set we have. 



We also decorated our Advent tree with the St. Nicholas ornament I made a few years ago.


In the morning on St. Nicholas' Day this year, our family hosted a St. Nicholas party where we had a family come speak about their Christmas miracle when their son was very sick from bacterial meningitis in 2010.  After he was miraculously healed this family uses their story to help others by collecting "Zach Sacks" for those babies, children and families who are in the hospital over Christmas.  Be sure to read more about their story and ministry at my blog post HERE.  After the family told their story we collected gifts to fill some Zach Sacks that will be delivered at Christmas in our local hospital.


After the presentation, we had a potluck lunch.   One family brought the gorgeous cake from a local bakery.

I also displayed the books Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend and Saint Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins along with the St. Nicholas peg doll that I received at the Saint doll exchange last year.


It was another fun St. Nicholas feast day to remember and honor the Bishop who was so loving and giving to so many and spread the Good News of the Gospel to all those he met!

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Last week was a big week for celebrating some fun and faith-filled feast days during this Advent season.  We haven't always celebrated so many feast days during this time of year or other times, but for the past 15 years we have gradually added new liturgical feast day celebrations as our family learns about them or if I feel inspired to "copy" fun ideas. :)  Sometimes we have celebrated with other families and friends, while many times it is just with our family.

On December 6, we celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas, which is always a fun tradition for our family.

On December 8, we celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. This is the day in the liturgical calendar that we celebrate when Mary was conceived without original sin in Saint Anne's womb.  Many are mistaken and think this is the day Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb, but that is not correct.  It is 9 months from today, September 8, when we celebrate our Blessed Mother's birthday in the Church.
We had a "white" themed lunch in honor of Mary's purity. This is a tradition we just started last year.  We ate our chicken alfredo (bought from Costco), salad with Ranch dressing and vanilla ice cream during my husband's lunch break so he could join us and because we had a busy evening with Mass and choir practice for my daughters.  On our Advent Tree we hung the 3-D ornament of St. Anne holding Mary in her womb made by Lacy at Catholic Icing and Kristen at Drawn 2B Creative and we also hung our Advent ornament of the Immaculate Conception that I printed out and made from Jennifer at Catholic Inspired.



We also watched a favorite CCC of America DVD called Bernadette-The Princess of Lourdes.  
See below for an explanation from the CCC of America website about the graces this beautiful young girl received from God and our Blessed Mother in 1858...

BERNADETTE - THE PRINCESS OF LOURDES
It’s February 11, 1858. Three girls from Lourdes, France, gather firewood in front of a grotto. Suddenly one of them, Bernadette Soubirous, 14, drops to her knees, gazes ecstatically at something beautiful only she can see, and starts to pray. Soon the town buzzes: Has Bernadette, poor, sickly, and always behind in school, really seen a Lady from Heaven? The police chief is angry, the pastor busy, and the crowd amused, but Bernadette is calm and brave. Then a spring bubbles up from nowhere and withered arms and sightless eyes are cured. At last, the Lady tells Bernadette her name: “I am The Immaculate Conception.”
BERNADETTE, THE PRINCESS OF LOURDES, is the exciting true story of a visit by the Queen of Heaven that left all the world a source of health for body and soul.

Here is a short video with Father Barron talking about Saint Bernadette and the Immaculate Conception while visiting Lourdes, France:

  
December 9 is Saint Juan Diego's feast day, the peasant man who received the miraculous image our Our Lady of Our Lady of Guadalupe on his tilma.  More about him and St. Juan Diego resources on my post from 2014. 



December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, is another fun feast day we try to celebrate each year!

To learn more about this miraculous event that happened in December 1531, there are many resources to use. One DVD that I just discovered is Guadalupe: The Miracle and the Message.  Watching this DVD is a great way to start learning more about Our Lady of Guadalupe.   Be sure to check out my review that I posted about the film.

On the evening before December 12, I set up an Our Lady of Guadalupe poster, candles, Our Lady of Guadalupe book, Our Lady of Guadalupe Shining Light Doll and our Wandering Wisemen and camel stopped in.  We left this display up during the day on December 12 and enjoyed reading the Our Lady of Guadalupe book that my children got on St. Nicholas' feast day. 



Then in the evening on December 12, we had a Mexican potluck dinner with friends at our friend's home. 

We were able to see our parish decorated with the Our Lady of Guadalupe image, beautiful roses and lit candles on Sunday.  We didn't get to the early morning Mass and procession on December 12, but maybe one year our family will take part in the festive occasion!

December 13 is the feast day of Saint Lucy and we hung our St. Lucy ornament on our Advent tree and cooked a pastry filled with cream cheese (that was a frozen bread) and we read Lucia: Saint of Light, which is a beautiful book!  


Whew!  It's been a whirlwind of feast days this past week and celebrating them in simple and fun ways is a great way to focus on the Advent season as we prepare for the celebration of Christ's birth!

December 17-23 are called the "O" Antiphon Days as explained by Jennifer at Family in Feast and Feria.   A few years ago we made an "O" Antiphon Lapbook with my children to learn more about these special days leading up to Christmas Day.  We'll be pulling out these lapbooks to use for this year.



May the rest of your Advent season be blessed!

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So Advent has begun and we are enjoying our Advent traditions that I have gradually added over many, many years. There are some fun feast days during Advent that our family enjoys celebrating! One of these feast days is December 6, the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas.  Here are 7 simple ways to celebrate Saint Nicholas, a Saint with a generous and giving spirit!

One of the joys of being a Catholic is the gift to celebrate so many wonderful feast days, especially during the month of December.  For a list of all the lovely feast days in Decemeber with great links, be sure to visit Jessica's post HERE at Shower of Roses.

Not only does our family get to anticipate the celebration of Jesus' birth at the end of this month, but during Advent, we remember some of the lives of those that have been holy role models that have passed on our faith.  

On December 6th we celebrate the feast day of St. Nicholas, a favorite saint in our home.   

Who is St. Nicholas?  Find out more HERE.
If you would like to know more about St. Nicholas and the origin of Santa Claus, click HERE.
A great link for tons of great information about St. Nicholas, be sure to visit St. Nicholas Center (dot) org.


It is a tradition in many households to set out your shoes by the fireplace or door so that St. Nicholas will leave small treats in the shoes to represent how St. Nicholas long ago showed God's love to others by leaving money for those in need.  We have our shoes ready by our fireplace again this year.  Here are our shoes from a few years back that were filled with chocolate gold coins and candy canes. The candy canes symbolize St. Nicholas' staff that he carried as Bishop of Myra.   This year, my children will receive this Playmobil St. Nick and Angel set  that I found at Catholic Child and a new nativity from Catholic Child as well.  They will also find their gold chocolate coins covered with pictures of St. Nicholas that I printed from Shower of Roses. 

Last week our homeschool group got together to celebrate the giving spirit of St. Nicholas by assembling 25 Christmas bags for children who are in poor housing conditions or homeless.  The students in our group stuffed the bags with packaged cookies and candy, pencils, religious Christmas stickers, and a small Nativity set.  We also collected gently used coats to donate to children and adults who are in need of them this winter.  Here are some pictures of our homeschool group honoring St. Nicholas' giving spirit.

Another fun way we celebrate and remember how Saint Nicholas shared God's love is by watching a CCC DVD titled, "Nicholas, The Boy Who Became Santa".


My family loves the CCC company and their award winning animated films DVD collection.  We have all their Saints and Heroes DVDs and my children watch these short and inspiring stories over and over again! I enjoy watching them too and I'm learning so much about our faith along with my children!  I highly recommend CCC as an excellent resource for teaching our faith to children young and old!

It is a blessing to be able to tell my children about St. Nicholas and focus on the sacredness of this joyous season vs. only knowing the secular side of Christmas, which is more about getting vs. giving.