SQT: Advent Highlights

Linking up with Kelly to bring you some highlights of what we have been up to the past three weeks.

1

So, I'm a day late and a dollar short (but that's a different post) with my SQT.  I have a good reason though. If you keep reading, you will see where we were last night and I wanted to include that in this post.  We have been BUSY!  I really had hoped for a quiet Advent but, it's been all good things.  I am fully intending on taking off a few weeks around Christmas.  The thing with big kids is that it isn't quite so intensive in  a hands on sort of way like with toddlers and babies, but they have activities, social engagements, ideas, volunteer hours. We really try to keep activities to a manageable level.  If it meets more than once a week or interferes with Mass, we don't do it.  We only play sports that are limited to a game and a practice--not four practices and five games.  However, it still adds up and I have been trying hard to keep up with it all.  (especially when we signed up for four "once a month on Fridays activities" which my pregnant brain was unable to figure out meant we are somewhere every Friday.)

2

St Nicholas Day is always a favorite time.  We had a full day, even though I scaled back a bit.  I really wasn't feeling well that day--very uncomfortable and tired--so there aren't many pictures.  In fact, there are even less that I thought there were.  

  The kids put out the shoes on the hearth, including ours.

 Little Man worked all week making gifts to leave for St Nicholas.  Don't ask me what they are, they were apparently very important.  Thankfully, St Nick was very happy to take them away.

 

In the morning, the children awakened to treats in their shoes.  There were even treats that they left for Hubby and I.  While I usually do a big breakfast, it didn't happen this year, but the chocolate and oranges disappeared very quickly.

 

 For lunch we made homemade pizza in the shape of a bishop's miter, or at least that was the plan.  I'm not sure how obvious it is.  We also had homemade hot cocoa.

 

The day was spent making crafts and gifts as usual.  We usually make gingerbread houses, but this year we made a foam decoration instead. 

 

For dinner it was cranberry chicken, glazed carrots, sweet potato sacks, biscuits, and cranberry mors to drink.  After dinner, we relaxed by the fire and just enjoyed the warmth. 

3

We had co-op,  Immaculate Conception Mass, book report day, 4-H meeting/Christmas party, a gallery opening, Sunday Mass, and a family cookie party to round out the week.  The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe--a favorite of my children--found us scrambling to try to catch up on house work and school work after a very busy week.  We did have Mexican for dinner. Whew!

4

Next up was the feast of St Lucy.  We celebrated at night because Hubby had to go into work far too early for me to be okay with everyone being awoken.  So we shut off all the light, lit a fire and our St Lucy served us crescent rolls, gingerbread, peanut butter cookies, and tea.

 

I need to upgrade this wreath next year. While it still looks beautiful, the battery operated candles shorted out and I actually burnt my finger trying to get one closed.  So the candles had no light, but it was still a nice evening. 

5

The next day had us up and out early for orchestra practice, followed by Buddy's recital for chimes choir (like handbells).  We came home just in time to get ready to meet my children's hero, Magnus MacFarlane Barrow, founder of Mary's Meals.

 

Every kid has that hero, the person he would love to meet. The person that when she can get a ticket to even just see their celebrity, she tells everyone she knows for weeks and wears her fan shirt in the hopes of getting it autographed. I can't tell you what it does to our hearts that for our kids, that person is Magnus, founder of Mary's Meals.
School + food= Hope, that is the Mary's Meals Ambassador motto. Through the children's MM Club, over 650 children in Malawi are fed each day at school, just a small percentage of the 1.6 million fed each day by the world wide charity. Over 93% of all donations, go right to the poorest children to not only give them a meal, but to change the world. If you are looking for a charity to support, we can't say enough about Mary's Meals. Meeting the founder was such an inspirational evening.

If anyone has any questions, I know two ambassadors who are more than willing to answer them.

   

 6

Last night, we traveled down to our friends' parish, a little over an hour away, to visit the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  My children had been looking forward to this for months.

 

Not the best photo, it was very busy.  I was so happy to have a front row seat, though.

 

 

One of my children's best friends and Buddy's "future bride" helping prepare the incense.

Knights of Columbus color guard

 

 

 My favorite place to be is in front of the Blessed Sacrament in adoration.

Each family was given the opportunity to come up and do a private adoration at the foot of the monstrance.  These are our dear friends.  Wish I had a photo of the children and I praying.  It was a beautiful experience.

 

7

 That is the end of my agenda for this month. We have our TEAMS of Our Lady meeting tonight but the weather is still not great so that is up in the air.  My next plans revolve around having this baby and making it to the hospital.  Please keep us in your prayers.  Winter weather is not easy when you have to travel over an hour to a hospital in labor.  I'm praying for an easy drive and delivery.

 

If you are looking for any other Advent ideas, I have three articles posted at Seton Magazine--here, here, and here.

 

How is your Advent going so far? 

 

 

Advent Plans in SQT

So, I realized again last night that I have not written anything is days and days.  Kelly asked everyone to put down their Advent plans and link up, so that is what I am doing. 

1

How is it December already?  I was reading off the schedule for my children's art school to the family, it was in the latest email update, when I finished, I said, "And just like that it's 2017.  I haven't even gotten used to it being 2016." 

Hubby replied, "That's because we are getting old!"

After that I didn't want to admit that I still struggle with the fact that we are even in the 2000's and lived to tell about it.  As a child, it seemed too hard to believe and life was supposed to be like a Sci-Fi movie by year 2015....anyway back to Advent. 

2

On the note of time flying, though, my biggest plan for this Advent is to have this baby.  Even more than not believing it will be 2016, I can't believe we are just a couple of weeks, literally days, from having a new little one in this house.  Can I admit that I am still in disbelief that I'm even pregnant!  I know a whole lot of surprised wonderment going on here!

I am trying very hard to get everything packed up and ready to go.  I was so focused on what the baby and I need for the hospital that it took until last weekend to remember I need to pack for the other kids, too.  I'm almost there.  In figuring out what the kids each need, I realized that Little Man would not make it through if I packed up a few shirts because he often goes through 3 shirts a day and despite me getting him fall clothes (with the help of his aunt) he never seems to have enough as it is.  

So I hit the Cyber Monday sales and got some great deals at Kohls. I then began to worry that throwing new clothes into a suitcase and shipping him off may be more than he could handle.  He is attached to his clothes and a homebody. So, before I submitted the final order, I had him pick out what HE wanted from my own highly clearanced choices.  Now, he can't wait for the clothes to arrive and I am hoping it will be a happy surprise when he opens his suitcase.  I know, this still has nothing to do with Advent...bear with me..my brain is on lots of hormones. 

3

Normally, we would decorate gradually for Christmas, putting out just the Advent wreath and a nativity and then building from there. I like to save the big decorations for closer to Christmas so that we have more of a delineation between Advent and Christmas.  However, this year, I decided I needed to just get it done while I could.  So, for the first time ever, everything came out on Black Friday.  Then I took a nap! :)

4

The one piece of the decorating puzzle that I couldn't figure out was the tree.  We usually buy a real one a couple days before Christmas.  This year, the cost of a real tree just wasn't something we could afford.  In addition, it would require me figuring out how to get it decorated either extremely pregnant or with a brand new baby.  Then there i the watering and cleaning up needles.  It just wasn't happening.  I announced that we would have a fake tree and began surfing the whiles of the world wide web for  a deal.  And boy did I find one, only $16 for a 5' tree with shipping.  Buddy helped me pick it out and we eagerly waited for it to arrive.

AHEM...it arrived all right!  And I learned once again that you get what you pay for.  It is a darling little tree, and is still bigger and fuller than Charlie Brown's, but that is about as much as I can say.  Our Jesse Tree is actually taller!  Sigh....at least we have one.  

The kids decorated it and threw on some big old-fashioned lights and now it looks almost as glorious as when the Peanuts gang finished sprucing up the tree for the Christmas spectacular.   

5

This is the first Advent that I was not crawling around in a super short attic with barely any light trying to find Christmas decor.  Now that everything is piled in our storage room, I can't believe how much we have.  There must be a million ornaments--ironic considering quick take #4!

I have realized something else, though.  Over the years we have worked to turn our entire focus to the birth of Christ not the hoopla of the commercial holiday, and our decorations reflect that.  Aside from the millions of ornaments, most of our adornments are nativities.  I think we are at 10 and counting! Oh, wait...make that 11, we have one for outside that needs to come out of the shed.

I am pleased and blessed to see how our Advent and Christmas traditions have developed, and also that my children love all the nativities so much.  For them it really is about waiting for Jesus, with some gifts on the side.

6

I am also planning St Nicholas Day and everyone is so excited.  It will be a simpler celebration this year than most, but isn't that more in keeping with the spirit of the feast!  I have some special meal plans--still working on breakfast!  Some little treats have been gathered for shoes.  Our cousin gifted us with two bags of crafting items (Thank you Jesus) including a huge fit to build and decorate a foam gingerbread house.  We usually make our own gingerbread or graham cracker on St Nick's day, but I wasn't sure how I was going to get the money to buy the supplies--lo and behold, God always provides.  It is a silly thing, but my kids are thrilled. So, it may be a toned down celebration, but we will have all the special elements they look forward to each year--including the gingerbread house.  I'll post pictures next week sometime, I promise. 

St Lucy's day, I still need to work on A LOT!  At least, this year we know where the crown and gown are--last year everything was still in boxes.  I'm not sure what to do for treats.  Hubby and I don't drink coffee anymore and I can't have gluten and milk.  Need to find a allergy friendly option that doesn't require pricey ingredients.  Suggestion would be greatly appreciated! 

I usually make a Swedish feast for dinner for St Lucy's, but I think we are just doing the pea soup and buttered noodles this year.  It will be special to mark the feast and I am trying to remind myself that it is about celebrating the liturgical calendar, not going all out.

Then there is Our Lady of Guadalupe and St Juan Diego to consider...at least Mexican food is an easy option.   

   

7 

We have concerts and recitals, a gallery opening event (for Cowgirl's graphic design class), a book report meet-up, 4-H, volunteering, a healing Mass with the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a craft fair to work, cookies to bake, a charity celebrity to meet, bambinellis to get blessed, and a partridge in a pear tree in the coming weeks.  Once all of that is over, the time of waiting for this baby will be, too!  Then comes the most special birth of all--Christmas day!  It is going to be a busy and wild season but it is very blessed.

What are your plans for Advent this year? 

Happy Feast of St Lucy: Plans and Treats

Happy Feast of St Lucy to everyone. We were greeted early this morning with sweet saffron rolls, lingonberry jam, hot chocolate and this smiling face.

My sister in law took a trip to her nearby IKEA and picked up a large bag of treats. We have Lussebulles (saffron rolls), lingonberry jam, lingonberry juice, a special Christmas soda, some little marshmallow snowmen, and a few other treats. Now, I am not promoting IKEA, but I must say they have quality Swedish imports at reasonable prices. Lingonberry jam online went for up to $9 a bottle plus shipping. If you are blessed enough to have a Swedish import store locally, please support them, if not IKEA to the rescue.

We had breakfast in bed and spent some time relaxing before the busy day. We have a crafting afternoon planned, since we didn't get to on St Nicholas Day.  We are finishing up gifts for the family. I need to get to the library to print some items for godparent gifts. I am thinking of printing these Christchild ornaments and discouraging them onto foam board. I am also going to have each child design a special card.

Tonight, my husband and I have our TEAMs of Our Lady group meeting, so we are doing our main meal for the feast in the afternoon. I am making gluten free Swedish meatballs, hot buttered noodles (not gluten free), peas and onions, and the other treats from IKEA.  We will also watch Holy Heroes Advent Adventure, read about St Lucy, and listen to an audio book, then light our Advent wreath.

Later, we will go to confession and Mass. After which, Grammy will pick up the kids and we will head to our friends' home. I am making peas porrage to bring along, another Swedish favorite. It's a full day!

Remember, tomorrow is Guadete Sunday. Wear pink!

Santa Lucia, ora pro nobis! 

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A St Lucy Crown Tutorial

We began celebrating St Lucy's Day about four or five years ago when Cowgirl and I first read the American Girl Kirsten series, which is about a Swedish American Girl on the plains.  Since, I thought this would be a one time event, I made a simple crown out of a fake evergreen wreath that I had and a pack of battery operated votive candles that I picked up at the dollar store.  It was cute enough but nothing special. Once, St Lucy's Day became a fixture, I began to wish I could buy one of the beautiful metal crowns from Sweden. Alas, they were always more than I could afford and although I promised myself every year that I would save money and buy it next year, it never happened. Fast forward to this year when Cowgirl is now over a foot taller than the first year and I began to realize that the years of her serving us coffee and buns all dressed up are rapidly dwindling. Add to that, the little dress up robe I bought for $5 is now at least four sizes too small. I knew something had to be done, but I still couldn't afford what I was seeing online.

I found a beautiful white nightgown on eBay for $15 with plenty of room to grow.  Then I turned my attention to the crown. I returned to Dollar Tree and found just what I was looking for. Here is a tutorial for the crown I made that cost only $5, not counting the ribbon I already had. I purchased a package of artificial pine garland, two 2-packs of battery operated tapers, a sprig of berries, and floral wire (not pictured). We also used two inch wide red ribbon, about a foot of curling ribbon, and a glue gun.

First, I measured the garland around Cowgirl's head making sure to leave a little space for growth. I then wound the rest of the garland around my "head mold."  I secured the new wreath with two pieces of curling ribbon approximately six inches long each. I tied each tightly, then clipped the tails of the knot.

Then came adding the candles.  I took one candle and pushing up from the bottom pulled it between the "branches" of pine until the bottom of the brass holder was flush with the bottom of the wreath.

To secure the candles, I cut a sixteen inch piece of floral wire. Now, this part was difficult to photograph, so bear with me as I attempt to explain. I took the first six inches of the wire and wove it over and under a few branches to the right of the candle. I then pulled this piece around the back of the candle and had it meet the long section of wire in front of the candle. I then twisted the short end onto the long end to resemble the neck of a wire hanger.

After that, I threaded the wire through three branches to the left of the candle and finally, wound the remaining wire tightly around the brass base of the candle until all was used up.  I then put a small amount of hot glue around each of the bases to add security.

The hardest part was over and it took less than twenty minutes. Cowgirl then cut the lingonberries off the stem. (Disclaimer: My entire knowledge of lingpnberries consists of the facts that they make good jam and grow in Sweden. These may look nothing like a lingonberry should, but they cost a dollar, close enough.)  We arranged the berries around the wreath, then secured each with a little more hot glue.

Cowgirl had a little bit of holly  left over from making her clips, and decoded to add it to the wreath. We glue one piece to the base of each candle.

The last part to make was the bow. For those of you who do not know how to make your own bows, here is a tutorial to check out.  I first cut a five foot length of ribbon that we folded in half and attached to the back of the wreath for the tails.

Then I wrapped a DVD case seven times and made the large bow, this brought back so many memories of crafting with my mom who had taught me how to make bow many years ago. I attached the bow via floral wire, then reinforced with hot glue.

Voila, a St Lucy Day crown. We were both happy with how it turned out.  I will be posting more about our plans later this week. God bless.

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