Advent Book Basket

Advent book baskets are pretty popular, and you can find a variety of them on the internet.  Every year I pull out all of our seasonal books and put them in three categories:  Holiday, books that are fun and generally Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, etc. focused; Christmas, books that are more about the wise men, or after Jesus' birth; and Advent, books of a more spiritual nature about preparing for Jesus, or stories about His birth.  I also order a variety of books from our local library system.

I put them all in a basket, separated by group, and we read one Advent book per day until Christmas.  The kids are also welcome to read the holiday books in the basket as well.  After Christmas we read the stories about the wise men.

I've seen a ton of cute ideas on the internet about wrapping the books and then letting the children unwrap them each day, but it's always seemed like too much work!  I like the idea of each book being a surprise, so this year I came up with another option.  I purchased 9X12 envelopes in brown (not the yellowy-brown they normally are, these look like brown paper) and some purple glitter glue and went to work!

Here's what you need to do.  Take a purple marker and write a big number for each day of Advent on each envelope.  The longest Advent can be is 28 days, the 27-30 of November and 1-24 of December, so you'll need that many envelopes.  Next, go back over the numbers with purple glitter to give it some sparkle.  I suggest purple because that's primarily the color of Advent.  Let them dry.

After this, put your books with the envelopes.  If the book is small enough, put it inside the envelope.  If it's too big, fold the tab of the envelope over the cover of the book.  That way the book is still covered enough to surprise the kids!

Then add the books in numerical order to your basket and they are ready to go.  Advent starts on December 1st this year so I've stored the November envelopes in the back of the basket.  After Christmas I will save the envelopes to use next year.  I can surprise the kids, and it's not any extra work since the books need to go in the basket anyway- win-win!

Below are some of our Advent books.  What are your favorites?

Waiting for Christmas: A Story about the Advent Calendar by Kathleen Long Bostrom

Making Christmas Count!  A Kid's Guide to Keeping the Season Sacred by Ted O'Neal

Saint Nicholas by Ann Tompert

Merry Christmas, Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

The Donkey's Dream by Barbara Helen Berger

The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola

Father and Son, a Nativity Story by Geraldine McCaughrean

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

Magic Tree House:  A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time by Mary Pope Osborne
                  ***This is a chapter book that appeals to 1st-3rd graders

The Littlest Tree by Charles Tazewell

The Christmas Candle by Richard Paul Evans

Angela and the Baby Jesus by Frank McCourt

The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie dePaola

The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola
                    ***The two above books can be found in a new book, Joy to the World, Christmas Stories 
                          and Songs by Tomie dePaola.  It also contains a great Epiphany book, The Story of the 
                          Three Wise Kings.

The Story of Christmas by Patricia A. Pingry

***A quick disclaimer:  These books are my favorites, and I have read and love all of them, however, they are mostly storybooks written by children's authors.  They are not necessarily written by Catholic writers, or studied and approved by Catholic clergy.  I found nothing objectionable from a catechetical standpoint, but if I missed something, please let me know in the comments.  In other words, you should read through these books and decide for yourself whether or not you like them!  :)

A Child Friendly and Portable Advent Wreath!

This year our parish has invited families and children to make and bring their own Advent Wreaths from home to have blessed at church on the first Sunday of Advent.  We will be bringing our family wreath from home, but I also want my children to bring one that they will be able to keep and really light in their bedrooms, and I also need them portable enough to bring to church.  I decided to make a paper plate wreath with led votive candles.

Here's how I did it!  You will need:

A stapler, tacky glue, a paper plate or cardboard disc, purple and pink ribbon, a sheet of green felt, four led votive candles, something to make the 'branches.'  I used shredded paper, but you could use bits of fabric, yarn, real evergreen, small pine cones, tulle, pom-poms, the possibilities are endless! You also need scissors.

Step one is to create your green base.  I stapled green felt around a paper plate, but you could color it, or just use a green paper plate to start.  I like the coziness of the felt, plus it takes glue more quickly than a shiny paper plate, but this is my preference and you could do whatever is easiest.  I trimmed the felt, leaving a tenth of an inch or so hanging off of the edge.

Next, add some glue to the edge of your wreath, and add your 'greenery.'  You will need more or less glue than I used, depending on what you and the children choose to use.  I left mine a little wild and messy, but I'm sure when the Meteorologist makes his, I will have to do some trimming to make it neat and tidy.  Do whatever works for you!

Now for the candles, and you need the ribbon and led lights for this step.  I put dabs of tacky glue all around my candles, and wrapped the ribbon around, working my way down and around.  I started with these short candles, but then....

I found these other candles and loved the look, so I ended up making both sets.  You need to make three purple and one pink candle.

These are a little taller, and easier to see nestled on the wreath.  Settle the candles on the wreath, and there you go!  Easy to take to a blessing at church, and safe to light at bedtime for the kids!  Enjoy Advent, and if you are a member of our parish, I can't wait to see your wreath in a few weeks!  Otherwise, let me know how you made your wreath below in the comments!

Remembering Loved Ones

November is a wonderful month of remembrance.  We remember the saints in Heaven with God on Nov. 1st- All Saints Day, we remember our loved ones who died in the faith on Nov. 2nd- All Souls, and we remember all of the blessings in our lives as we approach our country's Thanksgiving holiday.

I wanted to find a decoration that would take my family through the month, honor those family members who are no longer with us, and remind us of all we have to be thankful for.  I came up with the idea of creating a 'remembrance rope' of sorts. 

All you need to do is pull out some sort of garland- mine happens to be very twiggy- and wedge photos of your loved ones who have died between the branches.  I also included some prayer cards.  I will put the garland on our staircase railing-after the Halloween decorations come down! 

 

During the month, we will add leaves to thank God for our many blessings.  Our remembrance rope will become a gratitude garland!  The children and I have talked about how we can pray for these family members, and ask them to pray for us, and how the church sets aside a day for us to remember and pray for those who have died.  It's also a great month to learn the 'Eternal Rest' prayer.

"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."

May God bless and comfort you as you remember your loved ones this month.

Spooky Saint Stones!

I want my kids to understand the connection between Halloween, the vigil, and All Saint's Day on Nov. 1st, the holy day where we recognize those men and women who died and are now in Heaven with God.  My boys, however, want, eerie, ominous, and weird this time of year, so it can be a challenge to merge our faith with some spooky fun. This year I've found a way to incorporate the saints in our decorating with Spooky Saint Stones!

My boys were pretty self-sufficient making these, and while the Superhero Princess had a great time and was engaged with the activity, just know that you'll have to be very hands-on if you try this with a toddler or preschooler.   The very first thing we did was talk about the saints-the way they lived their lives are now role-models for us, the church sets aside All Saints Day for us to remember them and we can ask them to pray for us (intercede) because they are in Heaven with God and will help us.

First, stack two pieces of black or gray fun foam and cut them out, so that you have two same-shaped tomb stones.  As you can see, I free-handed these, so they are far from perfect!  Keeping the stones stacked, write the names of favorite saints on the top outside piece, and the bottom outside piece.  Leave the center sides (the ones that match up) blank.  We used permanent metallic markers, since our foam was black, but if you use lighter colored foam, any permanent marker would work.  We talked about a lot of different saints while doing this.  Our choices for saints included family favorites, Confirmation saints, patron saints of things that are important to us, and our parish's patron.

After writing all of the names, open the set so that the blank side of both pieces is facing up.  Place a generous glob of tacky glue in the lower third center of the stone and attach a pom-pom.

Now put a generous glob of glue on top of the pom-pom.

Put the second tombstone piece on top of the pom-pom so that the saint name is facing up.  Squeeze!

Better yet, sandwich the project between books or newspapers and allow to dry thoroughly (give it about an hour.)  After you pull them out, you will need to gently bend the bottom flaps up and away from the pom-pom so that the tomb stone will stand.

Put your stones out for display, and there you go, spooky decorations that incorporate the real meaning of this fun time of year!

All you Holy Men and Women, pray for us!

**These are very lightweight, and although they will stand on their own, you might want to prop them against a real stone if they are in a gusty area of your house, or, if like me, you have little mini-cyclones in the forms of your children.  Happy All Saints!