The Great O Antiphons, The Golden Nights

Ever since our oldest children were very little, we have been implementing an old monastic custom in our home by providing special treats, representing each of the "O Antiphons" on the days leading up to Christmas. The O Antiphon prayers begin on December 17th and end on the 23rd, which is the last Vespers of Advent, since the evening prayer on the 24th is the Vigil of Christmas.

The Benedictine monks arranged these antiphons with a definite purpose. If one starts with the last title and takes the first letter of each one - Emmanuel, Rex, Oriens, Clavis, Radix, Adonai, Sapientia - the Latin words ero cras are formed, meaning, “Tomorrow, I will come.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus, whose coming we have prepared for in Advent and whom we have addressed in these seven Messianic titles, now speaks to us, “Tomorrow, I will come.” So the “O Antiphons” not only bring intensity to our Advent preparation, but bring it to a joyful conclusion.

Each night, following our family rosary, we pray the O Antiphon for the day, sing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, which was inspired by this ancient tradition, and then give the children a special treat. 

(Picture from a past Advent Season) 

The "treats" have varied from year to year. Some years it has been little gifts or activities for the family, some years it is all food related, and some years it is a mix of both, depending on our schedule and budget. It doesn't need to cost much or even anything at all! Be creative!

Sometimes the treats are a bit of a stretch, but my goal is try and find gifts that will either help increase our faith (Catechism books, holy family, saints, prayer, etc) or encourage family time (games, puzzles, going to look at Christmas lights, etc). You can find some of our past O Antiphon treats by scrolling through the archives and visiting Catholic Cuisine.

Our family loves this tradition. It is such a fun way to teach the children about these beautiful prayers of the church and also increase their excitement as Christmas gets closer.

Here are more details on our O Antiphon House and Blocks

In case you are looking for some inspiration, I've listed some of the treats I've given my family over the years (along with my picks for this year)... Special food ideas, activities and gifts (or you can simply decorate chocolate coins!) for each of the O Antiphons can be found below. 

Once again I am hosting an O ANTIPHON GIVEAWAY! One lucky visitor here at Shower of Roses will receive a gift package including seven Cookie Stamps, one to represent each of the seven O Antiphons!  Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the details and to enter.

.: December 17th - O Sapientia (O Wisdom) :.

Since the symbol for wisdom is a book, I usually choose a new Catholic book for our family. 

Coffee from Patris Roasting Co. would be perfect to pair with a book! (I first mentioned this coffee in this post - it's now available to purchase! Save 5% with coupon code FRIENDS)

O Wisdom Ideas from Over the Years:

• Bible Cookies or Bible Candies
• Brain Food - Dark Chocolate, Deviled Eggs, Theo Christmas Bars... 
• Patris Roasting Co. coffee would also be great! 
• Play a Trivia Game (The Purgative Way, Christmas Trivia, Catholic Trivia, Cranium) 
• Play SaintCards, Saint Memory, or Catholic Quiz games
• Pray and Play ABC Puzzle from Saintly Heart (for the little ones!) 
• Outmatched from Institute for Excellence in Writing - One year I went with a game focusing on the time period most of our children were studying.
• Bookmarks or Holy Cards
• Family Prayer Book, Catechism, or other Book - The Christmas Book, The Catechism in Pictures with review here, Jesus Make Me Worthy, My Catholic Faith, A Catholic Child's Picture Dictionary, Around the Year: Once Upon a Time Saints, etc... The possibilities are endless.
• Books including An Alphabet of the Altar, The Wonder Story and The Wonder Days from St. Augustine Academy Press. 

O Wisdom that comest out of the mouth of the Most High, that reachest from one end to another, and orderest all things mightily and sweetly, come to teach us the way of prudence!

.: December 18th - O Adonai (O Lord) :.

"Burning bush..." or maybe a bonfire!  Perfect evening to pray the family rosary around the bonfire and maybe roast some marshmallows afterwards! 

In the past we would always emphasize the word "house" in this Antiphon, and have made our Gingerbread Houses or Gingerbread Cookies on this night.  Now that we have two birthdays this week (and two birthday cakes to bake and decorate!) we usually wait until Christmas or New Year's Eve, or sometime during the 12 Days of Christmas to decorated Gingerbread Houses. 

O Adonai Ideas from Over the Years:

• Ten Commandment Cookies
• Cookies made with this Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter or these cute 3-D Mini Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter made by Sweet Creations, emphasizing the word "house" 
• Pull out the Smore's Maker or light a bonfire and roast marshmallows, in reference to "Moses in the burning bush"
• Decorate Gingerbread Houses (my girls surprised me with this pan one year)
• Discuss the various names for Our Lady, including House of Gold! The Virgin Mary Around the World or any of the Marian dolls (Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Our Lady of China, Our Lady of Vailankanni, etc) would be perfect. 
• The Holy Mass: On Earth as it is in Heaven
• Father Leopold Lego Set or Architecture Blocks would also tie in nicely. 
• Notre Dame 3-D Church Puzzle or Midnight Mass Puzzle

O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel, Who didst appear unto Moses in the burning bush, and gavest him the law in Sinai, come to redeem us with an outstretched arm!

.: December 19th - O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse) :.

Our 2022 Family Ornament will be wrapped up for the 19th!

I also got this beautiful Poinsettia Ornament. 

O Root of Jesse Ideas from Over the Years:

• Root Beer Floats or Carrot Cake
• Roasted Root Vegetable, Hearty Healing Beef Stew or Hamburger Stew... Yum! 
• Old Fashioned Root Beer Drops
• Assemble and hang a new family ornament
• Purchase a Christmas Poinsettia (In the past we have also incorporated other Poinsettias: 12 Red Glitter Poinsettia Ornaments, Miracle of the Poinsettia, or Poinsettia Cupcakes)
• Play some sort of Gardening or Nature Game as a Family (perhaps Grow a Garden Matching Game, Wildcraft! An Herbal Adventure Game, Gathering a Garden, or The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game!)
• Kid's Vegetable Garden Seed Collection from St. Clare's Heirloom Seeds
• One year I had a set of our family blocks made by Naturally Catholic! 
• Bonus: You could even have a Jesse Tea! From Jesse, the shepherd, to Jesus, the Good Shepherd... Shepherds tie in nicely! 
• Shepherd and Angel playlet from Shining Light Dolls 
• Shepherd Puzzle Set made by Naturally Catholic

O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the people, at Whom the kings shall shut their mouths, Whom the Gentiles shall seek, come to deliver us, do not tarry.

.: December 20th - O Clavis David (O Key of David) :.

The boys arrive home from college on the 20th this year!!! 

As St. Padre Pio, said: “Prayer is the best weapon we have. It is a key opening God's Heart."  

We are planning to take our children to Mass or Adoration and then pick up a Key Lime Pie from Birdie's Pie Shop to enjoy after dinner with some Sparkling Cider! 

O Key of David Ideas from Over the Years:

• Key Lime Pie
• Special drink (Sparkling cider!) with dinner or for a family game night. Since this is initially a monastic tradition, and on this night, the monk in charge of the wine cellar would provide a special bottle of wine.
• Surprise the family with tickets ("key") to something local - Christmas play, the Nutcracker, etc. One year I took our older children to see A Christmas Carol at the theatre. 
• Christmas Jingle Bells - We were gifted with a set of these from Pinecone Leather Co a couple years ago. I love the description over on Etsy sharing their family's tradition.
• Advent At Ephesus or Caroling at Ephesus
• Key Puzzle/Brainteaser
• Tiny Saints Key Hooks - One year I purchased a couple key hook rails to use to hang our Rosaries. You can see them in our old home in this post.
• Incorporate Music "keys" with Catholic Songs for Children CD, Sheet Music Book and St. Cecilia Doll. This new Children's First Chants book would be a fun gift! 

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, come to liberate the prisoner from the prison, and them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

.: December 21st - O Oriens (O Dayspring) :.

We'll once again make hot cocoa, and we'll pile in the car (or two!) to go look at Christmas lights downtown weather permitting! I might give them their Christmas PJ's (purchased last Jan on clearance or save them for Christmas Eve depending on whether we plan to go to Midnight Mass or Mass at Dawn). 

O Dayspring Ideas from Over the Years:

• A Woman Clothed with the Sun (Oranges)
• O Dayspring Ice Cream, Non-Alcoholic Mimosas or Texas Sunrise with Breakfast
• Decorate a Christmas Candle (We use a tiny wax baby Jesus I purchased years ago along with Gold Decorating Beeswax from Stockmar.)
• Our favorite tradition for this O Antiphon is to pile in the car after dinner with hot cocoa and drive around to look at all the Christmas lights. 
• Stargazing was the plan for the evening of December 21, 2020!
• Candles from The Cloister Shoppe
• Our Lady of Fatima: The Graphic Novel (miracle of the sun)
• Grimm's Casa Sole Stacking Blocks
• New Christmas Pajamas

O Dayspring, Brightness of the everlasting light, Son of justice, come to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!

.: December 22nd - O Rex Gentium (O King of the Gentiles) :.

O King Ideas from Over the Years: (many are perfect for Epiphany too) 

• Crown Cake, Cupcakes or Wreath Cookies
• Wreath Charcuterie Board
• Bake Cookies using the Wise Men Cookie Stamp from Rycraft, Inc 
• Assemble a Three Kings Puzzle or Nativity Snow Globes Puzzle
• Listen to King of the Golden City CD
• One year I picked out one of the beautiful sets of Three Kings Gifts - we pull it out every Christmas! The Wise Men Who Found Christmas is great too! 
• Rex Gentium Nail Polish
• Twas the Evening of Christmas Picture Book - Our daughter received this one year on the feast of St. Nicholas. It's such a lovely book! 
• Three Kings Playset from Shining Light Dolls
• Three Kings, Ten Mysteries 

O King of the Gentiles, yea, and desire thereof! 

O Corner-stone, that makest of two one, come to save man, whom Thou hast made out of the dust of the earth!

.: December 23rd - O Emmanuel (O With Us is God) :.

Once again we'll bake our Christmas Cookies, fill a box/basket to take to Carmel, and maybe even pull out another Christmas puzzle (from our now large collection) to get started on!

O Emmanuel Ideas from Over the Years:

• Decorate Nativity Cookies to give as gifts or Cookie Cutters Tell the Christmas Story 
• Make a Chocolate Nativity Scene for Christmas 
• Decorate Chocolate Christmas Coins using this FREE Printable
• Holy Night Puzzle
• Fill a basket to deliver to the nuns at Carmel. Fresh Fruit, Various Cheeses, Christmas Cookies and other goodies! 
• Christmas picture books, coloring books including the beautiful Eucharistic Adoration: With Saints And Symbols Of The Eucharist coloring book, or the Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring: Christmas with The Dominican Sisters of Mary.
• Children's Nativity Set -  you can find some of our favorites in this post and more of our collection here (scroll down a bit)
• A Child's Christmas ABC Book (review here) 
• 2020 Fontanini Ornament
• Nativity Icon from Clear Creek Abbey

O Emmanuel, our King and our Law-giver, Longing of the Gentiles, yea, and salvation thereof, come to save us, O Lord our God!

Scroll through all the past "O Antiphon" posts here.

If you are looking for gift ideas, you can find my lists of Christmas Gift Ideas & Stocking Stuffers here (2015), here (2016), here (2017), here (2018), here (2019), and here (2020).   

.: O ANTIPHONS GIVEAWAY :. 

Win a Set of Cookie Stamps

Here are the cookie stamps I picked out to go along with each of the O Antiphons.
The winner will receive one of each!

Wisdom: #460 – Triune God
House: #214 – Home Sweet Home
Root of Jesse: #520 – Willow Tree
Key of David: #543 – Key to My Heart
Dayspring: #291 – Moravian Star
King: #448 – Norwegian Wedding Crown
Emmanuel: #368 – Nativity

Sponsored by Rycraft Cookie Stamps

(7 cookie stamps with recipe booklet @ $12.99 ea = $90.93 value)

Enter the Giveaway using the Rafflecopter Box below: 

Once again, send me an email if it doesn't work for you and I'll add you manually! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read more about our family's traditions here:

The Advent Season In Our Catholic Home