Our 2020 Advent Book Basket and Printable Labels {Plus Giveaway!}

Advent begins this upcoming Sunday! 

The length of Advent always varies from 22-28 days, beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30th) and embracing four Sundays. The first day of Advent can fall as early as November 27th or as late as December 3rd. This year Advent begins on Sunday, November 29th.  

Every Advent our family counts down the days until Christmas with picture books, Advent Calendars, and the Jesse Tree. Years ago, when we didn't have enough Christmas themed picture books to wrap one for each day of Advent, I would check some Christmas books out from the library just before Advent began, using Christmas Mosaic as a guide. We have added many books to our home library since then, giving one Christmas themed book to each of our children on the feast of St. Nicholas, and our collection has definitely grown.  (You can find this year's St. Nick books here!) 

I currently keep all of our Christmas picture books on the bottom two shelves of a corner bookshelf upstairs in our school room... In the past I have filled our Advent basket with Christmas Mosaic titles and our children's 35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books. One year I picked twenty-six of MY favorites (although I still find new favorites to add to my list each year!) and one year I left the choosing up to my husband and our oldest daughter. We've had great lists the last few years too: 2017, 2018 and 2019.

This year I branched out a bit from the usual and decided to include some other excellent Catholic books that I really wanted to pull off the shelf and read to my children this Advent.  Here is the list: 

Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

November 29 - 1st Sunday of Advent: The Wonder Story - set up Advent Calendars and Jesse Tree

November 30 - Feast of St. Andrew: Old Testament Rhymes

December 1: The End of the Fiery Sword: Adam and Eve Jesus and Mary

December 2: Of Bells and Cells: The World of Monks, Friars, Sisters and Nuns

December 3: The Miracle of St. Nicholas

December 4 - First Friday: In the Candles Glow

December 5 - First Saturday: The Baker's Dozen - write letters to Christ Child/Saint Nicholas, bake Speculaas or St. Nicholas Cookies, and decorate St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins to give to others

December 6 - 2nd Sunday of Advent - Feast of St. Nicholas: St. Nicholas and the Nine Gold Coins - St. Nicholas Brunch

December 7 - Feast of St. Ambrose: The Attic Saint - Bake a Honeycomb Cake

December 8 - Immaculate Conception: Nikola and the Monk - Decorate Christ Candle

December 9 - Feast of St. Juan Diego: Our Lady of Guadalupe (Pop-Up Book)

December 10: Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree

December 11: The Christmas Cobwebs

December 12 - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Bambinelli Sunday - Las Mananitas/Holy Mass at Dawn, Our Lady of Guadalupe Brunch, Prepare for Santa Lucia Day

December 13 - 3rd Sunday of Advent/Gaudete Sunday and Feast of St. Lucy: Lucia Saint of Light 

December 14: Saint Francis Celebrates Christmas

December 15: The Miraculous Child: A Christmas folktale from old Russia

December 16 - Ember Wednesday: Catholic Nursery Rhymes

December 17 - O Sapientia: An Alphabet of the Altar And Other Holies

December 18 - O Adonai and Ember Friday: A Child's Rule of Life

December 19 - O Radix Jesse and Ember Saturday: Marta and the Manger Straw

December 20 - 4th Sunday of Advent - O Clavis David: Silent Night: The wonderful story of the beloved Christmas carol

December 21 - O Oriens and Winter Solstice: The Angels' Alphabet

December 22 - O Rex Gentium: Twas' the Evening of Christmas 

December 23 - O Emmanuel: The First Christmas

December 24 - Vigil of Christmas: The Wonder Days

About five or six years ago I switched to brown paper along with purple and pink ribbon, instead of the original purple and pink wrapping paper I would use years ago... Sometimes I use brown paper bags and sometimes I pick up a roll of brown craft paper from the craft store to use along with the ribbons I reuse every year and our homemade labels!

As always, we'll unwrap and read one book each night during Advent, following our family rosary. The rest of our book collection will be placed in additional baskets to read during the seasons of Advent and Christmas. 

If you'd like to use my little labels too, you can download my Advent Book Basket Labels for 2020 over at Dropbox.

.: ADVENT BOOK BASKET GIVEAWAY :.

Prize #1: Premium Fabric Felt Advent Calendar (value $34.95) 

**I'll share a few more pictures of this Advent Calendar soon, and how I'm planning to use it this year!**

 

Congratulations, Nicole Ernest! 

"Great list and ideas! Thank you!"

Prize #2:  Three BRAND NEW books from Ignatius Press!

The Phantom of the Colosseum (In the Shadows of Rome)

The Interior Castle: A Boy's Journey into the Riches of Prayer

and The Adventures of Loupio, Volume 5: The Cave (value $33.97) 

Congratulations, Tonia!

"Thank you for all of the great inspiration to form our children in thier faith."

Enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter box below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For additional Christmas book suggestions you can find some of our lists in the archives: 

Feasts & Seasons :: Advent & Christmas Collection

Feasts & Seasons :: Our December Book Basket

35 Favorite Christmas Picture Books for Children

Last Year's Advent Book Basket

December :: Month Dedicated to the Divine Infancy

Christmas Mosaic :: A Review & Featured Book List

You can find the rest of our booklists here.

P.S. There is still time to enter the St. Nicholas Giveaway!

PSA: Order Your Advent Candles Now

Advent begins at the end of next month and it's time to order Advent Candles for your Advent Wreath!

 

For many years now we have been ordering the beautiful 100% Beeswax hand-poured tapers, made by the Dominican Nuns at The Cloister Shoppe, for the wreath we light each night during dinner. 

(Note: all links are affiliate links.) 

I try to plan ahead each year and order extra candles to have blessed on Candlemas (Feb 2) to have on hand for the new liturgical year and the following Advent.

In addition to the Advent Candles, some of my favorites have included: 

• Tumbler Jar Candles - The Cloister Shoppe makes amazing Jar Candles. In the past I've ordered extras of the Three Wisemen Candle (perfect for Epiphany!) to give as gifts. 

• Bayberry Christmas Eve Candles - I'm ordering replacement candles this year so that I can bring myself to actually light the candles, instead of just using it as a decoration. 

• Christmas Tree Creche Candle - I'm not sure I'll ever be able to actually burn this beautiful candle!

• Beeswax Candles - You can't go wrong with any of these! I replace our Advent Candles with Beeswax Candles for the Christmas season.

• St. Nick's Goat Milk Soap - I first featured this in my Seven Fun Finds for Advent back in 2014. This year they have it available in red! Love it!

• Peppermint Foot Creme - Love, love, love this stuff! 

We usually have two Advent wreaths set up in our home for Advent.  

The taper Advent Candles are placed in an Advent Wreath on our dining room table and we light them during dinner each night. 

We also have a larger wreath on the coffee table in the living room which we light during our family rosary each evening. I still really miss the pillar candles I bought for years from the Benedictine Monks... I currently use these 3x3 candles in purple and pink.  (Scroll through all Advent Wreath posts here.) 

One year I was feeling extra ambitious and hung our Advent Wreath like the Von Trapps! 

My children also really enjoy creating their own candles using this 100% Beeswax Advent Candle Kit from Illuminated Ink (pictured above). It's such a fun Advent activity for children.

The dear sisters only make a limited quantity of Advent Candles. 

They tend to sell out very quickly each year so be sure to order them soon if you are interested! 

Note: The Cloister Shoppe is offering free shipping for orders $75 or more until December 31st with promo code*: freeship *Eligible for US residence only. Limit of 3 times per customer.

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.

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... Special food ideas, activities and gifts (or you can simply decorate chocolate coins!) for each of the O Antiphons can be found below. I'm still trying to decide what I'll be doing this year.

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! I also have a sweet hand-painted nativity set to give away as well. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the details and to enter.

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

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!

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

A Few Ideas: 

• Bible Cookies or Bible Candies
• Brain Food (Dark Chocolate, Deviled Eggs, etc - I'm hoping to tuck some of the Theo Christmas Bars into stockings this Christmas.)
• Play a Trivia Game (Christmas Trivia, Catholic Trivia, Cranium) 
• Play Memory with Catholic Words Memory Match, Saint Memory, or Catholic Quiz games (Scattergories-Catholic Edition is fun with the older kids too!)
• 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. 

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

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!

In the past we would 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 Eve, or sometime during the 12 Days of Christmas to decorated Gingerbread Houses. We want our college students to be home for the fun too and they won't arrive until nearly midnight on the 19th!

A Few Ideas: 

• Ten Commandment Cookies
• Cookies made with this Gingerbread House Cookie Cutter or this 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)
• Notre Dame 3-D Church Puzzle, Forest Nativity Shaped Puzzle (shaped like house), or this Stained Glass Holy Night
• Father Leopold Lego Set or Architecture Blocks would also tie in nicely 
• 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. 

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

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.

A Few Ideas:

• Root Beer Floats or Carrot Cake
• Roasted Root Vegetable, Hearty Healing Beef Stew or Hamburger Stew (pictured)... Yum! 
• Purchase a Christmas Poinsettia (In the past we have also incorporated other Poinsettias: 12 Red Glitter Poinsettia Ornaments, Miracle of the Poinsettia, The Miracle of the First Poinsettia and Poinsettia Cupcakes)
• Play some sort of Gardening or Nature Game as a Family (perhaps Wildcraft! An Herbal Adventure Game, Gathering a Garden, or The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game!)
• A new "Family" Ornament
• Old Fashioned Root Beer Drops
• 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

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

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.

A Few Ideas:

• 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. 
• 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.)
• Advent At Ephesus, Caroling at Ephesus, or this Music of Midnight Mass!
• Incorporate Music "keys" with Catholic Songs for Children CD, Sheet Music Book and St. Cecelia Doll

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

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!

A Few Ideas:

• 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 Stockmar Gold Decorating Beeswax.)
• 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. We have also added these to our tree: Kurt Adler 10-Light Candle with Gold Dish Light Set 
• Candles from The Cloister Shoppe
• Our Lady of Fatima: The Graphic Novel and Coloring Book (miracle of the sun)
• Grimm's CASA SOLE Stacking Blocks (The set we have isn't currently available. Other options can be found online and over at Etsy including: Sun Block Wood Toy Stacker and these) 
• Last year I gave the children their new Christmas pajamas for this O Antiphon. 

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

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!

A Few Ideas:

• Crown Cake, Cupcakes or Cookies
• Bake Cookies using the Wise Men Cookie Stamp from Rycraft, Inc 
• Assemble a Three Kings Puzzle and this beautiful Stained Glass Nativity 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! 
• 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

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

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

A Few Ideas:

• Make a Chocolate Nativity Scene for Christmas 
• Decorate Nativity Cookies to give as gifts or Cookie Cutters Tell the Christmas Story 
• 500-Piece Stained Glass Jigsaw Puzzle or Holy Family Puzzle
• Decorate Chocolate Christmas Coins using this FREE Printable
• Children's Nativity Set -  you can find some of our favorites in this post and more of our collection here (scroll down a bit)
• 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.
• Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story Board Book
• Midnight Mass Puzzle 
• The Holy Family Nativity Playset from Shining Light Dolls

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), and here (2019).  

Santa Lucia Day in the Evening

I ended up getting to do a little baking this evening after all! Saint Lucia's Braided Bread has been an annual favorite ever since we started making it over ten years ago.🕯✨

Saint Lucia's Braided Bread recipe over at Catholic Cuisine

St. Lucia and St. Nicholas Dolls from Marzipantz

Dept 56 Winter Silhouette "Santa Lucia" Statue from Ebay (2012) 

Scroll through all our past St. Lucy posts here.

Santa Lucia Day in the Morning

Yesterday I had a really hard day, filled with multiple doctor and dental appointments, and I had no energy left to pull together anything special for Santa Lucia Day... but one of the girls stayed up late prepping for her middle-nameday and we all woke up to sweet songs and delicious treats! 🎶🕯

🎶Maiden so sweet and fair, 

Bright candles in your hair, 

Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!🎶 

Lussekatter recipe from Lucia Morning in Sweden

She’s loving her first Advent and all the special feast days leading up to Christmas! ❤️ 

#fourmonthsold #10lbs10oz #suchajoy

 

We have such a fun collection of books, dolls and decorations for Santa Lucia Day! 

This year I fell in love with the adorable dolls from Marzipantz! ❤️

Scroll through all our past St. Lucy posts here. 

Santa Lucia, ora pro nobis!

St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins

A few weeks ago I spent a little time creating new versions of my St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins and they turned out so pretty. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to share them with you all! 

Here is the link to my updated St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins...

...and here is the link to the original St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins! 

(You can find another option, an adaptation this idea of mine, over at St. Nicholas Center.)

Scroll through all pasts posts for the feast of St. Nicholas here. 

Christmas Carols (Little Golden Book)

Christmas Carols 

Back in print—a Little Golden Book full of classic Christmas carols to sing!

"This festive Little Golden Book from 1946 is back in print for the first time in 40 years! Beautiful vintage illustrations bring to life sheet music and lyrics for beloved carols and hymns that families have sung together for many generations: "Away in a Manger," "Joy to the World," "Deck the Halls," and more. Perfect for placing on the piano, or to give to a child or a collector of the classic Little Golden Books, this book will be cherished each holiday season."

Here are some pictures of this gorgeous little book:

Christmas Carols 

One of our favorite ways to prepare for and then celebrate Christmas is with a basket filled with beautiful books! We started our book collection nearly 20 years ago when our eldest son was a baby and, even though we now have a pretty incredible collection, I still love adding to it each year! One of our new additions for this year will be the recently republished Christmas Carols and I’m excited to send a copy of this sweet book to one of you too!

Once again I’m teaming up with a group of ladies over on Instagram to give ONE FAMILY the opportunity to receive *OVER 30 BOOKS* for their very own Advent Book Basket!! With a title for every day of the season this Advent Book Basket makes a perfect literary Advent Calendar.

You can find all the details here!