{pretty, happy, funny, real} :: Christkindl

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life. ~

I recently posted that we were going to begin the Christkindl tradition in our home this year.  We drew names on the First Sunday of Advent after lighting our Advent Candles, updating our various Advent Calendars, hanging ornaments on our Jesse Trees, and unwrapping and reading the picture book for the  first night! It sounds like a lot, but went quickly and made for a beautiful start to Advent! 

{pretty}

Last month I ordered a sweet little Christkindl ornament on ebay (like this one - thank you Cheryl for the suggestion!) and placed her in the middle of a bowl with everyones names listed on a piece of paper.

{happy}

I folded Snuggles and Roses' names slightly different and they conveniently choose each other, and Bud will help me!  Sean* & I and the four oldest children all drew each others names and everyone is dying to find out who has who!   It was so fun to watch everyone's reactions!

(*Sean used his real name in the comments of his Twenty Favorite Movies post, so does that mean I can now too?  I'll have to ask him! ;)  I've always felt funny calling him "Hubby" and he hasn't liked it either, but it's hard to change nicknames on blogs... just ask Snuggles!  Speaking of him, maybe Slugger would be a good alternative as he gets older, and not so snuggly! lol) 

{funny}

When Snuggles asked his Dad to read his to him (Sean will help Snuggles and I will help Rose) his reaction was hysterical! He said "NOOO!! NO! NO! NOOO!!!!" before covering his mouth and dropping to the floor. Sean later figured out that he thought his NAME CHANGED to that persons for all of Advent and that HE HAD TO BE THEM until Christmas.. No, Snuggles, you just have to pray and do nice things for that person - which will be just as hard, considering that person is "sweet" little Rose! lol

{real}

After we drew names, we went back to the living room to open up the new Advent gifts for this year! Isn't the apron gorgeous!?  I {big puffy heart} love it!  I'm headed to the kitchen now to put it on and bake some St. Nicholas Cookies with the kids, using the recipe in the back of The Baker's Dozen, while we listen to our new favorite Advent CD.

Anyways, as I was taking this picture, Sean snuck up behind me and gave me a hug... The kids all immediately yelled "DAD HAS MOM!!! DAD HAS MOM!!!" Hmmm? Maybe he does have me?! (Snuggles yelled "Dad's MOM!! DAD IS MOM!!!" He still doesn't quite get it! ;)



I'm also really impressed with the progress that has been made on the new puzzle this year.  I might have to take it apart when they are finished and start over so that I can have a chance to work on some of it! :)

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter for more pictures of contentment.

(I'll update the link once they have the post up tomorrow.)

Precious Moments :: Adding the First Ornaments...

... to our Jesse Trees on the First Sunday of Advent!

This Year's Advent & Christmas Book Baskets {with a little peek at our plans!}

I hope you all had a blessed first Sunday of Advent!  Our day was beautiful and peaceful, despite the excessively rainy weather, flood warnings, and Captain coming down with an awful stomach virus... We made the best of it and (thankfully) by the end of the day he was feeling much better.  Deo Gratias! 

As you probably noticed in my last post, I did end up wrapping some of our Advent and Christmas themed picture books in purple, pink and gold paper for the children to unwrap each day during Advent and over the twelve days of Christmas, like we have done for the past few years now.  I usually wait until Christmas morning to add the twelve books wrapped in gold for the twelve days of Christmas, but since Advent is short this year, and I had extra room in the basket, I went ahead and included them as well.  I then piled the remaining books in a few additional baskets and moved them to the living room so they are readily available.   

Our collection has grown so much over the past years, and I was having such a hard time choosing books to wrap!  How was I going to decide which ones to focus on this year?!?  I finally gave up and asked all the kids to choose four favorites each off the shelf and bring them to me... They were all very excited and I ended up with a nice big stack of 25 books, since someone (Rose) apparently snuck in an extra!

Here is the list of books we will be reading through this year as a family:

Note: The ones marked with an * are the ones that I choose for this year, and the books listed in bold are new additions to our collection that I've purchased on sale here and there, including a few new ones on Black Friday...

December 2 (First Sunday of Advent) ~ Waiting for Christmas: A Story about the Advent Calendar
*Decorate for Advent with Advent Calendars, Advent Wreath, Jesse Tree, etc...  Set out Manger for Baby Jesus and all of our Christmas Books.   Bless the Advent Wreath during nighttime prayers.  Choose names for Christkindl! 

December 3 ~ The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey with CD: Gift Edition
*Celebrate the Feast of St. Francis Xavier

December 4 ~ The Christmas Cobwebs

December 5 ~ The Baker's Dozen: A St. Nicholas Tale
*Bake St. Nicholas Cookies (We will probably try the recipe in the book this year!) 

December 6 (Feast of St. Nicholas) ~ The Miracle of Saint Nicholas
*Celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas

December 7 (Feast of St. Ambrose) ~  The Little Fir Tree
*Decorate our Christ Candle for Christmas

December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) ~ *Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree
*Cut Down Christmas Tree after Mass 

December 9 (Second Sunday of Advent) ~ *Our Lady of Guadalupe (pop-up)
* Feast of St. Juan Diego; possibly have our Our Lady of Guadalupe Tea

December 10 (Feast of Our Lady of Loreto) ~  An Orange for Frankie

December 11 ~ Cobweb Christmas: The Tradition of Tinsel

December 12 (Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe) ~ The Legend of the Christmas Rose
*Begin Christmas Rose Novena

December 13 (Feast of St. Lucy) ~ Lucia, Saint of Light
*Celebrate the Feast of St. Lucy

December 14 ~ Waiting for Noel: An Advent Story

December 15 (Rose's Birthday) ~ *The Mitten 20th Anniversary Edition
* Birthday Party for Rose!

December 16 (Gaudete Sunday) ~ The Night of Las Posadas

December 17 ~ The Miraculous Child: A Christmas Folktale from Old Russia
*O Wisdom...  (View all our O Antiphon Plans here.)

December 18 ~ Home for Christmas
*O Adonai, and Ruler of the House...

December 19 (Bud's Birthday) ~ *Snowman at Night
*Birthday Party for Bud! 
*O Root of Jesse...

December 20 ~ The Gift of the Christmas Cookie: Sharing the True Meaning of Jesus' Birth
*Bake Cookies for Christmas to give as gifts 
*O Key of David - Key Lime Pie and Sparkling Drinks with Dinner

December 21 ~ One Christmas Dawn
*O Dayspring... Hot Cocoa in thermoses and drive around to see Christmas lights in town after dark, then head to friends home for a Christmas Yule Party!  

December 22 ~ *The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher
*Bake and Decorate Cut-out Cookies.
*O King of the Gentiles...

December 23 (Fourth Sunday of Advent) ~ The Donkey's Dream
*Bake Starlight Cookies
*O Emmanuel... 

December 24 (Christmas Eve) ~ *A Christmas Manger (Punch-out-and-play Books) 
*Gingerbread House Decorating Party and Midnight Mass



The following are wrapped in gold paper for the 12 Days of Christmas:

December 25 (Christmas Day) ~ The Nativity by Ruth Sanderson

December 26 (Feast of St. Stephen) ~ *Good King Wenceslas (pub. 2012)

December 27 (Feast of St. John the Apostle) ~ Stephen's Feast

December 28 (Feast of the Holy Innocents) ~ Angela and the Baby Jesus

December 29 (St. Thomas Becket) ~ *S is for Star: A Christmas Alphabet

December 30 ~ Mortimer's Christmas Manger

December 31 ~ The Little Match Girl

January 1 (Feast of the Circumcision) ~ *Who's Hiding: A Christmas Lift the Flap

January 2 ~  Mary Engelbreit's Nutcracker

January 3 ~ Christmas in the Barn

January 4 ~ *The Third Gift (I ended up changing my mind and adding this here, getting this new Our Lady of Guadalupe book instead.  The Third Gift looks wonderful, I just wanted something a little more "girly" for her and this books looks perfect for our little Chiquita!) 

January 5 ~ The Last Straw

January 6 (Feast of Epiphany) ~ *Babushka and the Three Kings

In Addition to the favorites listed above, here are the rest of 

Our Additional Books for Advent and Christmas:

(including this year's newest picture books)

Advent and Christmas Chapter Books:
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Chronicle
Destination: Bethlehem
The Catholic Christmas Book of Cherished Christmas Customs
The Story of Holly and Ivy
The Thirteen Days of Christmas
The Trees Kneel at Christmas

Early Advent:
Advent Storybook: 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas
The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas, An Austin Family Story

Feast of St. Nicholas:
A Gift from St. Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
St. Nicholas: A Closer Look at Christmas
The Church Mouse of Saint Nicholas
The Legend of Saint Nicholas
The Real Santa Claus: Legends of Saint Nicholas

Feast of the Immaculate Conception: 
Mary, Mother of Jesus

Feasts of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe:
Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe(Coloring Book)
The Lady of Guadalupe
The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe Empress of the Americas

Feast of St. Lucia: 
Bells of Santa Lucia
Hanna's Christmas
Kirsten's Surprise: A Christmas Story
Lucia Morning in Sweden
Lucia, Child of Light: The History And Traditions of Sweden's Lucia Celebration

The Christmas Story:
All for the Newborn Baby
Bethlehem
Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers
Christmas in the Barn
Christmas Night Fair and Bright
Father and Son: A Nativity Story
Little Star
One Winter's Night
The Birds of Bethlehem
The Christmas Bell
The Christmas Bird
The First Christmas
The Stable Where Jesus Was Born
The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale
The Very First Christmas
There Was No Snow on Christmas Eve

Christmas Books Inspired by Music:
Good King Wenceslas
O Holy Night
The Huron Carol

Christmas Around the World: 
Baboushka: A Christmas Folktale from Russia
Christmas Around the World
Marta and the Manger Straw: A Christmas Tradition form Poland
Pablo's Christmas

Historical Christmas Books:
An Early American Christmas
Christmas in the Trenches

War Game: Village Green to No-Man's Land

Legends, Inspirational Stories and Other Miscellaneous Books:

A Small Miracle
Night Tree
On Christmas Eve
Saint Francis and the Christmas Donkey
Santa's Favorite Story
Shoemaker Martin
The Christmas Candle

The Christmas Knight

The Christmas Promise 

The Legend of the Candy Cane

The Three Gifts of Christmas: Book with Audio CD

Just for Fun:

Golfer's Night Before Christmas , A
How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The Night Before Christmas: Book & DVD

Christmas Crafts and Baking:
Christmas Cooking (Activities)

The Twelve Days of Christmas:
Twelve Days of Christmas Stained Glass Coloring Book
The Twelve Days of Christmas

Feast of Epiphany:
We Three Kings




And a Basket of Board Books for our Littlest Ones:

B Is for Bethlehem: A Christmas Alphabet Board Book
Who Is Coming to Our House?
Christmas in the Manger
The Legend Of The Three Trees - Board Book
Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend
Touch and Feel Baby Jesus Is Born
The Best Christmas Story (Hide-Away Books)
The Christmas Story Board Book
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Saving Name of God the Son

Note: Some of the books on our reading lists have study guides in either Christmas Mosaic, An Illustrated Book Study for Advent and Christmas or Catholic Mosaic: Living the Liturgical Year with Literature an Illustrated Book Study for Cathoilc Children, which we will be using as well!

Wishing you all a very Blessed Advent!

Preparing our Hearts for Christmas :: A Soft Manger, Christkindl, and a Letter to the Christ Child

Each Advent, as we prepare for Christmas, our children love creating a soft place for the Infant Jesus to arrive on Christmas morning by placing a piece of straw (or raffia) in the manger for each of their extra prayers, good works, and sacrifices.

This year, as some of the children get older, we have decided to expand on this tradition by incorporating the Christkindl tradition which Maria von Trapp shares in her book Around the Year with the Trapp Family.  (Unfortunately this book is out of print, but you can find the complete text at EWTN.  Many years ago I printed it out in it's entirety!)  Growing up my family enjoyed doing this during Advent, and it was also encouraged at Christendom College when I was a student!  (I still remember the funky glasses and "pet bug" I found in my mailbox which my Christkindl - also known as Kris Kringle - left me as a gift! lol)   

Mrs. Von Trapp explains the tradition much better than I ever could so I am just going to share a quote:

... And then comes another exciting moment. Once more the mother appears with the bowl, which she passes around. This time the pieces of paper contain the names of the members of the family and are neatly rolled up, because the drawing has to be done in great secrecy. The person whose name one has drawn is now in one's special care. From this day until Christmas, one has to do as many little favors for him or her as one can. One has to provide at least one surprise every single day--but without ever being found out. This creates a wonderful atmosphere of joyful suspense, kindness, and thoughtfulness. Perhaps you will find that somebody has made your bed or shined your shoes or has informed you, in a disguised handwriting on a holy card, that "a rosary has been said for you today" or a number of sacrifices have been offered up. This new relationship is called "Christkindl" (Christ Child) in the old country, where children believe that the Christmas tree and the gifts under it are brought down by the Christ Child himself.

The beautiful thing about this particular custom is that the relationship is a reciprocal one. The person whose name I have drawn and who is under my care becomes for me the helpless little Christ Child in the manger; and as I am performing these many little acts of love and consideration for someone in the family I am really doing them for the Infant of Bethlehem, according to the word, "And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me." That is why this particular person turns into "my Christkindl." At the same time I am the "Christkindl" also for the one I am caring for because I want to imitate the Holy Child and render all those little services in the same spirit as He did in that small house of Nazareth, when as a child He served His Mother and His foster father with a similar love and devotion.

Many times throughout these weeks can be heard such exclamations as, "I have a wonderful Christkindl this year!" or, "Goodness, I forgot to do something for my Christkindl and it is already suppertime!" It is a delightful custom, which creates much of the true Christmas spirit and ought to be spread far and wide...

On the first Sunday of Advent we will draw names.  (I'm thinking the oldest five children this year, but if any of you have done this before and have suggestions or advice, I'd love to hear it in the comment box!)  I also plan to have the children write a letter to the Christ Child this year, also inspired by Maria Von Trapp:

...And there is still one very important thing to do for Advent. According to Austrian custom, every member of the family writes a letter to the Holy Child mentioning his resolutions for the weeks of Advent and listing all his wishes for gifts. This "Christkindl Brief" (letter to the Holy Child) is put on the window sill, from whence the Guardian Angel will take it up to heaven to read it aloud to the Holy Child...

Update: Our children tuck their letters into their shoes on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas so that he can pick them up and deliver them to the Christ Child.

I'm really looking forward to adding these old customs to our family traditions!