Glorious Nativity :: A Puzzle for Advent

Our children are getting so fast at putting together these puzzles!   Last Sunday, on the First Sunday of Advent, we gave them a new puzzle, as I mentioned in one of my Preparing for Advent posts this year, and they completed it last night...   I didn't even get to help with it this year!  

 Glorious Nativity 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle

I hope your Advent is off to a blessed start!  

Nativity Sets for Children

I'm not sure how many emails I have answered (or still need to answer) on where I purchased the Wooden Nativity Block Set that the children were playing with in my Advent & Christmas Book Baskets Post.  It really is neat, isn't it?!?

I purchased my set quite a few years ago when it was made by HABA, and it doesn't look like they make it any longer.  Haba now sells this beautiful (though very expensive) Wooden Nativity Set.  However you can find a similar set made by Constructive Playthings and it happens to be on sale for just $14.99 at the moment, which is much less than I paid for our set!  It looks almost identical to ours, though we did notice a few differences:  taller columns, more bushes, the addition of camels...

Note:  The stable built out of blocks is so tempting to one little toddler in our home who loves to knock it over, which is quite frustrating to his older (almost three years old) sister!  

This darling Hand Carved Child's First Nativity Set was sent to us as a gift.  It is designed by Kurt Adler, just like our favorite Nativity Advent Calendar.   It's a little more fragile than the block set (i.e. the paint has chipped in a few places) but loved very much by my little ones!

Even though I prefer the wood sets, we also have The Nativity Play Set by one2believe,  an older version of the Playmobil Nativity with The Three Wise Kings, and the Nativity Set by Schleich.

Originally I started out collecting a Child's Nativity Set for each of our children, but it looks like I missed one somewhere along the way and I still haven't found a new set for Bud.  He would probably love the Little People Christmas Story Nativity Scene, but I wish it didn't light up and require batteries...  I love the Kathy Kruse Nativity Set, but it is just too expensive!  Additional options include the Melissa & Doug Nativity Set and the Olive Wood Children's Nativity Set.  However, I think I am leaning more towards creating our own, or purchasing one of the many beautiful sets available on Etsy!

What is your favorite Children's Nativity Set?  

I'd love to hear about it in the comments!  

Dress Suggestions for Santa Lucia Day

Happy feast of the Immaculate Conception!   I don't think I'll ever celebrate this feast without remembering and thanking God for the good news we received on this feast, two years ago today!   It's hard to believe that much time has passed already...

Anyways, I have had quite a few emails lately asking where I purchased our dresses for Santa Lucia Day...   Unfortunately the lovely dresses that my older girls have are not currently available where I purchased them, just the doll sized version. Update: no longer available, link removed. (My girls gowns also came with a pink ribbon/bow sewed to the neckline, which I carefully removed).  

Last year I just used one of my white t-shirts for Rose (which works great for toddlers!) and this year I have been looking for a dress for her to wear.   I bought the big girls their dresses extra extra big back in 2008 and have been cinching them up with the ribbon each year, so we still don't have a hand-me-down for Rose.

I had been looking and finally ran across this cute little imported Scandinavian Swedish Dress for Lucia with Red Ribbon Sash on Ebay!   It is currently available in 4 sizes, and I ordered the XS for Rose. It arrived today and I still need to wash it, but I did try it her to show you all.  It is slightly see-through, which seems to be the case with most white gowns, but I think it is really cute especially the collar and sleeves!

Here are a few other dress options as well:

• Josefina's Night Shift for Girls from American Girl
• White Angel Robe from Oriental Trading
• Girls White Pajama Gown from Amazon
• Little Girls Christmas Nightgown from Etsy
• Megan Girls Dress from April Cornell
• Old Fashioned Nightgowns from Jumpin Bloomers

*If anyone else has additional suggestions, please leave them in the comment box and I will add them to this list.

Additional ideas for celebrating the Feast of St. Lucy can be found in the archives:

Ideas for Celebrating Santa Lucia Day 

Scroll through all posts for St. Lucy

Recipes for St. Lucy at Catholic Cuisine

Celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas :: 2012

I hope you all had a wonderful St. Nicholas Day! Here are a few pictures from our celebration this year:

.: Gifts from St. Nicholas :.

This year St. Nicholas was extra generous, leaving each of the children a new pair of (much needed) boots in addition to a few little treats treats in each of the children's slippers (A Holy Card from St. Nicholas with a note on the back, an orange, and a bag of treats including a St. Nicholas Cookie, a small candy cane Bishop's Staff, and some St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins) and a new Christmas Picture Book!   

Update: You can find our complete list of Christmas Books here.

*Our candles really are purple and pink, even though they all look pink most of the time!

This year's books ended up being Christmas in the Trenches, War Game: Village Green to No-Man's Land, Marta and the Manger Straw, Our Lady of Guadalupe, The Christmas Knight, The Bird's of Bethlehem, and Christmas Night Fair and Bright. 

I sure wasn't thinking when I scheduled orthodontist appointments for 8am on the feast of St. Nicholas, especially with how late I usually end up staying up on the 5th!  Thankfully the alarm was set, and I was the first out of bed... By the time I was done showering, Snuggles had made his way out to the living room to discover the treats!  

Captain and Twinkle Toes got dressed quickly and I snapped a picture of all the kids, before we dashed out the door.   Poor Twinkle Toes now has (in addition to red and green rubber bands for Christmas, matching her older brother) a double wire on top, elastic rubber bands from the top front to bottom back, chains on the bottom, and has been pretty much miserable ever since... Although I was able to get a smile out of her when I took a picture of her with her cookie! :)   

By the end of the day everyone had read (or listened to) their new books, at least once!  

 

.: Saint Nicholas Cookies :.

I've mentioned before that last year we enrolled our children in a local homeschool charter school, and that we have an ES/Tutor that comes about 3 times a month to spend an hour with each child enrolled (3 weeks on, 1 week off plus holidays/vacations). We have been very blessed to have one of my friends, and mother of one of my Little Flowers, as our ES this year! She comes on Thursdays for 5 hours... I LOVE it! It is such a blessing to have even the little bit of help, plus the fact that my older children have to be accountable to someone other than myself! Anyhow, Thursday is the day that she comes, so while she was working with each of the children, I was able to spend some time with the rest of the kids decorating cookies and preparing some treats for our St. Nicholas Day Brunch (which ended up being breakfast for dinner this year!

Yesterday I posted all about these darling cookies that were inspired by the book The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale.  

The other fun cookies that I made this year for the children (or rather from St. Nicholas) were these Saint Nicholas Cookies made with Nutter Butters!  You can find the recipe over at Catholic Cuisine.  

.: St. Nicholas Day Brunch :.

Did you see Charlotte's adaptation of our Candy Cane Coffee Cake and Cherry Cheese Coffee Cakes, combining the shape of one, with the recipe from the other?!   Her and I were thinking along the same lines this year, and I ended up doing the same thing for my family.   It's just so much easier to pop open a few cans of crescent rolls after a long and busy day, than it is to make a braided bread. Plus, I can never go wrong with the Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake, it is hands down the favorite in our home.  

I ended up using the exact recipe for the Cherry Cheese Coffee Cake, only I used three cans of crescent rolls instead of two.    

I made the bottom of each candy cane with 1 1/4 pkgs. of crescent rolls, using the remaining 1/4 package to cut strips to lay over the top. I topped each candy cane with half of the cream cheese mixture and half of the pie filling.

I also served Scrambled Eggs, Oranges, Orange Juice, and St. Nicholas Hot Cocoa (actually just pre-made peppermint cocoa this year, but the same idea).

Update: You can find additional Advent and Christmas Posts listed here.

God, we pray that through the intercessions of St. Nicholas
 you will guide and protect our children. 
Keep them safe from all harm and help them grow
 to become loving disciples of Jesus in your sight. 
Give them strength to always mature into deeper faith
 in you, and to keep alive joy in your creation. 
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

The Baker's Dozen :: A Saint Nicholas Tale and Baking Cookies for the Feast!

Yesterday, in preparation for today's feast of St. Nicholas, the children unwrapped The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale (a fun tale about generosity and the origin of the term 'baker's dozen') for us all to read together. After reading the book the we baked Saint Nicholas Cookies using the recipe provided along with the template from the back of the book!



We finished decorating them this afternoon, in between early morning Orthodontist appointments, lessons with the tutor, and lego robotics for the big boys.   It was a busy day, but ended with our usual St. Nicholas Brunch (for dinner this year) and another wonderful picture book!

First we collected all the Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 large egg

1/2 cup honey

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon almond milk

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt 

About 4 1/2 cups flour

*I'm including this picture just so you can all see the piles of random items on my counter at any given time... (And show you why I've been hesitating to post any more of the gift ideas I have for my children this year, since I frequently find the kids reading my blog!)  

Directions:

1. Melt the butter and set aside. 

2. Beat the egg in a large bowl until the yolk and white are well mixed and fluffy.   

(Measure the correct amount of honey, if you can get it out of the bottle!)  

3. Add the honey, milk, almond extract to the egg mixture and beat well.  

(Have you gotten that honey out yet, honey?)  

4. Mix the brown sugar, spices, and salt.  

5. Add to the egg mixture and beat until well mixed.  

6. Add the melted butter slowly and beat until well mixed.

7. Watch mom dump the flour in and make a BIG mess 

Add the flour slowly until the cookie dough is solid enough to knead. 

8.  Transfer to your work surface and knead in more flour to make soft, slightly sticky dough. 

9. Shape the cookie with a pattern, cookie cutter, or cookie mold.  

Even though we do have a few various St. Nicholas Cookie Cutters, we opted to copy the pattern provided on the back of our book.  

(I have been keeping an extra close eye on that baby, who is very interested in our Advent Wreath!) 

10. Preheat the oven to 350˚F, or lower for especially thick cookies.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are slightly brown around the edges.  Transfer to cookie racks and cool. 

11. After the cookies have cooled, decorate with red and white icing.  

We started with the red frosting last night, and finished decorating the cookies today, once we picked up some more white cookie icing on our way home this morning.   The children all really enjoyed decorating their own cookies, and helping with the rest!  (The big kids helped Snuggles and Rose decorate their cookies.)  I thought they did an excellent job! 

 

12. Enjoy!

 

13. (We have to have a Baker's Dozen for the directions, right?)
 With a generous spirit like dear St. Nicholas, 
package up some of the cookies to deliver to friends!

Scroll through all our past St. Nicholas posts here and order a copy of The Baker's Dozen here. 

You can also find my free St. Nicholas Chocolate Coins printable here. 

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas!  

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