How we do St. Lucy Day...

{Coloring Page Reminder}

Heather over at Audrey Eclectic is having a St. Lucia Day blog procession. Have you seen her amazing artwork? I'm trying to decide between 2 or 4 or 10 of her pieces because I love them all so much. Here is a little peek at our celebration.

St. Lucy Day was never a tradition in my family or my husband's since neither of us are of Scandinavian descent, but I bought a Lucy Wreath (with a matching one for her dolly) when my oldest daughter, Sunshine, was only a few months old and we've been enjoying this special day ever since. 

I made my own wreath for daughter #2, Rain, also with a matching dolly wreath. Look at how tiny they were!!! This year, they opted not to wear their wreaths but instead, passed them down to Cupcake.

Our St. Lucy Day always includes dressing up for the girls, bread or cinnamon rolls with candles, decorations, books and waking everyone up early for breakfast. We've never done the bringing food into the bed, rather, the girls simply wake everyone and call them to the table for breakfast. I think those Scandinavians probably stayed in bed because it was warmer there than anywhere else! (The cold never bothers us here in Texas!) Today, we will put lights on our tree and then go looking at Christmas lights tonight.

So, that's our tradition. 15 years going strong and beloved now by the oldest and youngest ones alike. Just this morning I promised to make Lucy Wreaths for all of my future granddaughters and my girls squealed with delight!

Lord, may the intercession of Your Virgin and Martyr, St. Lucy, help us so that, as we celebrate her heavenly birthday on earth, we may contemplate her triumph in heaven. Amen.

Happy St. Lucy Day!

Must Have Christmas Books!

It's that time of year when everyone starts sharing their favorite Advent/Christmas books {and Amazon affiliate links}! We have long had the tradition of wrapping up a picture book to share each night of Advent and the 12 days of Christmas. Usually, I select which books are read which night.  I decided to do something a little different this year. I spread all of our books out on the bed and brought the big kids in to tell me which ones were their "must have" books. Which books do we HAVE to read because it's just not Advent without them?

I was a little surprised by some of the picks, not surprised at all by a few and laughing hilariously at the ones that were chosen by them all (including my husband) for the "please let's NEVER read this again" pile… I'm looking at you, An Orange for Frankie! A few of these were sentimental favorites from their early childhood. Bigboy, as big as he is, is still partial to anything that has the word Christmas and kitten in it. Oliver All Alone was such a beloved story to Rain that it used to stay on her shelf all year long.

I'm sharing the list here hoping to introduce you to our favorites but also as a permanent record for this forgetful brain of mine.

While creating this list, I was horrified to see how many of our must have favorites are out of print. I better start looking now for gently used copies to hand down to future grandchildren.

MUST HAVES!

• The Shepherd's Christmas Story
• Corgiville Christmas
• The Homeless Christmas Tree
• Legend of the Candy Cane
• Christmas Cookies: Bite-Sized Holiday Lessons
• A Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale
• Marta and the Manger Straw
• The Christmas Cat
• The Christmas Kitten
• Stephen's Feast
• Hanna's Christmas 
• A Gift from St. Nicholas
• All for the Newborn Baby
• Father & Son: A Nativity Story
• The Three Gifts of Christmas
• The Lady of Guadalupe
• Christmas in the Trenches
• The Christmas Knight
• The Miracle of St. Nicholas
• Through the Animal's Eyes: A Story of the First Christmas
• Snowflake Bentley
• Saint Francis Celebrates Christmas
• Gift of the Magi
• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
• One Snowy Night
• The Night of Las Posadas
• Christ Child
• Oliver All Alone
• Mortimer's Christmas Manger
• Angela and the Baby Jesus
• Papa's Christmas Gift: Around the World on the Night Before Christmas
• The Miraculous Child

On the "please let's never read this again" pile…
An Orange for Frankie (not a fan of the illustrations and... he dies!)
The Little Match Girl (hauntingly beautiful illustrations but... she dies alone… in the snow!!)
The Little Fir Tree (weird little tree that can survive being transplanted year after year but hey... at least the kid doesn't die!!!)

Now, we have a ton of Christmas books. Seriously… they would not all fit on my bed, but then again, my bed is a Queen size so, maybe that's not so bad. We decided to pull those books that we all liked but were more like chapter books instead of picture books and set them out in their own little basket this year so that everyone can enjoy them on their own time. I might list those later if anyone is interested.

And for anyone looking for Advent activity ideas, here is a an almost complete archive of our Advent adventures past:

Advent Archive

And here is an old post for those of you tempted to stress out and try to do ALL THE ADVENT ACTIVITIES:

Advent Musings

Phone Photo Friday

Or should that be Phriday? That looks weird… how about Pfriday? Maybe I'll make it a link up!!! Hah!!  :) 

Anyway, I got nothing else. I couldn't come up with 7 anything right now, not even 7 pictures apparently, so I'm just doing another IG dump. Today has just been one headache after another. It started last night when the oven was preheating and The Professor walked up and said, "Why is the oven sparking?" Sure enough, the heating element had melted and part of it was glowing and sparking. Garlic Chicken Pasta quickly became just pasta for dinner. The only bright spot of the day today was getting to drop off a dear friend's son at the airport so that he can make his way back to his sweet mama until next semester! Anyway, here is a dump of pictures from my phone. Happy Friday!

*UPDATE: Second bright spot, my husband, who worked a 70 hour week for the second time this month, came home early-ish today and fixed the oven in time for dinner prep! He is amazing! He also bathes babies and makes fantastic chocolate chip cookies in his spare time. And he's all mine!!!

 O Key of David… chocolate keys for dessert! {affiliate link}

 Our Wise Men decided to study up on the O Antiphons a little… wise men indeed! Although, the kids said it kind of looked they were in cubicles. Maybe that's just because Dad's been putting in a lot of hours lately!

 # no filter…This is honestly what our sunset looked like last night! Advent perfection, as Miss Kelly said. 

 Um, Wise Men, those guys are on a different kind of quest.

Last night, we had root beer with dinner for O Root of Jesse because we really are that cheesy.

Santa Lucia

Happy Feast of St. Lucy! For little Miss Cupcake, it's all about the candles! But don't even think about putting something on her head. M'kay?

And if you are looking for a coloring page, you can find them here.

O God, our Creator and Redeemer, mercifully hear our prayers that as we venerate your servant, Saint Lucy, for the light of faith you bestowed upon her, you would increase and preserve this same light in our souls that we may be able to avoid evil, to do good, and to abhor nothing so much as the blindness and the darkness of evil and of sin. Relying on your goodness, O God, we humbly ask you, by the intercessory prayers of your servant, Saint Lucy, that you would give perfect vision to our eyes, that they may serve for your greater honor and glory and for the salvation of our souls in this world, that we may come to the enjoyment of your unfailing light of the Lamb of God in paradise. Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr, hear our prayers and obtain our petitions.

Instagram Dump

 Maybe putting the star on early this year wasn't the best idea…

 Cupcake pulled this salad away from her Daddy along with his fork and said, "This is gonna be so much fun!" right before she dove in.

 Dopplegangers

 The Baby Jesus is not in here, but I could use a little laundry help…

 Sunshine was surprised when she started her schoolwork this morning. They chose a good book!

 Ina Garten's Baked Cinnamon Donuts

 Three of these things are not like the others...

Advent Day 2: Links

Ahhhh…it's already going too fast! I love Advent but I don't love these short ones as much. Here are some clickety-clicky links that I thought you might like:

1)  Kimberlee's idea for a sewn book bag is just delightful! We have done the gift wrapped books for several years now, but I like to change things up a little bit every now and then. I already mentioned that I wasn't going to wrap them this year but did at the last minute. I'm thinking next year a book bag might be the way to go.

2) We are joining in on the Wise Men Adventures. We pulled out the Playmobil Nativity set and have already sent the Wise Men on their first adventure. When searching for the Baby Jesus, it's a pretty wise idea to check the baby toys first! But inside the hippo? Really Balthazar?

My big kids have come up with a rotation. They will each take turns staging a new scene every night for everyone else to discover in the morning. This is gonna be fun! I can't wait to see where those silly Wise Men turn up next. And can I just say that this is a lot less creepy than the Elf on the Shelf. Something about that doll's face give me the heebie jeebies.

3) I don't know who Sam Rocha is, but my friend Calah seems to like him a lot and I like what he has to say in this post here. Look, you could make an argument for just about anything. I could even see someone arguing that celebrating Advent in a more Christmassy fashion is like celebrating a baby's impending arrival before they've arrived with things like baby showers and shopping trips. But Sam's post makes sense to me and fits well with what we've always done. I don't think it needs to be a strict observance though and I think common sense should always take precedence. If you turn the Christmas music station on in the car to get a break from the newest pop phenom station, there is nothing wrong with that. And as I pointed out to Sam on FB, those of us with children who are musicians or choir members know that practice makes perfect and sometimes those Christmas tunes start getting practiced in October.

4) If you are looking for a super simple Jesse Tree, my SIL and I created this one last year. I drew the symbols and she wrote the reflections. You can do the longer Bible readings if you want or just read the verse and the reflections. You can find all of her reflections gathered in one document here and you can find my symbols here:
Jesse Tree Symbols Page 1
Jesse Tree Symbols Page 2
Jesse Tree Symbols Page 3

I. Love. Advent!

I really do. I know you do too, right? Even if you don't like the stress or the increased activity, you probably love Advent the Season, right? You know that those things that you think add to your stress are all optional. Advent wreaths, Jesse Trees, gift-wrapped picture books, mantle decorations… it's all totally optional. I posted a link to Jennifer's insightful post on FB along with this comment and wanted to share it here too:

"So...pray about your season of life. Choose simply and wisely. Do not compare your family, your needs, organizational skills, abilities, or your crafting skills to others, but rather, take joy in choosing ideas that work for you and your family."

Wise words! Might I also add... don't make anyone who is in a different season feel bad about the choices they make that work for their family.

So, just as reminder, anything you see here is what we've chosen that works for our family right now in this season of life. The first thing I did is ask my kids what traditions were important to them. They told me which feast days, which activities, which special little efforts really made it seem wonderful to them. It's amazing what your children will let you know when you just ask them.

The first thing that was a necessary choice this year was a hanging Advent Wreath. We've made them before and realized this year needed to be one of those years again once we realized how fascinated Miss Cupcake is with candles {affiliate link} of all shape and size. To make this super easy, I used *a candle chandelier {affiliate link}that I purchased from Amazon several years ago and had stored away in the garage thinking that it would make an easy hanging Advent Wreath someday. Boy, did it ever! I added the candles and then cut some long branches off our gardenia bush and simply laid them on top  of the chandelier's scrolls. Done. I will have the girls go out, cut some more and replenish them once a week or so.

*Since the one I have is not longer available, you might try one of these {affiliate links}: 

Wrought Iron 4 Arm Candle Chandelier

Wrought Iron 4 Arm Candle Chandelier with Birdcage Center

I wasn't going to wrap our picture books this year but decided that Cupcake would probably love it, so I did.

I also decorated the mantle but need some lights before I can take a picture of it. And I have a list going of what I need to accomplish for those feast days coming up because with Advent starting so late, you just know December is going to fly by! So, Happy Advent to all of you! Enjoy this season, whatever shape or form it takes in your life.

Advent?

I wasn't even thinking about Advent yet until Miss Jessica forced me encouraged me to commit to another Jesse Tree Swap. I've done TWO already. This will be the third. But really, it's so much fun to get your box and unwrap each ornament with the kids as they try to guess which symbols the ornament represents. Anyway... if you are interested in a Jesse Tree swap, then head on over to Karen's and sign up quick before Jessica cons anyone else  the spaces are all gone.

Colorable Jesse Tree Symbols Pg.2

My SIL, Erin, has posted more Jesse Tree reflections based on the readings for the felt Jesse Tree we both have. Here are the second set of symbols to go along with the first. You can print them in colorable form or pre-colored. There is one more coming for the 25th.

Jesse Tree B&W page 2

Jesse Tree Color page 2

UPDATED to add:

Jesse Tree B&W page 3

Jess Tree Color page 3

You can find links to page one over in the sidebar and to the individual reflections.

 

The Final Countdown: Mercy Covers Giveaway

Today is the last day to get your entries in. In the spirit of St. Nick's generosity, won't you help the orphans and women of Costa Rica most at danger of human trafficking?

Donate via the Pure Charity Mercy Covers website or donate via Paypal directly to the St. Bryce Foundation by clicking the Donate button on their homepage. Spread the word via FB, Twitter, email, smoke signal... whatever!

Then send me an email. I will stop taking entries at 5pm Texas time. God bless and happy feast of St. Nicholas!!!

 

Day 4: Mercy Covers Giveaway Fundraiser

It's Day 4 of the Mercy Covers Giveaway Fundraiser! If you haven't gotten your entries in... let's go, Go, GO! I'm itching to get sewing and crafting especially after Colleen sent me these pictures of the necklaces she and her friends in Costa Rica have made. Remember, of the coins that don't get chosen for a Quiltie, I will choose two names to have their pick of these handmade necklaces straight from the mission field.

 Aren't they lovely?

 So cute!

 I love this blue!

 Adorable!

 I loooove this one!!!

Don't forget... you can enter to win a custom made Quiltie or one of these necklaces by either making a donation via the Mercy Covers Pure Charity website or via Paypal to the St. Bryce Foundation. Or simply help us spread the word via any social media you'd like. Then send me an email telling me how many chances you earned!
 

Day 3: Mercy Covers Giveaway & Fundraiser

Mercy Covers Giveaway and Fundraiser

Hi there! Are you looking for some December Saints coloring pages? Well, I'm glad you're here. I'll make them super easy to find by providing the links below.

Hey... you know all my coloring pages are free for anyone to use as long as it only profits your soul, not anyone's pocket book. That includes mine. I've never asked for donations or put up a virtual tin cup.  My pages are not sponsored by anyone but me. But today, I'd like to ask a favor, not for me, but for the orphans in Costa Rica and those for whom human trafficking is a real threat and danger. Some have lived through it and survived and now need help and comfort. Some are children who don't have anyone to offer them a chance to color and play in a loving home with a mom who thinks about coloring pages and snack time. Please consider making a donation. If you can't afford to, please help us spread the word about this fundraiser. You might not be able to donate, but you might know someone who can!

Here are the saints for December:

Dec. 8 Immaculate Conception 
Dec. 12 Our Lady of Guadalupe
Dec. 13 St. Lucy or Syracuse, Santa Lucia with star boy

You can listen to Colleen tell the story of Mercy Covers in her own words...

Don't forget to send me an email telling me how you helped today so I can enter you in the giveaway!
Thanks to all who have already helped and God bless!

Day 2 of the Mercy Covers Giveaway Fundraiser!

Hello and good morning! We are on Day 2 of the Mercy Covers Giveaway Fundraiser and we are chugging along like the Little Engine That Could. To enter into our giveaway for a custom designed Quiltie and two t-shirt necklaces from the women of the Mercy Covers initiative in Costa Rica, you can read the whole shebang at the post below of you can just do this:

1. Make a donation! Donate at the Pure Charity Mercy Covers website or donate via Paypal directly to the St. Bryce Foundation by clicking the Donate button on their homepage. $1-$9 gets you one chance but $10 gets you 2 and $20 gets you 3, and on and on and on!

AND...              OR...

2. Spread the word! Like & Share the Mercy Covers Facebook page, tell people about this giveaway, tweet it, blog it, G+ it, send an email to your friends, just get the word out!

Then send me an email (saluwhat @ gmail DOT com) telling me what you did.  It's that simple. God bless you for your generosity! Happy Advent!

 

A Mercy Cover Quiltie Fundraiser!

PLEASE READ ALL THE WAY TO THE END!!!
It is my privilege and honor to help my sweet sister in Christ, Colleen, with her missionary work by offering a giveaway for the purposes of supporting and spreading the word about her new initiative, Mercy Covers. Don't know about Mercy Covers, yet? It's a beautiful outreach of the St. Bryce Foundation that seeks to provide "meaningful work for women in rural Costa Rica while giving the gift of a warm handmade quilt to an orphan or survivor in a trafficking safe house through our partnerships with other local organizations."

So, to help get this project off the ground and get as many people wrapped up in fuzzy blanket warmness, we are doing a little fundraising!  Colleen needs to meet a goal in order to have her project fully funded via the Pure Charity website.  Let's see what we can do to help...

Today is the first day of Advent and St. Nicholas's feast day is fast approaching. In honor of this saint known for his charity to all and special patronage of children here is what we're gonna do. For every chance you earn, I will put your name on a gold coin and drop it in a stocking. On December 6, I will draw out a winner. Simple! (Don't worry. I'll stir them up good to make sure none get stuck in the toe!) So, how do you get a chance to win? Here's what you can do...

1. Make a donation. Increments of ten get you extra chances. So $1-$9 gets you one chance, but $10 gets you two chances, $20 gets you three, etc...  The Mercy Covers Pure Charity page can be found here. You can make donations there by signing up with a free account either with or without a Facebook account. We are trying to fund Colleen's project via Pure Charity so donations there are the best but if you'd rather donate via Paypal directly to The St. Bryce Foundation you can find their donate button here. If you have any problems making a donation, shoot me an email. Any and all donations are accepted in whatever way they come. And to keep everyone's donations private, I'm going to ask that everyone send me an email (subject GIVEAWAY!) with your donation amount and any other chances you've earned (see below). This way I have a contact address for everyone and is the reason comments are closed below.

2. Do you really want a chance to win but a donation just isn't in the budget? We understand. You can do your part by spreading the word. Earn as many chances to win by doing any of these things...

a) Like and share the Mercy Covers Facebook page then share a link to this fundraiser on your FB page!
b) Tweet a link to this fundraiser on The Twitter if you are a Twitterer. Tweeter? Twit? :)
c) If you don't have a FB page or do any tweeting, you can share a link to this blog post on your own blog or even in an email to a group of friends.

Just spread the word and then tell me how you did it. 

Sooooo, what exactly are we giving away to sweeten this already grace filled opportunity pot? How about a custom designed Quiltie? That's right! I will communicate with the winner to discuss colors of bandanas and coordinating fabric and the gender of child it is intended for. You will get a Quiltie made especially for your little one or for whichever little person you deem snuggliest. A niece, a grandchild, a friend of a friend... you decide. So that means, it's open to anyone.

The more you help spread the news, the better your chance of winning because depending on the response we get, I just might choose more than one winner!

All names not chosen will be entered in a secondary raffle for one of two T-shirt necklaces based on this design made by Colleen and her friends there in Costa Rica... straight from the mission field!

So, to recap...

If you donate $20, and you like/share the Mercy Covers FB page with a link to the fundraiser and you tweet a link as well, you will have earned 5 chances to win! (3 for the donation, 1 for the like/share and one for the tweety bird link)

DON'T FORGET!!! Send me an email (saluwhat AT gmail DOT com) telling me how many chances you've earned. Honor system, people! St. Nicholas is watching! 

You decide how many chances you get. Let's fill up St. Nick's stocking and get Mercy Covers well on it's way to being funded!

 

Colorable Jesse Tree Symbols

My SIL is embarking on a project for Advent. She's written some reflections based on a Jesse Tree that we both have versions of, made by the same sweet Sister sister-in-law. Our little felt figures are looking pretty worn so that's why have found other Jesse Trees to use in years past. We don't want it to wear out too soon. We like to give it a break every now and then. Well, I made some colorable symbols to go along with her reflections and I'm offering them there and here for anyone who just can't pull off the craftier ones and just wants something simple:

Jesse Tree B&W Page 1

(These are the first 12 symbols. I'll get to the rest later. This Jesse Tree always starts Dec. 1.)

And if you want pre-colored ones, you can click here:

Jesse Tree Color Page 1

Again, she's posting the readings and reflections to go with these symbols at her blog. You can find the first two here:

Jesse Tree Reflections 1&2

Happy (almost) Advent!

UPDATE: Page 2 & 3 of the symbols can be found here.