Advent Wreath

As usual, we are putting up our Advent Wreath beginning today and will light a candle with dinner each night.   Well, the girls and I tend to eat pretty early and WAY before Bones gets home, so maybe at lunch, too :).

I’m also participating in Sarah’s annual Advent Wreath link up.   If you put up an Advent Wreath, take a pic and post or send to her.  I love seeing how everyone else does it :).  And if you are having trouble finding the proper candles, don’t despair — find out how to make your own Advent candles that will last FOREVER.

St Nicholas in St Thomas'

St. Nicholas Day – Thursday 12/6

Every year, we celebrate St. Nicholas Day.  His feast day is 12/6 and since I found out before the kids were old enough to know better, we do our stockings on St. Nicholas Day.   The night before, we leave carrots out on the front porch for his reindeer and hang our stockings, where St. Nicholas leaves goodies in the girls stockings (you can read my post at the link above to find out what he leaves :D).

We read about St. Nicholas from materials on the St. Nicholas Center website and Little Book of Saints – Vol. 1 since I have not found an accurate picture book about St. Nicholas from a Catholic standpoint yet.  I may have to write one!   Anyone know an illustrator?

For breakfast, I will make Cherry Turnovers and Hot Chocolate (St. Nicholas is rumored to be partial to it ;D).   Last year, I made this Cherry Angel Bread and it was fabulous BUT made WAY too much for our small family.  In other words, I ate most of it and the kids had way too much.   But it was yummy!

I tried homemade gingerbread cookies one year.   It was a miserable failure!   I bought them for this year :).  They look and taste like Windmill cookies.

For dinner, we will have a fancy dinner, but not at traditional one at all.  Just good food on good dishes.  This year, I think we will have steak, mashed potatoes and veggies.   We will also have a black forest cake for dessert (purchased, if I can find one!).   Cherries are a symbolic thing for St. Nicholas from what I can tell.

 

Altomonte, Bartolomeo - The Immaculate Concept...
Altomonte, Bartolomeo – The Immaculate Conception – 1719 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Feast of the Immaculate Conception – Saturday 12/8

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is kind of a big deal this year.   For the 3rd or 4th time, I’ve been preparing for consecration to Jesus through Mary.   This time, since the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation, I’ve decided to try again and I’m all set to actually DO it this time.   We will be attending Mass at noon (where I will consecrate myself) and having a fancy dinner.

We will be making turkey breast, mashed potatoes, and cauliflower with gingerbread (the cake kind) with whipped cream for dessert.   Notice all the food for dinner is white?   Yeah, it’s a symbol of her purity.  Luckily, the gingerbread is good, because eating all white food isn’t much fun.   The spices in gingerbread are a symbolic thing, too.

We will be reading parts of Immaculate Conception, too.  It’s a pretty meaty book for being so small!   And finally, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is the parish feast of one of the parishes in our city so we will be attending Mass there on Sunday and then going to the breakfast and checking out the silent auction.  I won a great basket there last year and the money went for a good cause.

What about you?   What are your plans for this first week of Advent?

Jen S.

 

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

This post is linked to Monthly Link – Up @ Catholic Bloggers Network and 40 Days of Seeking Him @ Day by Day in Our World.

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