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Mary G
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I saw this advent spiral today and just thought it was such a cool idea. Now, us Catholics could change it so that we're lighting the appropriate colored candle for Advent ... 7 days of purple, etc. But I love the idea of having Mary on the journey as the way winds around ....
I'm sure we could make it cheaper, but isn't it a cool idea?
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MaryG
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~Rachel~
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I saw that  . How about a knitted Mary and Donkey with a wooden circle (like the one Dawn used last year for her wreath) PAINTED in a spiral. You could either drill candle holes in it or glue holders onto it.
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~Rachel~
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JennGM
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I love that idea.
I wonder if you could incorporate some of this idea from Mother Mary Francis?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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I had another thought... Mary, do you remember what is the significance of the spiral in icon writing? I heard about this briefly this summer and was captivated by it, but my memory is failing me.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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lapazfarm
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That is a very cool idea! Now you've got me thinking...I wonder how I could make this more cheaply...
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Theresa
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domchurch3
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I think I may have found an inexpensive way to recreate that. Using the circular tracks of my daughter's wooden trainset, I was able to create a spiral. The only problem is that I need a couple of smaller tracks to finish the spiral. Using ALL large circular tracks, does not work. You can buy replacement track pieces at hobby shops. Then, what you can do is drill circles for the candles. That way all you end up buying is Mary on a Donkey which you can get from willowtreetoys.com or just buy an individual piece from a craft store or something. Anyways, I may be on the right "track" if only I can find the smaller ones. I'll let you know,
Many Blessings,
Elizabeth
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Mary G
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| Posted: Nov 20 2007 at 5:40pm | IP Logged
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Great ideas, ladies! I just really like that spiraling toward Bethlehem -- it has a very Montessori/CGS feel, doesn't it?
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MaryG
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Mackfam
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Thanks for posting this Mary.
There is so much potential here - the creche in the middle waiting for our little Lord. Mary and Joseph traveling around. Instead of candles, you could work on some symbol sticks mounted on dowels adding a few new ones each year. Sort of like a Jesse tree. You could incorporate symbols or pictures of the Saints like St. Nicholas, or Our Lady of Guadalupe. Add the O Antiphons.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Maria B.
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Those who decide to make their own, improvise, etc., please let us know and post pictures. This is a wonderful idea!
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Mary G
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Maria -- thanks for mentioning the pictures/posting ... I for one would love to see what you creative ladies devise from this ...
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MaryG
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CathinCoffeland
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Its so funny you posted this I was at the craft store today and found a nice 12 pack of flat wooden stars for 3$.
I was thinking of making a similar spiral but using them for the 12 days of christmas leading the wisemen to our creche. ending with our 12th night celebration
I was going to paint them up gold and place everyother one with little tea lights.
we have tons of advent activities but no 12 days of christmas 
Christmas needs at least as many dont you think? 
it wont be as fancy as in the picture but will work
ill just have to be careful as our 3 kings are paper!
maggie
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MaryM
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And on a side note the original picture just calls to mind for me the book A Donkey's Dream.
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Mackfam
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OK - this has been buzzing around in my brain all night, and I've come up with a solution that I'm really excited about. I loved the spiral, and the more I thought about our wire Jesse tree, the more I felt that it wasn't as visually symbolic as it could be for illustrating the passage of time that the people of Israel waited for the Messiah.
St. Ambrose explains the root as the family of the Jews, the stem as Mary, and the flower as Christ. Israel is the base.
I'm headed to Lowe's this morning to buy a pre-cut circular piece of wood. My dh will drill press the 24 holes in a spiral shape on the circular shaped wood piece. I'll use dowels, not candles in the spiral. My intention is to use the spiral with ascending height dowels for my Jesse Tree. The symbols of the Jesse Tree will be glued to the dowels and will move around the spiral to the center. I think this will make a great visual for the passage of time that the people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah, especially as the symbols ascend. In the center, I want to have a small (about 2-3" diameter) stump of a pine tree. That will be the stump of Jesse. On the stump I'll have the empty creche waiting to be filled with our little Lord on Christmas morning. He will rise above all the other dowels and symbols. I'm hoping to have a hole drill-pressed in the stump as well for a white candle to symbolize the light of the world.
I'm really excited about this project, and I think you could do lots with it if you could drill/press the holes for candles or dowels into a pre-cut circular piece of wood. You could even paint the spiral onto the wood if you wanted to add to the visual.
I really love Maggie's idea for using this during Christmas for the 12 days - using 12 holes in that project. Think I'll bookmark and save that idea for next year!!!
Thank you soooooo much Mary for planting this idea in my head!!!! I'm so excited to start my Advent spiral. I'll post pics on my blog when I finish.
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Jen Mackintosh
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isjalu0826
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I love the idea of the train tracks! We've got plenty of those!!!
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gracie4309
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Mackfam wrote:
I'm headed to Lowe's this morning to buy a pre-cut circular piece of wood. My dh will drill press the 24 holes in a spiral shape on the circular shaped wood piece. I'll use dowels, not candles in the spiral. My intention is to use the spiral with ascending height dowels for my Jesse Tree. The symbols of the Jesse Tree will be glued to the dowels and will move around the spiral to the center. I think this will make a great visual for the passage of time that the people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah, especially as the symbols ascend. In the center, I want to have a small (about 2-3" diameter) stump of a pine tree. That will be the stump of Jesse. On the stump I'll have the empty creche waiting to be filled with our little Lord on Christmas morning. He will rise above all the other dowels and symbols. I'm hoping to have a hole drill-pressed in the stump as well for a white candle to symbolize the light of the world.
I really love Maggie's idea for using this during Christmas for the 12 days - using 12 holes in that project. Think I'll bookmark and save that idea for next year!!!
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I love these ideas! The Jesse Tree idea sounds wonderful; I can't wait to see how it turns out. We've never done a Jesse Tree before, but I hope to do a traditional one for this year. The spiral version would be fun to try next year (we always seem to be about a year behind everyone else!  ).
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JennGM
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I'm loving see the wheels spin. I was thinking Jesse Tree figures or symbols, too. If it would be too hard to make figures to fit into the holes, how about something uniform, like Maggie's idea of stars, and painting a symbol on each one?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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Just in case anyone wanted to duplicate this - Lowe's has an 18" round piece of pine - cut, rounded edges, ready to paint or stain - $10. I bought dowels to afix the Jesse Tree symbols to. I also got a small can of stain - my total project cost $15. My creche will sit in the center of the spiral on a stump - the stump of Jesse. I'm going to place a white Christ candle in the stump, and I also read of the symbolism of draping the Christ candle with the blue mantle of Our Lady until Christmas because she hid him in her heart. I'm going to use a blue piece of satin I have to drape the creche and Christ candle.
Jenn, I thought about using Maggie's idea of painting the symbol on something uniform I could get at the craft store, but I decided on dowels because I wanted the dowels to be cut at different heights - 2" for the first week of Advent, 3" for the second, 4" for the third, and 5" for the fourth week. I want the last symbols of Jesse, David, Solomon, Joseph and Mary to be very close to the stump of Jesse. I want a visual of the spiral getting closer and closer to the fullness of time. I don't think it will be hard to fix the laminated symbols to the dowels. In the future I hope to sculpey or felt my symbols anyway. I was also thinking that I could use the back side of the last 7 dowels for the O'Antiphons. We'll see how that works out.
This is going to be such a fun project for all of us to work on. I can't wait to get started - so much for being out of time.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Waverley
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Maggie,
Thanks for the 12 days of Christmas idea! We already own the circular version of the wooden spiral discussed above. It comes in three pieces with a total of 12 holes. We call ours a birthday ring and every year each child gets to decorate the birthday ring with the figures of their choice. Each year for Christmas in their stocking and on their birthday they get a different figure. (The company makes hundreds of different figures)
Well, this year after our advent wreath is done on Christmas day, I'm pulling out our 12 days of Christmas ring (the birthday ring in disguise) and we'll light a candle each night until the Epiphany!!!
I'm so excited! I'm off to our local Waldorf store (which carries the rings and figures) to buy more candles!!
Waverley
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Mary G
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Jennifer -- PLEASE post pix of your final product ... it sounds VERY intriguing. I too like Maggies/Waverley's idea of using this for the 12 days .... we do sorta skimp on that a bit symboically (altho we PARTY alot during those days!).
THANKS for all this brainstorming -- this is one of the things I LOVE about 4real -- the great ideas from y'all!
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MaryG
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domchurch3
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Making a spiral out of traintracks does work very well, as long as you have both long circular tracks and a few short ones. You can buy these ranging in price from .50 to 1.30 at hobby stores.
Many Blessings,
Elizabeth
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Interesting twist on Advent
