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DeAnn M
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| Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 2:18pm | IP Logged
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Hello Ladies,
As the season of Advent is approaching at what seems to be breakneck speed, my stress increases. When am I going to actually begin family traditions and what on earth do I do?
I grew up in the Methodist Church. There werew not really many traditions in our family that pertained to the season of Advent. Later in life as an Evangelical Christian, I was determined NOT to even mention Santa because it detracted from Jesus--so arrogant and silly. An Advent Wreath was fine for our church but I did not have one at home. Now, as a Catholic, I feel that I have so many rich traditions to focus on during this beautiful season that I am completely overwhelmed! Advent is such a beautiful time of preparation that I don't want my children to miss out on any beautiful Catholic traditions because of my lack of knowledge.
Obviously, I realize that in our homeschooling world, home and school life are interwoven into the fabric of our home and traditions. I would greatly appreciate for some of you ladies to share some school/home/family activities and traditions that you all do in order to prepare your hearts and homes for the celebration of Our Lord's birth. You don't have to be elaborate, but please remember that I am still trying to figure out exactly what a Jesse Tree is all about! It's probably like talking to your preschooler about Catholic traditions! (We're going on our third year in the church.) Thanks so much!
Blessings,
DeAnn
P.S. I don't know if this is the appropriate place to post this request so please move as needed.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 2:54pm | IP Logged
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Hi DeAnn, I'm also a convert.. in my 9th year now..
One of the things I did was sit down and figure out what things both my husband and I did growing up.. things we wanted to keep.
And then I started moving things around.. and kinda spacing things out.
All the Christmas baking and gift making are naturals for the season of Advent (preparing for Christmas).
We still do our Christmas tree hunt Thanksgiving weekend.. with dh's family (their tradition) whenever possible. (you'll see we shifted when we decorate.. but the tree lasts quite nicely set in a bucket of water left in the cold.. we usually have it in our garage)
We talked about moving the Christmas decorating to Christmas Eve.. and dh thought that was too late.. and so we tried moving it to the 3rd week of Advent.. and that was hard. We finally agreed to try decorating on Christmas Eve once.. and dh took the day off from work.. and I made sure everything was done ahead of time (so 2 days before Christmas is major cleaning) so that we'd have the whole day to do the decorating.
And we got the tree up.. and snacked on fun foods while decorating and had an easy dinner (soup) and morphed into getting us and the kids cleaned up and then dressed for Midnight Mass (another of his family's traditions)..
And the decorations were fresh and special.. and as soon as we tucked the kids into bed after getting home.. we'd fill stockings and set out the gifts and crawl into bed.. and it was so much more special to get up Christmas morning and have everything so new and pretty and then with all the little kids.. you can see.. that by Epiphany I'm getting very ready to not have the extra work of decorations up.. the timing was so.. perfect.. even dh who'd been skeptical agreed with me.
It only works if you do the advance planning and work. We will also put the trees into stands in the house (yep in my tiny house we have more than one tree  ) the night before so that they have time to warm up and get that first BIG drink of water (so that you're having to water them alot) before we start decorating.
We didn't take away stockings from Santa at Christmas.. but that's all that's from Santa.. stockings.. and they're small fun toys.. even other small items if they're "real" gifts don't go into stockings.. I like keeping that in proportion.. it took my ILs a long time to get on that.. they kept wanting to label all their gifts as from Santa (don't know how many I had to re-label) but they'd gotten in the habit when their boys were older and everyone knew who Santa actually was. The reasoning is that Santa comes TO celebrate Christmas.
Of course St. Nickolas comes on Dec. 6 for St. Nickolas Day. And we set out our boots and get old fashioned treats and candies (hard candy sticks, raisins, peanut brittle, salt water taffy, chocolate coins) rarely any gifts.. but maybe something little like a new toothbrush (character ones so very fun for the under 10 crowd  )
We want to do something for St. Lucy (Dec 13)
We do an Advent wreath. I get creative.. one of my favorites because how easy it is to put it up somewhere during the day.. is I got some of the big wide wine glasses.. I fill them halfway with salt and place votive candles in them (in pink and purples) and tie a sprig of evergreen to the handles with pink and purple ribbon.. they set in a "ring" on the table.. but can be set up on my narrow high shelves without a problem too.
I also have a pet peeve of Advent calenders only counting down Dec. and not actual days of Advent. I understand why.. it just bugs me. So we do pink and purple paper chains.. every child.. even the youngest who could care less has to have one.. my living room is VERY decorated for Advent by the time it's festooned with 7 pink and purple paper chains.
I've incorporated the Jesse Tree readings. (it follows the parts of the Bible of the foretelling of Jesus).. into our paper chains.. the older kids get the references written onto their chains to look up each evening when they take down their link... I just don't really have more space for a Jesse Tree display.. though perhaps as the kids get older and can do more on their own it might be possible.
But I didn't change everything all at once.. add or change just a couple of things.. see how they go.. let yourself have time to find the ones that fit your family... those are the ones that you'll do automatically each year because everyone is excited about doing them.
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 2:55pm | IP Logged
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I DeAnn! Welcome, from another convert from evangelicalism! :-)
I was completely overwhelmed by how many wonderful traditions the Catholic church offers, and didn't even know where to begin. I feel your pain. It helped a lot to just choose the easiest ideas that wouldn't feel so strange to my family.
The Advent Wreath is a perfect place to start. My kids love it. All we do is set it up and light the candles before dinner. There are a number of places to get set prayers (internet and your local Catholic bookstore), but the first year we felt weird using set prayers so we just did our own. We have a small Mary and Joseph inside our advent wreath along with an empty manger. We put Jesus in the manger after Christmas Eve mass, and the kids take turns each year adding him. It wasn't long before it didn't feel like Christmas without an Advent Wreath, and it helps the kids to connect with the wreath in Mass as well.
We never did Santa either. There is a *great* video put out by CCC (you can get it through many Catholic providers) on St. Nicholas. It is my favorite one because it shows the drama of the early church, his role as bishop, and how people began to view him as the traditional Santa. No pretending the santa game in this video at all. The St. Nicholas that is portrayed will be very comfortable for former evangelicals (their video on St. Patrick is awesome, too, btw). We always watch this on Dec. 6th (St. Nicholas Day) and I picked up the tradition of putting candy coins and candy canes in my kid's shoes on this day, which they love. Once they see the video, they will know why they get candy coins at Christmas.
Oh! The other thing we do is to make a cardboard advent calendar on posterboard for the wall. The girls love decorating it with Christmas stickers and stuff. We outline all the days of Advent in purple and the 12 Days of Christmas in gold glitter glue (because white on white posterboard looks weird!). This was an easy way to get them thinking of Christmas as a season instead of as a day.
I think that's all we added the first year and it worked out well. I try to add something new each year. I think it would have been hard for my kids if we had ditched a bunch of stuff right away. We always explained our transition into the church as not *leaving* anything, but gaining the *fullness.*
Hope this helps!
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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teachingmom
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| Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 11:33pm | IP Logged
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My children love combining the lighting of our Advent wreath each evening with the Jesse Tree. We have a very pretty metal ornament tree that we hang the Jesse Tree symbols on. We use printouts of the symbols from www.domestic-church.com. (Click on "Fridge Art," then "Advent/Christmas," then "Family.") The children color them and glue them on purple posterboard circles, which are hung with ribbon.
Our Advent family night prayers take place around our dining room table. We light the Advent wreath, sing a verse of O Come, O Come Emmanuel, read the scripture associated with the Jesse Tree ornament of the day, and hang the ornament. Then we proceed with our regular night prayers.
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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Mary G
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| Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 11:55pm | IP Logged
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OK, here's how we do Christmas (I'm a cradle Catholic and dh is a re-vert)....
Saturday before Advent starts -- this year, it's Dec 1st -- I make sure the wreath, candles are ready to start tomorrow. Since this is also Dec 1st, I get our Jesse Tree and our book ready. We made our Jesse Tree and ornaments a few years back, but this year, we're doing Lorri's swap so we have an extra set of ornaments, etc if you'd like them?
I also try to find a new book to read -- Mom always read a chapter of A Christmas Carol when we were growing up (and still does to herself, limiting it to 1 chapter a night!). This year, we'll be reading The Christmas Mystery -- which is a wonderful, chapter-a-day, Advent book!
We do St. Nick's day on the 6th with a book, maybe a small toy and a treat or two in the kids' (and grownups') shoes; we celebrate with food on Our Lady of Guadalupe (12/12); we try to do a bit of handmade/handcrafted gifts/food all the way through.
On 12/24 we usually put up the tree (dh's school sells them so our tree has been in "storage" for a few weeks) and fully decorate the house.
We eat junky, snacky stuff for dinner ....playing Christmas music/movies throughout the day ... while we decorate and get the house ready (as kids, my family ALWAYS did this; looking back, this is when mom and dad probably did all the wrapping and finished getting gifts).
Midnight Mass if possible -- nothing quite like experiencing this! When I was little we would get to open ONE present before we left for Mass -- usually some item of clothing to WEAR to Mass) and then we'd come home and if everyone was wide awake, open all presents (including the ones from Santa that "appeared") or open one and head to bed. Mom always made egg nog and we'd get fresh donuts from a bakery that Dad found open!
Christmas Morning -- start/finish opening presents; make breakfast; those who want go to morning Mass. Get ready to head to relatives' house for BIG FEAST.
New Year's Day -- Mass
January 6th -- aka, Little Christmas -- this is when we open our stockings that the 3Kings have left for us ... this is a BIG day. When I was little, 1/6 was usually a day off (parochial schools, gotta love em!) but then as we got older it wasn't off anymore  . We still try to "do" stockings on Little Christmas rather than the 2nd Sunday after Christmas ... 1/6 is the 12th day and that fits nicely..... Stockings may contain more of what they got at Christmas (maybe another piece of nativity set or more legos), clothes, etc. It truly is a scaled-back Christmas!
Hope this helps .... Christmas is the most special time of year for me and I try to keep all the traditions alive that we did as kids ... I'm sure I'm forgetting some!
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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DeAnn M
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| Posted: Nov 06 2007 at 9:07am | IP Logged
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Thank you so much for the wonderful ideas that you guys have shared. I realize it's kind of a personal thing and you all are so generous to share your special traditions.
I always need the, "Keep it simple and do what fits for your family reminder." I really need to do that. Celebrating St. Nicholas's day and the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe feels very doable. I'm glad I asked this question now because your responses will help me to keep these special days in my mind as I look at our calendar. Frankly I have forgotten these days for the past two years.
I love the wine glass advent wreath idea. How beautiful! I have searched for two years for the perfect advent wreath. I forget sometimes that I can make it myself. 
Finding an advent calendar has also been tricky. I think doing a paper chain for the kids will be nice. I remember reading about Dawn's idea to use special pretty paper for for feast days or birthdays within the month/season. That would be nice because I know that I have TONS of leftover scrapbook paper.
I have never heard of Little Christmas! How fitting that there would be gifts on Epiphany. What a wonderful idea. There always seems to be some little something that I forget to buy or have the kids open on Christmas Day so that would a nice way to make up for that.
I think my head is spinning! Thanks again ladies!
Blessings!
DeAnn
Oh, One more question. Do you guys take the little ones to midnight Mass? Our age range is 1 to 9 years old. I'm afraid they would fall apart rather than fall asleep.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Nov 06 2007 at 10:05am | IP Logged
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We do take everyone to Mass. But then, I tend to take 'em all anywhere with me.. when they're tired, they go to sleep. Usually the excitement keeps them awake partway through. But by Communion we've got several sound asleep. The older ones (you can see that our age range is about the same.. they'll be 1-10 this year) usually make it clear through Mass.. and The older 2 are big enough since last year to help carry the littlest.. so we can actually get everyone out to the car in one trip.
I love the fact that I have no battles at all over bedtime on Christmas Eve though
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Advent Traditions--Help for a Convert
