ADVENT 2019
December 1 - Day 1
Here we go, here it is, Advent. I’ve got this. I’ve
totally got this. We’ll be fine…
I’m not entirely sure where the worry is coming from -
after all, turning the Advent season back into a time of quiet preparation
should evoke less worry, not more… so
step one in making Advent great again (yes, I did just say that), is prayer.
Dear God,
Thank you for all
your gifts and blessings, I love you with all my heart. Please help me to
quieten my mind, to let go of my worries, and to rest in the comfort of your
embrace, knowing that whatever we manage to do during Advent for the
preparation of the birth of Your Son is borne of our time first spent in quiet prayer with
You. Help me to notice the little things, to smile at the mistakes, to embrace
my family, and to prepare the way for You. I pray this through the intercession
of Your Blessed Mother, Mary, and Your earthly father, Joseph - our Holy Family
- whom we draw inspiration from for our own family. Amen.
**Deep breath**
Righty-o then…
For our family, the kids are a bit older with our youngest
about to turn 11, and a lot of activities that I searched for were a bit… well…
young! So, for this year’s Jesse Tree (I’ll explain it in a sec) I found loads
of crafts and activities for the littlies, but stuff that my teen and pre-teens
would do only out of pure love for their over-excitable mother (that’s me). But
I think their pity and shame for me comes across as love and appreciation… I’m
sure it does! My poor kids. I have to admit - the Christmas season is my
favourite, and it took about 0.74 seconds to transfer the love to include the
Advent season and all its reflective preparational goodness. Toeing the line
(toeing - what a weird looking word!) between keeping Advent quiet and getting
excited about planning all the crafts/prayers/cooking/outings/events/all.the.other.stuff
is quite an artform; this year I’m putting my excessive-time-usage-on-the-doing-side-of-things
down to being a rookie at all this and, like I said in yesterday’s post, being
not overly skilled or quick at liturgical living.
--> For the rookies (it’s me, I’m the rookie): Liturgical
living is a fancy way (or the proper way, whatever) of saying that you are
bringing elements of the tradition of our church into your home and daily life.
<--
So, Advent.
Here is what our family is doing this year to prepare for
Christmas and celebrate Advent:
Family Wreath
We’ve made one before, but it’s just sort of sat there
looking pretty. The key to making this work is, and again the obvious may seem
ridiculous to mention but nevertheless still important (for the rookies!) and a
reality that I needed to come to terms with so there…, dinner together as a
family at the dinner table. For a couple of bucks (a couple more for us Aussies
because it’s an American site), you can download and print the Advent Wreath Prayers Printable Booklet from Catholic All Year (yes again, and y’all better get used to me referring to
that website - Kendra Tierney is so inspiring as a Catholic, as a mother, as a
wife, and as a beautiful woman; I just want to hug her!). Just do what it says.
Pray together, eat together, stay together. Our wreath is old candles from our church, eucalyptus branches from the back of our block, and a few other shrub-style branches the kids found. I think we'll have to plant some better wreath-style plants for next year...!
Christmas
Anticipation Prayer
Another cracker of a prayer - traditionally recited 15
times per day beginning on the 30th November which is the feast of
St Andrew, and finishing on Christmas Eve. There are plenty of beautiful printable
versions online, or make your own to print out, or get your kids to write their
own out as copywork for homeschool! 15 times is a big jump for us, so I’m just
working on us saying it together as part of our dinner prayers, and on
homeschool days when we say our morning prayers together. Hopefully next year,
when I don’t spring a thousand liturgical surprises on my kids and they know
what to expect, we’ll be able to unload a solid 15 each day.
Christmas
Anticipation Prayer
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
In which the Son of God was born
Of the most pure Virgin Mary,
At midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing
cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech thee, oh
my God,
To hear my prayer and grant my desires,
Through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus
Christ,
And of His blessed Mother.
Amen.
Christmas Family
Novena
--> For the rookies - a novena is a prayer said for
nine consecutive days, usually ending on the vigil (the night before) of a feast
day, and said for a reason or with a particular intention. <--
So, beginning on the 16th through to the 24th,
we will pray a novena together. It doesn’t have to be at night either, any time
is a good time, and you can pray a decade of the Rosary each day, one Our Father,
any intercessional prayers (for the rookies - the ones on the back of saint
cards), or any prayer that has meaning for your family. We are having a go at
one with prayers and readings!
Yet another resource from Catholic All Year, the Christmas Family Novena has everything you need to create a truly Christ-centred Advent and be fully prepared.
And of course, a special treat afterwards!
Jesse Tree.
So, in a liturgical nutshell, the Jesse Tree activity covers
salvation history from Creation to the Nativity with cool little ornaments and
associated bible verses, and there are sooooooo many different options
available! We’ve decided (I decided) to make ours instead of purchase a set,
partially because I’ve got about as much spare cash as a used care salesman, and
partially because of the whole over-excited mother forcing kiddie activities on
kids that aren’t really little kids anymore (waaah!) but still wanting to craft and pretend they're tiny and dependent...
**For younger kids, check out Catholic Sprouts, and Holy
Heroes for beautiful Jesse Tree products!**
I made a fabric drawstring bag, and in it is: tools and
things required to make a tree ornament, a bauble with a key bible verse glued
to it, a card for further reading, and a task card. The kids take turns to open
the bag each day, and thanks to all the angels and saints and the good Lord
himself, three kids and 24 days in Advent this year gives me a perfect 8 days
per kid - and another 360 odd days to figure out next year’s bag-opening-order-thing.
Here is our day 1:
Today’s theme is Creation, and the ornament is a world
globe. In the bag I put green and blue paint, a paint brush, and a bauble (a red
one to be specific, the paint needed a couple of layers to cover it properly,
but my daughter just rested the bauble on an egg cup - genius!).
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| The ornament for Creation. |
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| The key bible verse is glued to a bauble (because I own a zillion of them!) "God looked at everything He has made, and He found it very good." - Genesis 1:31 |
And the further reading card is: Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-4.
Whoever's turn it is to open the bag, has to do the further reading and then tell us all about it over breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack time... whenever you find a bit of time. You can also use the Action Bible (comic book bible, check it out here, it's so great! No it's not a Catholic bible, but the illustrations are phenomenal!) or any other storytelling bible, as long as it covers the theme (creation).
With our task cards, each day has a simple task to get
ready for Christmas, and a Work of Mercy task (inspired by Ginny at Not So Formulaic - I simply wanted to adjust the daily instruction to what we were going to be
doing as a family, so it takes into account when we are visiting family and
when family are visiting us, and other events that are happening around our
town. Definitely head over and check out Ginny’s blog - the way she writes
about faith and children is so encouraging!).
So, that's what we're doing, God help us! What you need to remember though, regardless of what you attempt to do during Advent, is that as long as you keep family, joy, and of course God at the centre of your plans, you can't go wrong! Hug your little ones (and medium ones and big ones!) tightly, pray fervently, and smile at the bazillion beautiful things each day around you.
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| Making fruit mince, preparing a roast for Sunday family dinner, and crafting for the Jesse Tree. |
Em xx
