I really like the Advent season. A lot. It's the beginning of a new (Church) year and a time to renew ourselves as we are filled with the anticipation and hope of the Christmas season. Looking at this season through the eyes of a (my) child makes it all the more meaningful. I've mentioned a few times previously (here and on my Facebook page) how I was looking forward to celebrating the Advent and Christmas season with Gemma (Kolbe too, but he's still just a baby) so I thought I'd try and keep a record here of some of the special things we are doing.The Advent Wreath
A really great "outward sign" I think. We keep ours on the kitchen table and have a special prayer time around the wreath each morning. We sing a few Advent songs and I've been just using the closing prayer from Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours for lack of a better daily prayer. I really had trouble finding a book out there of daily Advent meditations/prayers for young children. Anyone have any recommendations? We also have an Advent Calendar with little doors that open and each one has a different Scripture verse behind it for every day. I picked up a book for Aaron and I that has some daily Scripture/reflections/meditations that hopefully we can do together each night after children are asleep. The white candle in the center of our wreath is Jesus' birthday candle, and I found a nice small wreath with greenery, pine cones and berries to put around it come Christmas day.Our paper chainThis is a great visual for Gemma to help her count down the days until Christmas. The colors coordinate with the candles on the Wreath (purple for weeks 1, 2 and 4, rose for week 3 and white for Christmas day), and each link has something special for Gemma to do for the day. For example: share a special toy with your brother, paint a picture for your cousin, say a prayer for your godmother, etc. Simple, but something nevertheless.
Weekly Scripture verseI've been really bad lately about a.) keeping our weekly verse up-to-date, and b.) actually remembering to say it repetitively enough for Gemma (and I) to learn it. I thought Advent would be a good time to get back on board with that. I decided to start using Sunday's responsorial psalm for our verse. It's something Gemma has already/will hear, and I just think the Psalms are a great place to go for Scripture memorization. I also color-coordinated our Scripture paper with the Advent candles. Here's this week's.
Nativity scenesOn our prayer table we have the violet candle, a book about the kings' journey to Bethlehem, and a Nativity that we will add pieces to as we go (Jesus on Christmas, kings on Epiphany, etc.)
This is our 'fancier' Nativity. Since we have the "add the pieces as you go" one at eye level for Gemma, I went ahead and put all the pieces out (save baby Jesus) for this one so it would look complete.
And of course we have our Fisher Price Nativity that I just absolutely adore. What a cool toy for kids.
Currently I believe the entire population is sitting in a pile on our sofa (after being toted around in a laundry basket that was apparently a swimming pool for part of the morning); and Kolbe likes to chew on baby Jesus. But it works.I have some special activities planned for some of the Advent saints and feasts (Nicholas primarily, plus Our Lady of Guadalupe, Lucy, Immaculate Conception, etc.) and as we near Christmas I hope to help Gemma make some homemade Christmas gifts for family and loved ones.If you're looking for good resources when it comes to Advent, I would highly recommend this book. This blog also has some really neat ideas.So now it's your turn...I'd love to hear others' ideas when it comes to celebrating the season. Please share, and may God bless us everyone as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I think I mentioned before that I'm starting to do some preschool/faith formation-type activities with Gemma. It's really fun now that she's getting old enough to understand those things. Anyways, we've been enjoying trying different things and seeing what we like and what does and doesn't fit for our family. Originally I thought we'd do a set time every morning that she and I would work together on things. I think she's just not quite old enough for that kind of structure yet, so we haven't been incredibly regular about that, but we do have all of our "school/learning"-type toys and manipulatives in the same place, and we enjoy pulling things out and working on them together here and there.The prayer table seems to have been a really positive addition. It is a very visible sign of our Faith, and honestly it helps remind us to say our prayers. Gemma loves the candle (especially blowing it out), and knows that when it's lit, it's prayer-time. I found a neat little Rosary Book at our local Catholic store and we try to say a decade together each morning. Here was our table decorated for Pentecost. Gemma really liked the red candle, and was very concerned when she got up the following Monday morning and a green one was in its place. ;-D
"When you send forth your spirit they are created, and you renew the face of the earth." --Psalm 104:30
We also have a Scripture verse each week. I feel like as Catholics we have this wonderful gift in Sacred Scripture, and sometimes we rarely even open it, so hopefully this will help all of us to appreciate and learn God's Word - the Bible - a little more. I write our verse on a sheet of paper, and then read it to Gemma and let her help me decorate it. After that we hang it on the fridge and try to repeat it often throughout the week. Gemma's really surprising me at how well she can learn them. She does good at filling in the blank with the bigger words, and sometimes will even say an entire phrase herself. I'm trying to find a verse that goes with each Sunday's readings, and we get our new verse each Saturday. This also helps her prepare for Mass in her own little way. This week we talked about the Trinity and used John 3:16.
I have a bunch of the little St. Joseph's books (you can see the Holy Spirit one in the Pentecost picture above) from when I taught and I am SO GLAD I held onto them. They are really neat, concise little books with great pictures, and I seriously think there are probably 100 or more out there about many different Faith topics. I also organized all the saint and prayer cards I've accumulated through the years, and filed them in little ziploc bags by month, then I can pull each card out on its specific feast day and we have a little picture and saint or feast about which to talk. Like I said, we're finding our way. I've enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to others/read others' blogs to help me along, and just wanted to share what is working for us. We are learning together for sure. They (whoever that is) always say the best way to really learn something is to teach it. Well, they're right.
I took Gemma to the library for the first time about a month ago, and we checked out a nice handful of books. Our favorite was probably I Will Rejoice by Karma Wilson ill. by Amy June Bates, based upon Psalm 118. I think Catholics often get a bad rap (and often rightfully so) for their lack of knowledge when it comes to Scripture, and I think this is sad. I want my children to grow up with a love for their Church AND Sacred Scripture, for the two go hand in hand. I digress (I do that a lot). This was a very sweet and beautifully illustrated story about a day in the life of a little girl who always -- whether she was running about with her friend and playing with her teddy, eating lunch, napping or having some special time with daddy in the evening -- returned to the simple verse, "this is the day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it," demonstrating very clearly, and much on a two-year-old's level of understanding, that we should rejoice always in the Lord as we go about our ordinary daily activities. What a wonderful lesson for young and old alike. Plus, the repetition throughout the story did a great job at teaching the memorization of this particular Scripture verse. I have a feeling we'll check this one out again, and it may even make its way to permanent residency on our bookshelf (meaning I intend to buy it at some point, not steal it from the library). Check it out if you have a chance (we just returned it), and may you REJOICE always!
1. Vacuumed the house while wearing my (20lb) baby on my back. WOOT! (Thanks for the inspiration, Mary Elizabeth!) 
2. Got our weekly Scripture verses (typically the Responsorial Psalm) that we hang on our fridge and try to recite throughout the week written out on color-coded papers from now through Palm Sunday. If you're not familiar with it, the USCCB has a great section on their website with the daily Mass readings. 
3. Survived our overnight family trip this past weekend, with a feverish Kolbe to boot. (He started running the fever after we'd already gotten to our destination...I don't make a habit of dragging my children places when they're sick.) And we all had a really nice time (Aaron and his dad hunted, the kids and I spent the day with my MIL and her parents). I am a home-body through-and-through, so this is big, people! ;-D We had fun and made it home safely and with our sanity intact, so I consider that a success! 
