Part I: A Tea in Honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe
If you’ve never had one of Alice Gunther’s beautiful liturgical teas, you must.
You simply must.
I think not.
Part II: Braided St. Lucia Bread in Honor of St. Lucy
This is a favorite feast day of my three little hens, not surprisingly. All I have to do is make the bread and then pretend that I didn’t.
“Oh my goodness!” I exclaim as they show up giggling at my bedroom door. “It’s Santa Lucia Day? I had no idea!”
I like this shot because it shows off my little girls’ handmade crowns.
I like this shot because it shows off my little girls’ handmade crowns and my 7th grader’s personality.
Not that it truly needs showing off.
I call this shot “Braided Roll with Baby.” Is it any wonder we made it through the meal without splashing juice and smearing glaze all over my bedspread?
I think not.
Part III: A Gaudete Mass at the Cathedral in Honor of, well, God
I attended Mass on my own in the early evening, having stayed home with an under-the-weather child on Sunday morning.
It was a bitterly cold outing on the year’s darkest day, but oh, how those rose-colored vestments made up for it!
Of course I had to take a photo for my little hen who had had to stay home. She loves these vestments as much as I do.
That’s my friend Karen in the photo— though not the same Karen as the “Braided Bread” Karen—who was gracious enough to pose for a picture after Mass.
I asked her how she was doing on her Christmas shopping—looking, of course, for a friend with whom to commiserate—and Karen told me that she’d finished all her Christmas shopping before Advent.
I tried not to smack her.
Spending an all-too-brief moment before the tabernacle was a beautiful end to a busy weekend, though it was hard not to be distracted by all the to-do’s left on my list.*
We have two full weeks of Advent left! We have only two weeks before Christmas left!
May our hearts (and homes) be ready. ☺
AMDG,
*Ed. Note: I am stumped–truly stumped–by what to get my two oldest sons. They are 12 & 10. Any suggestions?
Do they like to read? Shameless pitch here but Usborne just released a book called Conspiracy 365: January. There is one to come out every month (Feb, March, etc.) You can check it out on my website: http://www.LoveUsborne.com 🙂
Legos?
Games?
a camera?
My soon to be 12 year old is getting an Xmod. I'm not sure what it is other than some sort of remote control car that can be modified. My husband picked it out. But my guy is VERY into cars and has been asking for one for a while now. He's also getting the next Ranger's Apprentice book.
I never thought I'd suggest a video game system…but, do you havea wii? It is a young boys toy that draws the entire family into play. THe kids laugh hysterically seeing their Dad and I try to bowl.
Margaret…I too would've had a hard time not smacking her!
*sigh*
I haven't even begun to shop! You can cry on my shoulder if I can cry on yours!
My oldest is only 9….but he is VERY MUCH into Legos and, strangely enough, Webkinz! He loves to visit the Webkinz site and visit with his cousins who also have Webkinz.
My nephews (who are the age of your boys) want WII games. Do you have a WII? Books and boardgames are always good!
Good luck and let us know what you came up with!
Well, John Paul is getting an erector set, a wii game, a camera, and some bakugan. Joey is getting a wall-e robot, some legos, some bakugan, and an art set. Hope that helps. Of course they will also be getting books because that is what homeschooling mamas do, right?
i just wanted to add that i LOVE LOVE LOVE rose colored vestments. possibly this (and laetare sunday in lent) are my favoritest sundays of the year 🙂
lol "braided roll with baby!" I LOVE it!
be blessed!
Amanda
I'll make you feel better Margaret. I have done NOTHING. Made nothing, bought nothing. Oh, except a whittling book for ds. Zip, zero, nada. Lots of excuses like no $$ and first trimester barfiness. Still, I have some serious hustling to do this week. And people wonder why I pay the $75/year for Amazon prime???
Do they have their own sets of tools yet? A small toolbox with the essentials in it is a nice gift for a very young man. My husband's grandfather gave him a portable set when he was a young teen. You can do it twice too. Once with home-repair tools (hammer, level, tape-measure, etc.) and once with car-repair tools (socket wrenches, pliers, jumper cables).
does your baseball player have a ball that tracks the speed? My 12 yr. old is getting one but we are also stumped with him. he has everything mentioned already…..except the game system – we are considering that for the oldest 3 kids' WOW gift.
A Wii gaming system was our family gift last year. We highly recommend it!
Nerf blasters!!!
My boys have gotten them for their birthdays, and have asked for more for Christmas. Apparently, we can't enough flying darts around the house.
Sports stuff is high on the list too, and books.
🙂
Great pictures!
What about a remote controlled car or plane? A model car kit set. Sports equipment. Ice skates and a voucher for lessons (trying to remember you are in winter.) Camera. Tools and materials for building. Orienteering equipment. Dangerous Book for Boys.
I just gave this suggestion to my ma and dad about what to get my Matty (12). I told them:
A bag of wooden clothespins
A bunch of batteries
a whole bunch of colored duct tape and regular duct tape
some wooden dowels, all different sizes
a huge bag of rubber bands
put it all in a good, big plastic tub.
He's an "inventor", so I figured he'd have an awesome time making his inventions with all of these ingredients, since they are the ones he asks for the most…oh, I would add paper clips and wire hangers, too.
*I will second the recommendation of "Dangerous book for Boys"
*Pocketknife (for whittling)
*Leatherman tool (all in one like a swiss army knife)
*Fishing pole
*Snowball maker (they are shaped like huge ice cream scoopers that click together to make snowballs)
*Snowshoes
*New sled/snowboard
Yes, so I have all of these ideas, but I haven't shopped AT ALL! (Nor started my baking, nor sent out my cards or even taken pictures of the kids for said cards.) *Sigh and whimper*
Sincerely,
Donna
Hang in there and remember, we are Catholics….December 25th is just the BEGINNING of the season!
Hmmm…would they like tools? Would they like to do projects ( supervised) a drill, etc might thrill them, and come in really handy for projects around the house!
Guitar and how to DVD? Knex, Ligretto game cards, Slingshots, Razor Ripstick(can ride in garage, basement,wood floors. Good books: Little Britches series, Mysterious Benedict Society, MAKE magazine subscription. Games: Wii resort, Stare!, Stratego. If you want to be the uber cool mom, go airsoft guns! They have a double pistol set with target that can be used indoors. I hope that this helps!
Since I'm struggling with my 12 year old as well I asked HIM! I told him Minnesota Mom needed some ideas. His only ideas was go to wwww.visionforum.com or nerf guns. Thanks for the help – now I know where to check for mine too!
My 12yo ds really liked the cross country skis we gave him last year. Snowshoes are great, too. I'll also toss out the Settlers of Catan (game) again because he and his 9yo sis will play whenever they can. The old standby is legos.
Ds also likes music or audio CD's. He's received Jars of Clay and we are giving him Squeakquel (Chipmunk's – don't ask me why!!) this year. Another fave is the Tom Playfair audio book series.
How about the gift of travel? This year my husband took our oldest, 14 yr son, to an out of state NFL football game. They flew to the city, stayed in a hotel, went to the game and had a blast. That's the kind of stuff that we remember. Not the viedoe games, not the toys. It's the time we spend together that counts.
Guns, drums, pyrotechnics.
Kidding.
Sort of.
Does Wii have a Rock Band? My boys loooove Rock Band.
What a lovely weekend!
I can't help with boy stuff suggestions, though …. So sorry! I have a feeling you'll come up with something great, though.
My 9 year old is asking for Superbowl tickets. Dream big, my son.
They also asked for Nerf SWORDS, which suits our family of fencers. So, I used Grandma's Christmas money and bought one for the 11 year old, one for the 9 year old, and one for the 41 year old (which I figure the 4 year old can use when Dad isn't around).
I also bought a book on whittling, and Ranger Apprentice books. And LEGOs. And a new football.
I had a harder time with the girls, because I'm so tired of little things. How many Pet Shop pets can you possibly need.