My children believe in Santa Claus. Not the fairy tale version of Santa Clause with his red suit, rotund belly, jolly laugh and flying reindeer but the man that inspired the legend: Saint Nicholas. Our family has been celebrating Saint Nicholas Day since my kids were...
This Nature Advent Calendar is all about simplicity and nature connection.
Christmas, a wonderful time of year that's filled with long lists of things to do and gifts to buy. When Christmas finally does arrive many of us are left feeling exhausted and thankful that it's finally over. Can you relate? If yes, you'll be happy to hear that...
Advent is a time of reflection. It is a time that we strive to embrace peaceful stillness and prepare our hearts for Christmas. Yet, Advent always seems to be in such contrast with the reality of the upcoming month that sometimes I wonder how I can reconcile our...
Advent started a couple days ago, on Sunday, and continues on for the four weeks leading up to Christmas. For our family, Advent is a time when we prepare our hearts and home for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. This year we have set up our Jesse tree, Advent...
The Jesus Tree is a Lenten version of the Advent Jesse Tree (What is a Jesse Tree?). On each day during Lent a story about Jesus' life is read from the Bible and a symbol is place on a tree. You can use any Bible, we like to use our New Catholic Picture...
Today Advent has begun. It is a time of anticipation and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Our family has several Advent traditions, some of our tradition have been passed on to us from our parents and others we've discovered on our own. I...
Advent has begun in our home. The Jesse tree is up and, unlike last year, I managed to make a wreath for our four Advent candles. Our children have noticed the changes around our home and have responded with curiosity and excitement. It makes me smile when I see my...
The power cable for my laptop broke over the weekend. Until the new power cable arrives I am blogging from my husband's computer. Unfortunately I'm not able to upload pictures from my camera so the pictures in this post are from my archives.---Advent is a...
Baby Jesus' manger is another Advent activity that can help your family prepare for the celebration of Jesus' birth.For this activity gather:something that can act as a manger like a shoe box or basketsome straw or pieces of yellow yarna baby dollAs Advent unfolds,...
The advent wreath is a popular advent tradition. It is often used in Christian churches and homes as a way to prepare for Christmas.An advent wreath has two basic components: the wreath and four candles. The wreath is commonly made out of evergreens (real or...
This morning I took a picture of our Jesse Tree. It's looking a lot fuller but we still have many more ornaments to add on. I'm really happy with the way it's coming together, but we are having some structural issues with the ribbons holding the ornaments - some are...
The only things Monkey likes about the Jesse Tree is the part where we hang up the ornament. We do our Jesse Tree in the evening as a family so Monkey is usually tired and has a nonexistent attention span. At first we tried to get him involved but not...
We are now on Day 3 of our Jesse Tree reflections! The first night was hilarious (and frustrating) so we changed a few things and modified our expectations. Things are going a lot smoother now. We use a variety of books during our reflection time. Our main books are...
Advent has begun and our Jesse Tree and Advent wreath are set up. I spent time organizing and preparing for Advent this year but I kept on getting this nagging feeling that Monkey was being left out in some way. So I gave it a bit of thought and came up with a...
I am so happy that I managed to finish our felt Jesse Tree. For some reason a bunch of our fabric stores closed so I couldn't find any large pieces of felt. I ended up buying the felt for this tree in a city 2,000 km away! (I was there visiting family). We won't start...