A happy and blessed 4th Sunday of Advent to all of you! As we prepare our hearts and homes for Jesus’ birth in just a few days, this could be a fun craft to do with our children. We will be using our paper plate angel as our tree topper, since I have once again failed to procure a proper tree topper for our family’s tree 🙂 I have such trouble committing to buying a tree topper because when I... Read more
She did not waver when called upon by an angel of God. She endured the scorn of pregnancy before marriage. She was committed and joyful. She rode on a donkey when over nine months pregnant. She rode for hundreds of miles. She labored in straw. She gave birth next to livestock. She relished our Lord. She cared for his every first need. She exalted Him and allowed for others to do the same. She protected Him. She brought Him up... Read more
One wintry evening Brown Bear came rushing out of the woods. The big brown bear smiled. “I have a secret!” “It’s wonderful! It’s fantastic! It’s shout-out-loud and jump-for-joy great!” “What is it?” asked Fox. “What is this secret that’s so great? Can you eat it?” “No! No!” said Brown Bear impatiently. “You wouldn’t want to eat it! You’d want to snuffle and nuzzle it. You’d want to lick it all over from the top to the bottom and then some... Read more
If you’re looking to start a new Christmas Eve tradition in your home, this tidbit might be of interest to you. According to this month’s Magnificat, the Irish tradition on Christmas Eve involved families preparing a meal for the Holy Family and setting the table with three place settings for them. Afterward, they left the doors unlocked or even wide open and put more wood on the hearth, so the Holy Family would have a place to rest and bless... Read more
Despite all efforts to avoid the Christmas rush during Advent, it seems that each year I let materialistic concerns—from getting my Christmas cards mailed by a certain date to finding the perfect gift for a niece or nephew—get in the way of what should otherwise be a time to spiritually prepare for the coming of Christ. Mothers have a lot of necessary preparations to do during Advent, but we all must fight against consumerism and other cultural pressures to keep... Read more
As I sit down to write this post, I am aware that I have some boxes sitting in the front hallway, waiting to be wrapped and hidden before my 5 year-old gets home from school and my 2 year-old wakes up from her nap 🙂 We have been receiving Christmas gifts in the mail for a couple of weeks now – since we don’t have any family in town, all gifts need to be shipped. Don’t get me wrong, it’s... Read more
We spend the majority of our time and space on this blog discussing the inception of life– the baby days, preschool days etc.– however, this Christmas we are near my 92-year-old grandmother, which has provided me the opportunity to think about life at the other end of the spectrum. My parents are hosting my three young children and I at their home in San Diego while our Daddy is deployed this holiday season. They live in a cottagey home that... Read more
Over the years since my marriage on the Feast of St. Juan Diego, I have developed a strong devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. In New York, I went to her feast mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral one year and it was amazing, lots of people wore shirts or tilmas with her image, there were roses everywhere, and it was a joy to see a busy, secular city, full of lively prayer processions. Head on over to paperdali and download... Read more
The comments from the last post overwhelmingly voiced a desire to continue the Santa discussion. I have recently come to realize that this is a more sensitive topic than I thought. I brought it up at my book club last week, the day that I learned my son had told his class Santa was dead and in Heaven. I think I have been a bit naive about the subject, thinking it not so big of a deal. Because of our... Read more
Building Cathedrals
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