Advent and Some Great Feasts

Ok for those of you who know me, you know why I haven't been blogging. It is Advent -- my favorite time of year and I have been so busy creating the perfect Advent that I haven't been blogging.

So here is the update.

On November 29th, the day after PG's b-day, we put up the tree. Thanks to Target we added the purple lights, snowflakes, and ribbon. The ribbon and I had a big fight this year. It is so nice to have a big window to put the tree in front of finally. But I couldn't take a picture that night because we didn't have any Jesse Tree ornaments on. I thought, "Ok somewhere in week 2 of Advent, I'll take a picture." Two nights ago, the middle section of purple lights went out. So still no pic. I looked at Wal-Mart. They had purple lights (on WHITE wire) so still no picture. As far as the Jesse Tree ornaments, here is a big shout out to the Mothers for Children at OLMC in Carmel. Thanks for the years of ornament trading. My ornaments are so pretty and I think of each one of you as the kids hang them on the tree.

November 30th was the feast of St. Andrew. It made me a little sad. I was thinking of our Andrew and how we are so blessed to have little ones in heaven.

On December 5th, we headed out to Byers CO (an hour and a half away) for Mass the Knights of Columbus Party. We left ourselves plenty of time. Dressed in our Sunday best, we stopped for gas. It has been pretty cold here so Blake waited in the car with us while the gas pumped. When he heard the click, he got out and took the hose out of the car. It started spraying all over him. It soaked him through, so home we went to change. We got to the parking lot of the church at the gospel. We would have been ok except there was no music at Mass.

At the party, there was a special guest (Santa Claus). We had prepped the kids. For those of you who don't know, we don't "do" Santa Claus. On the feast of St. Nicholas (Dec. 6th next post) the kids get there stockings in honor of St. Nicholas. So we decided to remind the kids that some kids think Santa is real and please don't say anything if someone asks you about Santa. Well RA was so taken by him, she didn't leave his side the whole time. Then he starts into this 5 minute speech about, who believes in Santa Claus. Asking kids individually and telling them to raise their hands. I was holding my breath. I could just here DG going on some soliloquy about how Santa was not real and telling the whole story of St. Nicholas. Luckily, he followed directions. Phew.

More about the feast of St. Nicholas later. Here are some pics:

And thanks Mrs. Wrobel for the really cool Playmobile Advent calendar!

Now for Christmas - or at least part

We spent the third week of Advent and Christmas Day in Colorado this year, with my mom's whole family and Blakes' parents and his dad's family (more of the Helgoth Christmas party to come later). Anyway, the first day in Colorado we visited my grandparents, Grandpa Bill and Grandma Ethel. Who RA affectionately calls Grandma and Grandpa Bill. So that the kids would have things to play with while they were there, Grandma gave them present early.

DG loves his Scrabble Jr.
RA loved her musical jewelry box so much she kept giving my grandma random hugs every time she looked at it.

I have taken a picture of everyone of my kids sitting in Grandpa Bill's lap. Here is PG.

Feast of St. Nicholas

I know this is late but:

In many places St. Nicholas is the main gift giver. His feast day, St. Nicholas Day, is December 6, which falls early in the Advent season. Some places he arrives in the middle of November and moves about the countryside, visiting schools and homes to find out if children have been good. Other places he comes in the night and finds carrots and hay for his horse or donkey along with children's wish lists. Small treats are left in shoes or stockings so the children will know he has come.
Where St. Nicholas is prominent, his day, not Christmas, is the primary gift giving day. Parties may be held on the eve, December 5th, and shoes or stockings left for St. Nicholas to fill during the night. Children will find treats of small gifts, fruit or nuts, and special Nicholas candies and cookies. St. Nicholas gifts are meant to be shared, not hoarded for oneself. - this is from the St. Nicholas Center http://www.stnicholascenter.org/

So my kids get their stockings on the feast of St. Nicholas. They don't think they are from him just in honor of his gift giving legacy. Here are some pictures of the event. Oh RA and DG got Sacrafice beads since St. Therese has played a big role in RA's life since Oct. and since DG really needs help making sacrifices. Daddy even got Godiva coffee. Mommy got her traditional chocolate orange.

No Christmas?

Tonight we were doing our tradtional Advent bedtime routine: family rosary, Jesse tree ornaments with Bible reading, followed by a chapter of the Best Christmas Pagent Ever (a little old for my kids and a litte too mean spirited but I love it too much not to share it with them). Before the Jesse Tree reading, RA said, "Mom, I have a question. Why don't we put all the Jesse Tree ornaments up on one night?"
I explained to her that it is to remind us that each of the people we talk about spent their whole lives waiting for Jesus (he didn't come quick) in fact none of them lived to see Jesus. She looked at me with really big eyes and said, "They didn't have Christmas?" She was agast.
I said, "No, their lives were all Advent."
Only a child can cause us to stop and meditate on the meaning of this season, in a way we hadn't thought of quite like that before.

Advent Traditions

So since Christmas isn't quite upon us the Helgoths have some Advent Traditions. First is the Jesse Tree. Our tree goes up the first Sunday of Advent and we decorate it with purple lights, ribbon, and snowflakes (I found them all three years ago at Target). Then each day of advent we add a Jesse Tree ornament. For the past two years, we have been part of an exchange so I think I have all the ornaments now. This is totally the way to do it, because then you just have to make two different types of ornaments for however many people instead of making 28ish different ornaments. Great chart for ornaments at http://www.cresourcei.org/jesse.html.
Then on the third Sunday of Advent we take down the purple and put up the Christmas lights and decorations. The kids like leaving the Jesse Tree ornaments. The 3rd Sunday of Advent is also when we start listening to Christmas music.
We don't do Santa in our house. Another day for the why of that. But on the feast of St. Nicholas (Dec. 6th) the kids get their stockings filled.
We also have a creche (crib) under the tree for Jesus. It is filled with good deeds. Last year, we put in straw for each of our good deeds as mom and dad saw them and took some out if the need arose (ok when the need arose). This year we have a sacrifice jar. Each night they chose a strip of paper with a sacrifice they can make the next day. If they do it, they get to put straw in the creche.
Our letters to Santa are letters to Jesus asking for gifts: material and spiritual. We exchange gifts as immediate family on Epiphany and if no extended family is around we open their gifts then too. Christmas day we try to have a birthday party for Jesus!
We also have an Advent wreath and there are these great seek and find Advent books we use each day. http://www.printeryhouse.org/ProdPage.asp?Prod=DYK&cat=226.
Oh and you can still sign up for Holy Heros Advent Adventure. They send a daily email with activities and videos. It makes it really easy! http://www.holyheroes.com/.
Happy Advent!