Advent- 1 week down, 3 to go

Here's some photos from our first week.

Our Advent wreath...

And the pretty candle I made for the Immaculate Conception novena.

The Jesse Tree,,,each of the little bags are opened each day,

and each one contains one of these scrolls inside with our marching orders for the following day.

Our nativity scene, a hodgepodge of an old white ceramic one and the Fontanini one I'm slowly replacing it with...


A blurry mug of hot, hot, hot chocolate to go with our viewing of the Polar Express.

Mobiles made at the art museum,

and pictures from our history museum field trip featuring an exhibit on quilts,

and they designed their own squares.

followed by some fun with their hands on exhibits.


Shoes filled by St. Nicholas with a bit of candy and small gifts from the museum...

Saturday was the Christmas parade, with some lovely floats reflecting the meaning of the season...



And others, maybe not so much...


Cute kids...


And these wonderful guys...


My kids had a blast. Jack was all about the cool trucks and cars...



And Tess was warm and cozy in her sling, right up until the end....


Things went well as planned, except that we didn't read Country Angel Christmas and make the glitter stars because we are having library issues...long story involving a lost dvd and a load of fines that I will have to pay this coming week. Instead, we read the Legend of the Poinsettia and made a trip to pick up a couple poinsettias of our own.

Plans for week 2-

Sunday, today- Second Sunday movie day. We'll watch The Grinch and Miracle on 34th Street. We'll also have a cookie walk after mass today, which means we'll have some goodies to munch with our movies.

Monday- Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We'll finish our novena and unwrap our candle to reveal the tiny little swaddled blankie I made out of wax and snuggled inside. We'll attend mass at noon and make a special craft.

Tuesday- John is off of work, and so I'm planning to make some hot cocoa in our big thermos and go see the light display on the square. They had our official lighting of the square already, but John was working that night...plus, it was a week before Thanksgiving and I thought lighting the square that early was obscene.

Wednesday- Ornament making day! Also, a general "getting ready" of the gift baskets we make for family and teachers and such. Also, a read aloud- "Small Miracle".

Thursday- John is off again, so I'll take Kain to do his Christmas shopping and we'll bring home a goodie to share with everyone. Read aloud- "The Little Match Girl".

Friday- The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe- Mexican food, making tissue paper flowers, maybe a mariachi mass if I can find one, though most parishes that do that had theirs this weekend already. We'll also read Tomie de Paola's book about the feast day.

Saturday- We'll hit Lowe's to build a gingerbread house. The third Sunday is the feast of St. Lucy, who's name means "light". Our lights will go up that night, and we'll make a special bread wreath. With that, I'm out of here...it's taken me all day to get this post done!