O Night Divine

Lazy Linky Friday

Is anyone else in a turkey coma?  How about we wimp out and I direct you tot he people who are actually doing stuff today.

Catholic Roundup's Advent Calendar

Kimberly Wasson at Catholic Exchange

Lacy, the genius behind Catholic Icing is doing amazing things. Just go peruse.

Elizabeth Foss compiled a post of her Advent and Christmas links and traditions. Many of these have become traditions in my own family.

Barbara Curtis at Mommy Life has weeded out some lovely children's Nativity Sets. I have a few of them and there is real value in making some available to the little ones to play with. It's so sweet to see your four year old acting out the Christmas story with their own Nativity Set.

Faith and Family Live Advent Musts and Movies This is a must read by Tim and April Hoopes

Another great read at Faith and Family by Joseph Pronechen.

 

Just as a reminder you might want to make a New Year's celebration part of your weekend. The first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of the Church's new liturgical year so a New Year's Eve party is perfectly appropriate and really almost a necessity. Who needs another reason to drink champagne? Why we all do. Don't forget that we are part of a faith tradition that recognizes the value in a good celebration. So bring out your party hats and noisemakers and let the children party the new year in. 

Now, back to my coma.

 

A few days ago Mary posted the link to Paper Dali, the site of free paper doll saints for you to print as well as very reasonably priced  feast day sets.  We printed the Juan Diego doll and made a nifty stand out of cardboard for him to hang out on our Mary table during his feast day.

Sorry about the poor quality of this photo but you can see St. Juan Diego there with hat in hand.  We made the stand by simply slitting the cardstock between the saint's feet and inserting a piece of stiff cardboard crossways.

Since St. Juan Diego's feast comes 3 days before that of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we decided to add the colored and decorated tilma at that time.

Now imagine how thrilled I am today to find that Paper Dali has added Our Lady of Guadalupe and Uncle Bernardino!!   There is not a new doll for Bishop Zumarraga but Vee has a link to St. Nicholas, who can easily become another bishop.  
                                                                         
Later this afternoon our 5 and 9 year old will  color our new figures while we watch Juan Diego: Messenger of Guadalupe.   We will add Our Lady, then Uncle Bernardino and the Bishop over the next couple of days, then the tilma along with some more roses on the 12th.  Thank you Paper Dali!!

                                                    

No-Panic Advent Series

Karen Edmisten has reposted her wonderful No Panic Advent Series. There is such simple, reasonable and seasoned advice here. This year, as retailers are pounding the "Holiday spirit"even earlier this year, this is a good post to read and take to heart.

Karen Edmisten: No Panic Advent Series

The 12 Days of Christmas Faith Folder Give-Away!

Happy Christmastide!

I hope everyone had a beautiful, holy and blessed Christmas Day! We certainly did here and I thank you all for your prayers and good wishes.

I have exciting news!  Lindy from Lapbooks for Catholics has just finished her beautiful Twelve Days of Faith Folder andd she has donated two for me to give-away!  Click over to see the folder I have seen it up close and it is truly wonderful! You will really appreciate having this resource in the next twelve days.

While you are at Lindy's site I encourage you to remember the dark days of February that will soon be upon us and see if there is something there you cause to brighten up your lessons or use for an upcoming school project. It never hurts to have something in reserve for those cabin fever days.

So drop a comment in the box of this post and if you mention this give-away on your blog I will enter you twice. The drawing will close at noon on Saturday and I'll announce the winner shortly after that. That way Lindy can email you the download and you can begin right away.

Have a blessed day!

O Night Divine on Relevant Radio!

Mark your calendars. Tomorrow morning I will be interviewed live on Relevant Radio's morning program  with Sean Harriot at 8:30 est. The interview will focus on the work we do here at O Night Divine in promoting Catholic culture and a holy Advent season. I can't tell you  how very flattered I was to be asked and how grateful I am to all of our contributors and readers in making this website the wonderful resource it is.

Please tune in and pray for my  success  on the show. I have pregnancy brain and you never know how that is going to work out!

From Thy Bounty Fair, Saint Nicholas

I have the great pleasure of hosting the Saint Nicholas Fair over at Catholic Cuisine. Please click over and share the wealth of ideas that so many generous contributors shared.

Have a blessed day!

Getting Ready

I'm very excited about our little give-away in the previous post. You still have some time to enter as I won't be closing the comments until noon EST today. Please join in.

We are getting down to the wire. Do you think of Saturday night as New Year's Eve? I do.  Why not have a celebratory evening and ring in the new liturgical year with a bubbly beverage and noisemakers?

I have a few last minute links for you all to check out and help you plan your Advent. The winter isssue of the beautiful Simple Gifts Magazine is now available and the publisher, my friend Nissa Gadbois has generously shared a link with us to her St. Lucia Day article. It's a pdf file and the photos are lovely.  It may make you need to  have the whole  magazine!

The always creative  Charlotte at Waltzing Matilda has posted a wonderful idea for a  No Flame Advent Wreath . What a wonderful idea! NOt only can the children safely handle the wreath but as Charlotte suggests it would make an inspired gift to someone in a hospital, nursing home or assisted living situation. I thought that was a stroke of brilliance.

Jess at Star Cottage has a unique idea for Jesse Tree ornaments.  I loved it.

Karen Edmisten has done a really helpful series on her blog "A No Panic Advent" is the theme and so far there are six posts;
Part One, The Jesus Stocking
Part Two, Note Some Dates
Part Three, O Night Divine (It seemed silly to leave this out and silly to leave it in, Karen just tells you to check out this website, since you are here you can skip this one.)
Part Four, Files
Part Five, The Jesse Tree
Part Six, Don't Sweat a Little Secularity ( I love this one).

Another blog to keep firmly in your favorites  is Catholic Cuisine. The ladies over there work very hard to bring some "flavor" to your liturgical celebrations and it is really worth the time to check it out every day and see what is going on there.

And lastly (for today) but certainly not least is our friend from down under Annie. She has a post Preparing for Advent that is beautifully photographed and is filled with ideas you will want to make part of your Advent.

I hope this all keeps you happily clicking away today.

Have a blessed day!

O Antiphons

The Octave of Christmas begins tonight.  The Golden Nights leading up to the coming of the King.  The Atiphons are sung, or chanted, at evening prayer.

Jennifer Miller wrote a  very thorough post detailing how to pray the O Antiphons.

Other posts:

Alice's Advent Cubes (from last year)
Suzanne always has good information

                          O Anitphon Houses
                          Christine
                          Leticia
                         
And my favorite Ruth did a wonderful job of tying fun activities to do with the children into the whole O Antiphon devotion.  Great job Ruth, thanks for sharing your ingenuity!

Advent Calendar Tutorial

My lovely and talented friend Nissa has devised a really pretty Advent calendar to make.  Go here to find the step-by-step tutorial.

Things To Think About

I wanted to just point out a few blog posts that you may have missed that may spark some ideas for your upcoming Advent preparation.

The first is my dear friend Alice, who is joining her dear friend Lissa in a Consecration to Jesus through Mary that begins today and ends on the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Alice explains the details here.

A prayerful Advent is the theme here this year at O Night Divine and I think this prayerful preparation would help to make this the most meaningful Advent you've experienced.

Of course, it is always important to have fun when celebrating and my go-to-girl for fun stuff to do is Dawn. She is hosting the Loveliness of Handmade Gifts this Thursday, November 8th.  If you are planning to make any gifts this year why not post about it and sent it off to Dawn by Wednesday afternoon. If you don't have a blog she provides an email address so you can just tell her all about it.  This fair is sure to provide tons of inspiration for your own gift making!  I'm really looking forward to it!

Rebecca (so glad she's back!!!) posted a wonderful idea about something called Blurb Books.  I had never heard of it but as I was reading about it I thought it would make a really lovely gift for someone in your life who can't get online and has no access to your blog. Maybe a grandma or grandpa in a nursing home or a military person stationed somewhere. It was so affordable too.  Go check it out.

And finally but most importantly, when you are making out your Christmas cards this year, please add the following to your list:

A Recovering American soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Maybe even include some of your child's artwork.  It's sure to cheer up a soldier and I'm all about making the lives of these heroes better.

Have a blessed day!