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The Jesse Tree!!
In some ways I am sad about what I am about to divulge but frankly I wonder how many more families struggle with this beautiful, but for me pressure filled tradition. In fact I have struggled with the concept of sharing what I see as my own failure in this area of Liturgical living within our family.

Each Advent I start with renewed expectations and hopes about the advantages of the Jesse Tree Tradition.
We get out both our Jesse Tree countdowns and start the readings for each day placing the appropriate ornament on each tree and then we come into the reality of our life.

I am not sure why it happens this way but perhaps it is our family circle at the moment and the fact we have so many feast days during Advent that take our attention of the Jesse Tree BUT we seem to constantly find that we miss a day - or two, or (shamefully) more and start the 'catch up game' of reading more than one reading at a time.

Sadly I then lose the inspiration and over the last few years we have not completed all the readings.

In fact if you look at both our Jesse Trees in this post you will see we did not finish again this year.

Granted we had some additional guests arrive, even though they were welcome and we enjoyed their company, the preparation for this consumed us also. I have also seem a pattern when looking back on past calendars that for what ever reason we seem to have significantly more appointments and outside activities than for other times of the year. In addition it is Summer here in Australia and this in itself adds new and different dimensions to our daily life as opposed to Advent and Christmas being in Winter like in the Northern Hemisphere.
Now this may seem to be just finding excuses and perhaps it is, which brings me to the conclusion that perhaps I feel the need to justify WHY we have not completed the Jesse Tree each year because I feel pressure to do so.
You know, obviously that is what all good Christian parents do with their children in the lead up to Christmas. It is a worthwhile and educationally rewarding activity to share with our children and so in my mind I do want to give our children the best we can offer. Yet each year I find myself sadly lacking and feeling guilty over this lack of apparent  education.

I wonder to myself -
Do other families experience this obligation to do the Jesse Tree or is it just me?
Does anyone feel the pressure to attempt this each year?
Do other families finish it and feel great joy and fulfilment in learning more in preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus?
Are we missing so much in our inability to do this?
Or is it just us and our family that have some difficulty with this very worthwhile Advent activity?

So I am looking forward to some input on your own experiences with the Jesse Tree in your own homes during the Advent season, either positive or negative.

I really would like to know!!

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

For the last several years  we have made a Gingerbread House as part of our Pre-Christmas Baking.
sometimes this can be a stressful time as we tend to do things together and this can mean little children getting over whelmed with the numbers of participants and everyone wanting  a turn.

This year we decided, well Autumn suggested and I agreed with her great idea. that the little children would have this opportunity to have this whole experience for themselves.

So after Autumn made the mixture and cut out the house pattern and baked them we placed the lollies on a plate for each of the children involved - Moran, Myffwyn, Corbyn and Arwen.

Autumn then helped (supervised) the little children as they decorated the Gingerbread House.
Arwen had the first opportunity to decorate while there was still a lot of room for her to put the lollies on.
She had a lovely time putting them on one side of the Gingerbread house and was very content with her work. Arwen must have been the only child who did not eat any lollies off her plateful.
Corbyn was hanging around just waiting for his time to have a turn at decorating. He did the other side of the roof.
Corbyn was more excited about eating the lollies and  had very few left at the end of his time at decorating.
Myffwyn was very precise with her work on the house
While the girls were decorating the house I kept Arwen and Corbyn busy decorating our Yo Yo cookies. We iced them and put on some little candy coated chocolate drops. This was my third packet of these as  Autumn  someone kept nibbling on them.
Myffwyn was very  happy with her work too
Moran was so patient and waited till last. The icing was starting to harden by then though and was finding it hard to keep her lollies on the house.
She found it hard after a while and so gave up after when  they kept falling off
Let me just say that our Gingerbread house was not a standard looking house. There was nothing remotely looking like windows and door really
But I must say our little children had the most fun decorating it. They were very happy to have this activity all to them selves
Of course we had to let little Trahaearn to have a  little touch of this impressive structure and he was most interested in getting the little colourful parts of it.

All in all I think we will do our Gingerbread house like this again - a special part of our baking for the little children. However I am contemplating putting it to together on the feast of Our Lady of Loretto, Dec 10, as I read on a  FB update, can't quite remember who. So if anyone else does please remind me.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Well the countdown is nearly over!!


It seems we have whizzed through Advent this year and I can honestly say I am ready for Christmas.
Not only for the purpose of the celebration of the Birth of Jesus, Our Saviour but I am so ready for the sense of relaxation and accomplishment that comes after the preparations that needed to be done for this most spectacular fest day to be actually here and rejoice in the joy of Christmas!!

We have come to the end of this Advent with much baking, present making and feast days celebrated. we have had some extra guests this year as well and have enjoyed sharing our family traditions with them.
Our children are especially excited this year and it is so beautiful to see the joy on the younger children's faces as they anticipate the 'specialness' of this day.

Younger children really do bring home the little things that are important and I am thankful that we have these blessings to remind me of the beauty in everyday life.

So as we come to this last evening, Christmas Eve, we are preparing our hearts and home for the coming of the Christ Child.

The highlight of Christmas for most of our children is actually not the morning of Christmas Day with the presents (although this is a very big event) but the Midnight Mass we attend and the Midnight Feast we celebrate after we come home and before everyone goes to bed, after putting out the Christmas Bags, in the early hours of the morning.

Our children are always keen to take up the offering and this year Vellvin, Moran and Corbyn will be having this honour. Saxon and Rogan will serve and Stephen is doing one of the readings. We feel it a privilege and honour to be part of the Mass in these ways.

So as I go off to attend to these final preparations I pray you find the Christ Child in your own homes this night and share this love with all whom you love.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

It has been that kind of Advent for us here.
The running behind trying to get everything accomplished from behind the starting gate.

So here I am a week late sharing the beautiful evening we had in celebration of St  Lucia.
We had a special time introducing this celebration to two very special girls in our older son's lives.
This year  we did not even wear our St Lucy crowns (see last year too) or make any little favours like in past years.
WE made St Lucia bread (recipe here) early in the day ready to have after our 'Festival of Light Celebration'
Seriously this is one of the favourite parts of this day for our children - making the coloured custard to look like blood.
You do know you have to have 'blood custard' with the eyeballs we make each year. This was the children's own creation thought up quite a few years ago.
Of course you want to know how to make them don't you?
Take a packet of marshmallows and dip them in melted chocolate then place a choc melt on top and freeze to set the chocolate.
And there you have it  chocolate eye balls......
After dinner we have our Festival of Light were we turn out the lights throughout the house and have a single candle or lantern lit and start our procession around our home lighting candles in each room and singing  "Walk in the Light". This is explained more clearly in my post from last year.
These last photos are (partly) of our journey through out the home as we light our candles........please enjoy!!
Blessings to you and your homes,
 

As we come to this last week of Advent I am praying that I will be able to keep my focus on the coming of our Lord. I know that I have a very busy week ahead of me, with much Christmas shopping for gifts (all of them in fact) and all our Christmas Cooking yet to do, but I am going to make a very determined effort to try to be more like Our Lady and truly immerse myself in the mystery of Christ himself and the life I am called to live.

It may not be a very interesting or exciting life to outsiders but this home where I am blessed to be each day is an opportunity to live a humble life of devotion to those closest to me....if only I take my eyes of myself and say 'YES' to the opportunities placed before me as Mary did.

Like Mary, who lived a very quiet life, and said " Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word" I think we can grow in the virtues of love and grace as we welcome and grab hold of the gifts God has given to us.


So my thought for this final week are to - look to Mary as she leads us to Jesus.


THE VISIT~
She walked in the summer through the heat on the hill.
She hurried as one who went with a will.
She danced in the sunlight when the day was done.
 Her heart knew no evening Who carried the Son.

Fresh as a flower at the first ray of dawn,
She came to Her cousin whose morning was gone.
But there leapt a little child in the ancient womb
And there leapt a little hope in every ancient tomb.

Hail, little sister, who heralds the spring.
Hail, brave Mother, who carries the King.
Hail to the moment beneath Your breast.
May all generations call You blessed.

When you walk in the summer through the heat on the hill,
When your wound with the wind and one with His will -be brave
with the burdens you are blessed to bear, for it's Christ that you carry
everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

This year we are behid the times with our celebration of this feast day and sadly I really was only able to mange the food side of the celebraion at that.
All my ideas for creating a  hand painted t-shirt or wall hanging are simply that still ideas and not creations.
As we had our guests arrive this week we have been busy creating a welcoming environment for them to come to, you know cleaning and tidying. So we were very behind and then Anna-Lisa wnated to share this particular feast day with us so here are a few pictures from the wonderful food.
We actually put this together in fairly quick time. I had many helpers and it was very sweet to see the younger children remember things from past years now and want to help prepare the menu items.
A plate full of all the goodies to be eaten along with the heavenly punch.
A close up of the food items that represent parts of the 'story' of this feast day~
Heavely Roses Punch
Juan Diego's Sombrero
Tepayac Hill
A Mantle of Stars
Crescent Moons
Supporting Angels
Praying Hands
The Tilma of Roses
Bishop Zumarraga's Miter
Crushed Serpents
For desert we had our  "Build me a Church"  and some "Aztec Hot Chocolate"
For more information on this special tea visit Alice's blog for full details

I love the fact that Moran and Myffwyn when finishing cutting up the strawberries and stars both had to take a photo of them, too cute.

So there you have it our very brief tribute to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

I have been waiting to share this beautiful tradition with you. I have thought what a wonderful thing it would be if we could experience this with a group of homeschool families or other like minded people. I believe this would truly bring home the importance of the fact that Our Lord was born in a stable and in very humble circumstances and that we are called to be like Him. During these nine days before Christmas, Mexicans and Mexican Americans have a wonderful custom called "Las Posadas," a nightly procession that brings to life Joseph and Mary's search for an inn. On each night, a house in the parish is chosen as the destination house, and the people of the parish gather to process to it. One young person is chosen to act as Mary (who sometimes rides a real donkey), and another to act as St. Joseph (sometimes a third is chosen to act as an angel, and others as shepherds); they are often all dressed in beautiful costumes. Behind the "holy family," the people of the parish walk, carrying candles and blowing whistles, until they reach that night's chosen home. There, the group knocks and sings a song that begs repeatedly and pitifully for shelter. They are refused in song over and over again, until the "innkeepers" relent and finally open the door (or, in other places, they knock on the doors of houses whose "innkeepers" refuse them, and then process to another house and another, etc., until they reach the house chosen for the night's festivities). Once allowed entry each night, all go inside and pray (usually the Christmas Novena or the Rosary), and a party follows, with wonderful tamales, churros, and other Mexican foods, and a pinata filled with hard candy, tangerines, and peanuts. On the last night (Christmas Eve), two children chosen to play Christ's godparents are added to the procession, which is more elaborate and colorful than the first nights. The godparents carry His likeness to the last destination, where a "nacimiento" (nativity scene) has been set up, and lay Him in the manger. Fireworks, food, piñatas, and Mass all follow. (Note: Italians have a similar but much less elaborate, 1-day "posadas" custom -- called "Tupa Tupa" -- on St. Joseph's Day, 19 March). HOME STYLE CELEBRATION~ Los Posados is one of the cherished traditions of Christmas in Mexico. It commemorates the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and their search for lodging.  Here is how the celebration works:  Children gather at homes. Each child is given a lit candle. The children form a lin and then begin walking down the street. The first two children in line carry small figures of the Holy Family (Mary and Joseph).  As they approach each house they are turned away until they arrive at a replica of the stable in Bethlehem. Once the children arrive at the “stable,” they arrange the figures of the Holy Family. They do all this to coincide with midnight.  Then they say prayers. After prayers there is a party. There is usually a piñata and fireworks.  Traditionally, Christmas gifts are not exchanged on December 25th. Gift are exchanged on January 6th on a day called “Day of the Wise Men.” Instead of hanging up stockings, Mexican children put their shoes out for the wise men (not Santa Claus) to fill with toys.  Mexican Version of the Night Before Christmas  Here are some traditional Mexican Christmas recipes for you to try.  Ponche Navideño: Punch 12 quarts water 10 oz tejocotes 6 oz walnuts 5 oranges juiced 8 guavas 4 sugar canes 10 oz prunes 3 sticks cinnamon 2 lb. Sugar Wash fruit. Cut the sugar cane into strips. Cut guava. Boil everything together, except the sugar. When cooked add the sugar and brandy.  Atole 4 servings 5 oz. tortilla- masa dough 2 tbsp. Cornstarch 3 cups milk 3 cups water 7 oz sugar 2 cinnamon sticks 1 tsp vanilla extract Dissolve the dough in the water. Strain the mixture, add the cinnamon sticks, and heat. When boiling add the milk, sugar, cornstarch. and vanilla. Let it boil, stirring constantly until it thickens. If too thick, add milk to achieve preferred consistency. Remove cinnamon stick and serve.  Chocolate Caliente 6 servings 6 cups of milk 6 oz sweet chocolate 6 oz semi sweet chocolate 1/2 tsp vanilla dash of cinnamon Heat the milk over medium flame. Break the chocolate into pieces. When the milk is hot, dissolve in it the chocolate pieces, moving constantly until everything is dissolved. Increase heat and let the mixture slowly boil. Add the vanilla and the cinnamon. Continue beating until frothy. Serve immediately and enjoy!  Buñuelos de Navidad -Christmas Sweet Fritters  10 servings 2 cups water 1 lb. Flour 2 whole eggs 1 egg yolk 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp anisette 9 oz. Lard 9 oz. piloncillo -raw sugar  Boil one tablespoon anisette in a cup of water and leave to cool. Mix and sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in the eggs, the yolk and the anisette in water, as required, and knead until the dough stiffens. Form into small balls and roll out on a floured board until very thin. Continue flattening by hand on a napkin and place on a floured table. Heat the lard .Fry one by one in the lard. Heat the piloncillo in one cup of water with the remaining tablespoon of anisette. This mixture will thicken to a light syrup. remove from heat and strain. Serve the fritters, broken into pieces, in bowls and pour the syrup over them.  Ensalada de Navidad - Christmas Salad  2 small cooked beats, peeled and diced 1 large cooked carrot diced 1 orange, peeled and chopped 1 apple, peeled and diced 1/4 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and diced 1 large banana, diced 1/2 cup unsalted nuts, almonds or peanuts seeds of 1/2 small pomegranate 1 tbsp lime or lemon juice 3 tbsp salad oil 1/2 teaspoon sugar dash of salt Mix all the fruits. Put lime or lemon juice, salad oil, sugar and salt into a screw top jar. Shake until blended and sugar has dissolved. Pour the dressing over the fruit salad and toss well. Pile the salad into a salad bowl and garnish with the nuts and pomegranate seeds. Let it stand in the refrigerator until chilled. Serve chilled.  Blessings to you and your homes,

Greeting everyone and welcome to a guest post from Saxon on our Saint Nicholas play.

We (Me, Eden,Vellvin, Rogan, and Moran) being the awesome people we are didn't start planing the play till noon ON the day. So we had a mere six hours to cast, design the set, actually get a curtain up, rehearse and have costumes ready.

Its amazing how much spare energy you find you have when you need it.
I was unofficially the Director and all of us were the actors.
We all decided Rogan was an awesome Saint Nick and Vellvin was dying to play Constantine,  Rogan and Vellvin were cast as Saint Nicholas and Constantine respectively.
Mum was the narrator and was given the title only minutes before the main event.
Preparing the stage was a mammoth task with erection of this stage curtain. This was a feat of some note and engineering as Dad has a strict policy of not putting holes in the wall for 'extras'
Whilst overseeing the set design and costumes I managed to write the start of the narrative that was to take place between scenes, and I finished the rest 15 minutes before the curtain was pulled back. Quickly I found an awesome narrator, tossed the papers in her arms and continued with the final preparations. 


And now on with the play~~~


Many years ago, in a land far away in a country which is now know as Turkey.

A quickly constructed chimney, a young Nicholas with gold and the show was on!

Upon hearing the boys name is Nicholas the father is delighted!

He shoves  the mitre on Nicholas's head, ties a red robe around his neck and thrusts a staff in his arms, and proclaims him Bishop. Nicholas's friend Peter is happy for him and willingly congratulates him

Nicholas, now sporting large beard, lays on his death bed with Peter near him.

Nicholas passes away....

And Peter vows to continue the tradition of giving at Christmas.

A somewhat fuzzy cast photo.

THE END

Thank you for your company!

PS. from Mum. I usually take the photos for these little plays and make slide (which seems to be shutting down, so I need new format to continue this- any suggestions?) shows but for what ever reason the camera was not taking clear pictures. Also the director was not used to directing against a wall in the background and forgot to allow for the 'audience point of view.
However I am thrilled with their work and the creativity they put into this play and look forward  to the now monthly plays they have promised us.

Blessings to you and your homes,