Carrots for Michaelmas

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Liturgical Living at a Glance: Advent and Christmas December 2018

November 28, 2018 By Haley 1 Comment

Welcome to Carrots! I'm so glad you're here. This is where I share thoughts on liturgical living, faith, parenting, culture, and an extra dose of Jane Austen. You can sign up for my email newsletter here to stay in touch, or look me up on Instagram!

Welcome to Carrots! I'm so glad you're back. You can sign up for my email newsletter here to stay in touch, or look me up on Instagram!

Resources for Advent and Christmas! Books, recipes, and more.

I’m always trying to figure out how to make it easier for families to observe the Christian Year because we felt so overwhelmed when we first started that journey (which is why we wrote the book we wish we had then).  I thought it might be helpful for our family to have resources compiled for the month ahead so that we can plan in advance which special saints days we want to observe and I hope having them all in one place is helpful to you, too!

And I pinned all of the following resources on a December Liturgical Living pinterest board for your convenience!

As always, remember not to get overwhelmed. You don’t have to observe every saints day! (We certainly don’t at our house.) The liturgical year is a gift. It shouldn’t feel like a burden!

Disclosure: Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

The Season of Advent

This year’s Advent season is short! Advent doesn’t begin until December 2nd.

Advent is my favorite season in the liturgical year so I have a lot of ideas for making it a special and spiritually rich time.

I always try to get gifts out of the way at the very beginning (if not before Advent) so that it’s not a stressor that distracts me from a quiet season. Here’s a little gift guide I made for this year.

 

Advent Reading:

Some Advent reads I’ve enjoyed in past years are Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives and Watch for the Light (reflections by a variety of writers).

This year I’ll be reading Blessed Is She’s Advent devotional and this compilation of Bl. John Henry Newman’s sermons on Advent and Christmas.

Traditions:

  • Light Advent Candles. (We always get ours here.)
  • Begin the St. Andrew Christmas Novena and pray it 15 times from November 30th to Christmas Day. I made a printable you can download for free.

  • 30 Jesse Tree Ornaments to Print and Color: Do Small Things with Great Love
  • How We Celebrate Advent: Carrots for Michaelmas
  • DIY Advent Countdown Craft: Two Os Plus More
  • My Eco-Friendly DIY Advent Wreath: Becoming Peculiar
  • 24 Day Printable Advent Calendar: Audrey Eclectic
  • Free Advent Activities for Kids: Look to Him and Be Radiant

Food for Thought:

  • Superstition, Trust, and Imperfect Prayer: Thoughts on the St. Andrew Christmas Novena: Amongst Lovely Things
  • Advent: Nourish Your Spiritual Life and Avoid the Holiday Burnout: Kitchen Stewardship
  • Choosing Peace This Advent When You’re a Mom to Littles: Fountains of Home
  • A Gradual Advent: Franciscan Mom
  • A relaxed but intentional Advent: Fountains of Home
  • Jesus Storybook Bible Reading Plan for Advent: Adriel Booker
  • When Your Weary Heart Needs Advent: Carrots for Michaelmas

(You can find more resources for observing Advent in our liturgical year ebooks Feast! and More Feasts!)

Advent Music:

  • Advent Playlist: Wonder: Carrots for Michaelmas
  • Advent Playlist: Sleepers, Wake!: Carrots for Michaelmas

Book Suggestions:

 

  • 27 Picture Books for Advent and Christmas: Carrots for Michaelmas (updated)

Podcasts:

Advent Low Down: Our Guide to Living the Beauty of the Season: Fountains of Carrots

Part 3 of the Liturgical Year series on The Simple Show

December 6th: St. Nicholas

Faith and Little Ones:

  • New Shoes and St. Nicholas Day: Carrots for Michaelmas
  • St. Nicholas Day printable coloring page: Audrey Eclectic

Celebrating Around the Table:

  • St. Nicholas Spice Cookies: Kitchen Stewardship
  • Dutch Speculaas Cookies: Life Your Way

Food for Thought:

  • The Real Face of Santa Claus: UCatholic

Book suggestion:


The Legend of St. Nicholas by Demi

December 8th: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Don’t forget it’s a Holy Day of Obligation, so get thee to Mass!

December 9th: Ven. Fulton Sheen

Ways to celebrate this faithful son of the Church on the anniversary of his death at A Knotted Life.

December 12th: Our Lady of Guadalupe

Celebrating Around the Table:

  • Make Carnitas to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe! (Find our recipe in our new cookbook, More Feasts!)
  • Celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Two Os Plus More

Book Suggestion:

Our Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola

December 13th: St. Lucy

Food for Thought:

  • Light of St. Lucy: Daniel Stewart for Catholic Exchange

Celebrating Around the Table:

  • St. Lucia Bread: Catholic Playground
  • And these Grain-free Cardamom Sticky Biscuits look amazing for the gluten-free/paleo crowd.

Book Suggestion:

Lucia Saint of Light by Katherine Bolger Hyde

December 17th: The Golden Nights (O Antiphons) Begin

  • Celebrating the O Antiphons: Shower of Roses

December 24th: Feast of the Seven Fishes

Two years ago we tried out this Italian-American tradition of cooking a seven course meal of seafood. Well, my husband Daniel did all the cooking. But it was awesome!

  • How to Cook the Feast of the Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve: bon appetit

December 25th: Christmas (Beginning of Christmastide)

  • Our Twelve Days of Christmas: Carrots for Michaelmas
  • Orange Pomanders (Super easy kid-friendly holiday craft): Carrots for Michaelmas
  • Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas (and how it made my Advent better): A Knotted Life
  • Twelve Days of Family Christmas Movies: Catholic All Year
  • G.K. Chesterton and How to Celebrate Christmas: Fountains of Home

Do you have any special traditions for holy days in December? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

 

Related Posts

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Filed Under: Advent, Catholicism, Christian Year, Christmas, Faith & Liturgical Living Tagged With: advent, christian year, Christmas, liturgical living

Comments

  1. Desiree says

    November 28, 2018 at 10:45 am

    As someone who came into the Church with zero liturgical experience (we didn’t even celebrate Christmas, beyond exchanging gifts and getting together with extended family), I REALLY appreciate your work on making these things easier to adopt as a family. The feast of the seven fishes sounds so fun!

    Reply

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Welcome! I’m Haley Stewart, a bookish mama of four and wife to a beekeeper. Writer, speaker, podcaster, and Catholic convert. Homeschooling, bacon-eating, and bright red lipstick-wearing Jane Austen aficionado. My first book, The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture is available now!

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