Whew! This year is flying by at warp speed! I completely forgot to update you all about our St. Nicholas Day this year, but I did post a video on YouTube that I will post below.
We let the kids make their own Santa Pancakes with fresh fruit and whipped cream… yummy! We also had a few things in their stockings, as well as a few little candies. We read the book, ‘Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend.’ I will link it below.
This time of year seems to be a little busier for us, so I thought it might be helpful if I just got all my special meals and recipes gathered for the month. I checked the menu plan and have made a list of the holidays that we want to celebrate.
If you haven’t seen our Perpetual Meal Plans yet, then you really need to check them out, as they have all kinds of special and unique holidays listed. Now is the time to start making your bucket list for Fall things, if you haven’t already.
You can also check out our Holidays tab and the December Holidays post for even more ideas!
Don’t forget to add upcoming birthdays onto your Meal Plan!
Here are a couple of links that you might find helpful:
Continue reading “Special Holiday Meals: December Edition”
We have been trying to observe Advent in our home. Advent reminds us to slow down and bring back the values of this holy season.
We shouldn’t really even start Christmas preparations/decorating until the Advent season has begun! When Advent starts we have four weeks to make preparations and we should enjoy that time and look forward to what is coming.
Fast and Feast by Bridget Ann Henisch is filled with detailed and interesting information on food and feasting in Medieval society. Here is what she has to say on Christmas:
“The two longest and most important fasts were Advent and Lent, which ushered in the greatest feasts of the years, Christmas & Easter. Advent is a period of preparation for Christmas, a time when man tries to turn over a new leaf and start again. One fifteenth-century sermon writer points to the parallel between the Church and the individual: just as the Church makes a fresh beginning on Advent Sunday, ‘so owe ye to begynne and renewe youre lyf.’”
Here are some ideas that we have come up with:
Completely optional but we like to recognize St. Nicholas for who he was and what he did while leaving Christmas for Jesus!
Tell the story of St. Nicholas at dinner and have children leave their shoes (or stockings) out to see what they might get.
They could also leave milk and cookies for St. Nicholas, if this is something you want to do.
If they have been good they may get sweets and cookies (pfeffernuse is traditional) or if they have been bad they may get a cane or switch.
Traditional stocking stuffers would be: oranges or tangerines, chocolate coins, a new penny, a sugar mouse, a chocolate watch, noisemakers, apples, nuts, and/or small toys or card games.
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ST. NICHOLAS DAY FEAST
BREAKFAST:
DINNER/FEAST
St. Nicolas du Pelem Pork with Mustard & Apples, Veggies, Soup,
Cheese platter, Garlic Bread, Fruitcake
Black Forest ‘Good Works’ Cake or Hot Fudge Sundae Cake (use black cherry ice cream in place of vanilla)
Punch, Eggnog
Other traditional foods include:
Light candles, read passages, and pray. Stock up on your candles!
Have a special treat or activity for afterwards. Ex: singing carols, cookies, or special snacks.
Start making plans and gifts for people. Think about giving to a charity and give hope to others.
Hope – Purple Candle, purple decorations
‘Stir-up Sunday’ –the day to stir up Christmas cakes and puddings
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Peace – Purple Candle, purple decorations
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Joy – Pink Candle, pink/rose colored decorations
‘Gaudete’ – take a break and rejoice for what is coming!
Put up your manger or ‘crib’ in a corner, the manger is empty right now, Three wise men can be placed somewhere away from the manger and advance slowly through the week, they will arrive at the manger on Epiphany.
Make plans to go caroling around the 21st… but not before this Sunday!
Our 1st Shepherd’s Dinner: click the link for more ideas!
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Love – Purple Candle
BREAKFAST/BRUNCH MENU
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Christ – White Candle
CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST
Cinnamon & Star Breads
Pancake Board, Toppings
Eggs, Sausage, Bacon
Juice, Coffee
CHRISTMAS DINNER
Smoked Meats,
Deviled Eggs, Green Bean Casserole, Potatoes, Baked Beans, Spinach Dip,
Rolls, Flavored Butters, Fudge
Eggnog, Coffee, Sweet Tea
Go for a walk after lunch. Have a cold plate dinner followed by hot tea or coffee and Christmas cake, Yule log, or Pumpkin roll.
Christmas isn’t over on the 26th! It’s just the start of the 12 Days of Christmas!
Have a picnic or stay home with family and enjoy leftovers.
Cold turkey and ‘Bubble and Squeak’ are traditional foods.
You could also make Creamy cabbage and Sausage to eat with the leftovers.
A day to remember all the children killed by King Herod in his attempt to kill baby Jesus.
It is traditional to have a white dessert like pudding, ice cream, or cake topped with a red sauce or syrup.
Final day of the Twelve days of Christmas. We normally take our tree and decorations down on this day (or the day after), but leave the manger as the Wise Men finally reach their destination!
Read the story of the Magi (Matthew 2)
You could plan a 12 days of Christmas themed party and you could play a version of White Elephant.
A blessing is traditionally done on the house as well before the night ends.
There are many other saints that could be celebrated during this time but I have only hit some of the better known ones. You can do your own research and pray to see where you are led.
Some of these I share because my family or people we knew had certain traditions and beliefs that I never knew the background or reasoning for… now I am learning.
We have not celebrated all of these and we may not… we have been led to research more about Holy Days vs. Holidays and we have been trying to incorporate some of what we learn into new family traditions.
I can say that if I had known some of what I know now I would never have introduced Santa into my home… most of kids know the truth and we don’t really even mention Santa to the younger ones.
I know some of my older children will not be mentioning Santa either… we really need to put our focus back on GOD and see where HE leads us!
May God Bless you in your journey.
Hey everybody!
I know it has been very busy around here and it seems that we truly have been jumping from one challenge to another here lately but we are surviving! We pray that you are doing well too and that everyone is starting to feel like they can breathe a little easier with all the events that have unfolded around us recently.
I really don’t want to think about the holidays yet but they are fast approaching. I know that they will be a little different this year but that’s ok. We are so blessed and thankful for all that we already have. I just wanted to throw out a couple little reminders of things that you can do now if you are planning any special dinners or events. We know that getting family and friends together can help lift everyone’s spirits and we like to try to have a few special events a year… this year has been a little extra but that’s ok.
Now is the time to start looking for Christmas decorations… if you wait much longer then they may be gone. Take a few minutes this weekend and look over your plans for Advent, Christmas, or Polar Express to see what things you may need to get so that you can start buying them now. If you are planning to do something for St. Nicholas Day then now would be the time to start looking for those gold-covered coins and any study guides or activity ideas that you would like to use.
Continue reading “Friendly Reminder – Holiday Planning”
**This post may contain affiliate links to products we use.
Well the countdown to Christmas has officially started here. The kids are super excited after St. Nick stopped by sometime late last night. They had left their stockings on the table before bed and woke up to a big surprise!
They had been talking about our previous St. Nicholas Day celebrations and how they forgot to put their stockings out last year… Oops!
Don’t worry… that heater was not on ‘HEAT’ as we only have the flames going this morning but it has been doing great job at keeping us warm and cozy so far.
St. Nick did not disappoint with a variety of small toys, coloring books, and other holiday items plus a tiny bit of candy. He also left a couple of new books and a holiday music cd for them. They are looking forward to a midday snack of gingerbread cookies and hot cocoa too!
He didn’t forget about the grownups either and even left a small gift for Nanny J and Papa O. He left Momma some much needed kitchen items, some holiday jewelry, and CHOCOLATE!
Santa had even decorated a little bit and put these cute covers on the chairs.
And he must’ve met up with the UPS man at some point to grab our new Advent wreath for us. It had been stuck in delivery status as the driver couldn’t locate our house.
It is so much prettier than it looked on the internet! I had a hard time deciding what color to get but thought this was a good choice even though it isn’t the traditional Christmas colors. Now we are just waiting for the candles to arrive. After all this excitement it was time for breakfast:
This year I added the chocolate chips to the pancakes while on the griddle for our Santa Claus Pancakes. I forgot to pick up some fresh strawberries and blueberries so we made do with what we had here. I also didn’t realize that Mr. Jacob had added a couple of extra chocolate chips to Santa’s beard… lol!
The kids thought they were cute and very yummy. Later on we will be watching a few videos about St. Nick and taking a little about the history of Santa Claus.
If you want to check out some other activities please see St. Nicholas Day 2016 for some additional links.
Happy St. Nicholas Day everyone!
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