Advent and Celebrating Mary~Ideas to Share!

This was our Immaculate Conception treat after morning Mass…Not exactly fancy or original!  Over the years, I have heard of other families treating themselves to white powdered donuts (or other white food) on this feast day to remind them of Mary's purity from the moment of her conception.  Most importantly for us, it's always a great discussion as inevitably there's a child or two who has forgotten that big word and what it means!  

I love the special Advent Masses…True peace of the season:)  Today Fr. M. reminded us in his homily that God chose Mary to model the relationship with Christ that we should all strive for…Complete trust and love.  Through her intercession she is always there to help us get better at this.  Leading us to the manger is what she does best.  Advent is such a wonderful time to reflect on all of this!

It is my greatest desire to be close to the manger and help my kids do the same.  I can only imagine this feeling magnified a million times for Mary…Her desire to bring all of her children close to the manger must be enough to make her Immaculate Heart swell.

  This is year is special for our family because it marks about the 10th year since we've started celebrating the Advent feast days in the home.  I've enjoyed each year so very much!  As I look back, I have fond memories of introducing new traditions, prayers, stories, and activities.  I've come to realize that it's the simple things that really matter.   For me and our family it boils down to simple... Otherwise I would never do anything at all.  After all, the manger was simple, wasn't it? No matter what we do, it's the priority of thought and prayer that counts.  There is just too much to do this time of year not to keep things simple, at least at my house.  I have learned that with one simple step at a time, we can bring new meaning to our lives and our homes.  Most importantly, this looks differently for each of us as we move forward on our individual journeys. What a blessing to share this with one another as we are families on the journey together!

I close my eyes and try to remember that like the Holy Family's journey to Bethlehem, Mary brought God into the world with simple and steady steps.  We can do the same…One small step at a time.  

That being said, the two Advent Marian feast days are my absolute favorites…The Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe.  No matter what else is going on, we stop what we are doing and make these days a priority.  I've also come to realize that we never regret making these special days a priority.

We put out a few visual reminders for the feast day…a couple are crafts from days gone by:)  
{Candle links below}

Out of all of the books about Our Lady of Guadalupe, these are my 2 favorites.  In the beginning, I learned right a long with my kids by reading faith-filled story books!

This is a new one I bought this year and it quickly made it to my "favorite" list:)
We will definitely be eating Mexican food this week!
 This year I also had a "lightbulb" ornament idea that I wanted to try…Well, let's just say that it looked a lot cuter in my head.  It didn't exactly turn out how I envisioned but it was a worthy try.!?!

It's just a lightbulb painted with acrylic paint and a gold sharpie.

My oldest daughter is finally at an age to be a wonderful helper and she is patient with my ideas:)

Mary, Mother of God AND Mother to us all, never ceases to fill my heart and soul with wonder…She beckons me to quiet myself and be filled with a simple message...the miracle of her baby…A baby that she delivered to deliver us all.
+Gentle woman, please lead us to the manger.+

Mantle Lantern link (Our Lady of Guadalupe and Immaculate Conception)

Our Lady of Guadalupe Candle Craft

1st Week of Advent~Finding Room At The Inn

The first week of Advent found no room at the Inn, my Inn, that is.

Literally.

Every room in the house was a mess.

It was time to purge and the rhythm of the season pushed me  to make room...

There's something about the liturgical cycle of starting over at Advent, with the beginning of the church year, (and again during Lent) that finds me in the mood to empty.

Empty self.

Empty home of junk.

Empty everything.

Empty, empty, empty.  

Only then can I concentrate on preparing anything...

I need to clear the way,

make room in my cluttered heart 

{and cluttered home}

to prepare Him room!

This was the result of three room cleanings...

Quite "fitting" under the JOY sign:) 

All of us, without exception, prepared bags of our material belongings to give to the less fortunate.

We have seen a great light!

Preparing our hearts, we have started kind deeds to make room in the manger for the coming of baby Jesus...We want Him to have a nice, soft, bed, made through our loving deeds to others.

Learning about the genealogy of Christ, through the Jesse Tree, is preparing our spirits.  The word of God speaks through the holy scriptures.  I find myself always learning something new each year, right a long with my children.

Thank God, my cluttered heart is making way...

I am hopeful.

I can do this!

Despite varied forms of flu, colds, and coughs that are running through our family, I'm thankful for the Advent feast days to keep us hunkered down and focused on the goodness of the season, away from the commercial stimulation.

The Feast of St. Nicholas has become a favorite Advent tradition.

Remembering the good bishop of Myra and the kindness he shared with others.

We gave bags of our belongings to the less fortunate and received a few goodies too:)

The first candy canes of the season were brought out to remind us of St. Nicholas' bishop staff...

And we made our traditional Mighty Miter (Bishop's Hat) Cake, in honor of this great saint.

I love this quote.

Moving into our second week of Advent, I am reflecting on this.  Especially that we are called to mimic Christ through our faith and this is not of ourselves.

It reminds me of the perfect role model, Mary, most holy.

I just love our parish Fatima shrine that reflects the beauty of  Our Lady, reminding us of her "Yes" to God, all year round.

On this feast of the Immaculate Conception, I continue to make room.

Through a woman, conceived without sin, we find our Savior.  A Mother's heart was prepared to Mother God Himself and all the world.  We need only to open our hearts for her to guide us closer to the manger...She provides front-row seats:)

This week we prepare for the homecoming of our college boy.  He's been away for 4 long months!   

We certainly hope He finds room at the Inn...Comfort here, back into the folds of our family, even for a short time.

Advent (Week 2) is upon us and the journey continues!

Mary's Mantle Lantern

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

+2011+

Mary's Mantle Lanterns For Our Mantel

This feast day always brings me peace, right when I need it the most during Advent!  

The words that Our Lady spoke to Juan Diego go ringing in my ears...

"Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.  Let nothing alter your hear or your countenance.  Also, do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.  Am I not here who am your Mother?"

I designed this little craft...Mary's Mantle for our Mantel so that we may be reminded that our Mother is always with us, lighting the way.  Is there anything else that we need?

Supplies:

Empty household jar(s)

Blue or white acrylic paint, depending on Mary's mantle that you choose!

Gold paint pen

Foil star stickers

Gold ribbon

*Votive candles (wax or electric flameless)

*The L.E.D. flameless electronic votives work great if the kids want to keep the Mantle Lanterns in their rooms*

5 Easy Steps

Step 1.

Draw mantle opening with gold paint pen

Step 2.

Place star stickers all around the jar

Step 3.

Gently paint over the jar with choice of paint.

(Best results come when the paint is not too thick)

*We thought the white was fitting for the Immaculate Conception or Our Lady of Fatima*

Step 4.

When paint is completely dray, peel off the start stickers.

This will leave the holes for the light to shine through...

You may have to touch up the shaping of the stars with a thin knife or scraping tool.

Step 5.

Tie on gold ribbon and place votive light in the lantern.

The is the glow of an L.E.D votive.

(Got these at Hobby Lobby)

We followed the same steps for Mary's Mantle Lantern in blue for today's feast day...And we used real votive candles.

These were my favorite...the blue color turned out so pretty:)

We are enjoying Mary's Mantle Lanterns on our Advent fireplace mantel.

They also work well for tomorrow's feast day for St. Lucy, who was known to journey around Sicily clothed in a blue star-spangled mantle.

Oh, and we snacked on these patriotic Mary's Mantle Hershey's kisses while we worked:)

Happy 3rd week of Advent!

"Precious Flower of Tepeyac, Mother of the Americas, you chose among your people a native of our land, a most humble and dignified man to carry your word and bear your imprint.  Splendid Mother, teach me how to be deserving of your mercy. Grant me the humility and faith of my brother Juan, so that I, too, might hear your gentle voice calling me."

(Prayer excerpt from The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe~Empress of the Americas)

Who Is Mary To Me?

+Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception+

Hooray!
 It's a day full of grace as we celebrate Mary's pure conception in St. Anne's womb.  Conceived without sin, Mary was God's gift to the universe.  It is she who who leads all of us closer to her Son, if only we look for her graceful guidance.  I am especially grateful to celebrate this holy day whereas God's favor was given to us, even when we have least deserved it.  
Mary is the gift that keeps on giving:)

Can I tell you how much I love this necklace?

I couldn't resist this beautiful creation by Trendy Traditions!

I always like to take an opportunity to point out that I am nobody.  Despite what this blog displays, I am imperfect and struggle like the rest of the faithful to be right with God.  My simple promise to God is to keep trying.  I will never give up like I once was tempted to do.  I will persevere in the name of the Lord, with His most Holy Mother steering me in the right direction.  Hence this holy day always gives me jubilant hope.  Our heavenly Mother is always there for us.  She is never late, never wavering, never hidden. She is waiting for each of us to grab her hand and go to Jesus.  "Let's Go," I say!

On this journey, Mary has guided me through the latter part of my own Motherhood. I truly believe God gave us children so that we may practice humility.  Mary, once again, is the perfect model for humility. I always say that my children may break me down but they also make me stronger...They never fail to inspire me.  

For a writing and reflecting assignment, in honor of today's holy day, I asked each child to sit down and write on this topic: (I also challenged our "adult" child with this same reflection, with or without writing it down;)

Who Is Mary To Me?

(I just had to share their sweet responses...don't think I could have said things better myself!)

3 yo:  "Mary is baby Jesus' Mommy"

7 yo:

9 yo:

12 yo:

It is my deepest prayer that my children always stay close to Our Lady.  Through their life's inevitable trials, she will always be a sure ticket to the Savior.

"Mother of all mothers" (love that:), please pray for us!

Links from the archives:
Grotto Globe Craft 
(Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette saying: "I am the Immaculate Conception")
Mary Did You Know? Sung by our dear friend from church:)


Last but not least, I got the biggest kick out of this video today!

Magnificat of America

Our little patch of flower garden is in full bloom!

  I always like to decorate our Mary garden with flags on Independence Day since she is the Patroness of America.

As we prepare for our beloved country to commemorate her beginning 235 years ago, it is fitting that we ask our Patroness under her glorious title "The Immaculate Conception" to pray for our land.

"Magnificat of America" 

By: Francis Joseph Cardinal Spellman (1889-1967).

America, our America!

Hold to the vision of Mary,

Mary Immaculate.

Her glory fills the earth,

She is of our race,

Its "solitary boast."

She, alone without sin,

Keeps the doom of wrath from thee,

Who art defending Her glory.

She, Conqueror of evil,

Conquers evil for thee,

Who art resisting evil.

America, our America!

Pray always to Mary,

Mary Immaculate.

She, the Mother to nations--

She, the Mother of Christ,

The Lord of all nations.

She guards them and guides,

Subduing their hates,

Inspiring their spirits.

She mourns for the prodigals,

As childless mothers mourn,

Torn by their treasons.

America, our America!

Give thy heart to Mary,

Mary Immaculate.

Join Her prayer of praise,

All Heaven attending,

For our land that is free.

Sing thou Her song of joy,

All nations listening,

Giving thanks to God.

Sing thou the song of souls,

The Magnificat of Mary,

The Magnificat of America.

           

Our Lady of Lourdes "Grotto Globe"

I am SO excited to share this cute and EASY 

Mary craft!

Our Lady of Lourdes Miracle at the"Grotto Globe."

You can make this for any Marian feast day or even to celebrate Mary's month of May.

We got the idea for making snow globes from Kaboose and thought it would be perfect to convert a snow globe into a "grotto globe" for the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Most Catholics know the story of Our Lady first appearing to Bernadette Soubirous on February 11, 1858, in Lourdes, France.  You can read more about the story at this link for Catholic Culture.

At first, many people did not believe that Bernadette was seeing a beautiful Lady at the grotto.  On February 25, the Lady pointed to a spot nearby and told Bernadette to scratch at the ground.  A spring of water began to flow.  This spring still produces 27,000 gallons of water each day!

How fitting that this "Grotto Globe" represent the miracle of the spring water that Our Lady revealed to Bernadette.  
Each time we turn the snow globe upside down we will shake it three times and remember:
"Penance, Penance, Penance!"
One of the main messages of the Lourdes Apparition was Penance. Our Lady asked Bernadette to"Kiss the ground as a penance for sinners," there at the spring.


The glitter that sprinkles down is blue in honor of Our Lady's color.
You can really see it swirling in the background of this photo.

We are placing it on our Prayer Table/Home Altar for the next month, in memory of the 18 times  that Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette between February 11-July 16, 1858.  Her feast day is April 16th.  We are also renewing our commitment to praying the Rosary together as a family...we have gotten a bit "off-track" with this as a group lately!

The Grotto Globe Tutorial:

Recycled Jar (We used a pickle jar)
Floral Clay (I ordered from Amazon)
Mary plastic figurine
Glitter
Hot Glue
Embellishments for the exterior grotto:
(We used hot glue for a ring of gold ribbon and white roses at the feet of Mary;
 A bit of brown acrylic paint was used to paint a grotto border to frame Our Lady;
We also hot glued a plastic blue rosary to the top as the final touch!)


Print and follow instructions from Kaboose
P.S. Important note! We heard later that if you add a teaspoon of vegetable oil to the water, the glitter won't stick to the fixture!

Don't panic if the glitter sticks to your figure at first!
It eventually settles over night:

Warning: Some of our glitter continued to stick to parts of Mary and her dress but we liked it that way!  Once the globe dries, you can shake the glitter around and much of it falls off the figurine (Not sure but maybe it was just the brand of glitter we used?) I didn't read about this happening in the Kaboose instructions.
Notes:
Trim excess floral clay around the inside edge of the lid so it won't interfere with the seal.
Be sure to add extra hot glue to the outside rim to seal it well.
We did not use brown paint for the whole jar.  We were afraid it would make it too dark.   
I hope you will give it a try....really, very easy!

A Novena for Our Lady of Lourdes can be found at the EWTN website and 
Biography Online here.
Quotes from St. Bernadette:
"I shall spend every moment loving.  One who loves does not notice her trials; or perhaps more accurately, she is able to love them."
O my Mother, to you I sacrifice all other attachments so that my heart may belong entirely to you and to my Jesus."
O Jesus, I would rather die a thousand deaths than be unfaithful to you."


"Our Lady's love is like a limpid stream that has its source in the Eternal Fountains, quenches the thirst of all, can never be drained, and ever flows back to its Source."
~Blessed Margaret Bourgeoys~

 Catholic Icing also has some lovely ideas for celebrating Our Lady of Lourdes.