Advent and the Twelve Days of Christmas...

[BMW]

What do you do for each of these?

 

I know people who have done advent wreaths with candles, but I don't know what else... or what they teach... and I've never heard of anyone really putting 12 days of Christmas into practice...

 

So, those who celebrate each of these, what do you do? And how does the 25th fit into it all?

 

Thanks, I'm just curious!

[Nicole M]

During Advent we light one candle each Sunday, and sing Oh, Come, Oh Come Emmanuel and say a little poem. On St. Nicholas' feast day we have a special breakfast that I set out the night before, and I hang up the stockings, though we never did transition to gift giving then instead of on the 25th.

 

We used to do the 12 days when the boys were small. We did the usual on the 25th, but didn't open all the gifts.

 

On Epiphany, we ate King's Cake, and whoever got the bean was the King, then we turned off all the lights and went outside and sang the apple tree wassail, lit our lanterns from the light of the Christ Candle on the Advent wreath, then walked through the house, blessing each room with a little prayer, and lighting a candle in each room.

 

We do a modified version now, but the boys actually miss the full meal deal, so we may try again this year. My last several Christmases have been miserable, so it was hard for me to rustle up enthusiasm.

 

This book is priceless, To Dance With God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-God-Family-Community-Celebration/dp/0809128128/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291044640&sr=8-1

 

It has recipes, ideas for family rituals and lots of warm stories.

 

Another book that I like is Festivals, Family and Food:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Festivals-Family-Food-Diana-Carey/dp/095070623X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291044700&sr=1-1

 

The very hard thing about celebrating Advent as Advent, waiting time, in our culture is that "Christmas" starts in October, and by the time we get to the 25th, we're sick to death of Christmas songs and Christmas stuff. The 12 days are very, very hard to do, because most of the world chucks the tree and shuts down on the 26th. But it's possible to separate out the holidays if you really think about what message you want to convey and get back to the roots of the liturgical year.

[Zuzu822]

The small traditions we have for Advent are the wreath with verses, prayers, and a hymn each week, our spiral with Mary and Joseph traveling to our Nativity set, calendar (both those are purely for countdown) and Jesse Tree with verses (this continues through the 12 days to Epiphany).

 

We celebrate St. Nicholas on 12/6 in lieu of Santa. Typically that's a party with family and friends and the boys get their stockings filled.

 

We decorate our tree on Gaudete Sunday and take it down on or around Epiphany.

 

Otherwise our Advent activities are pretty traditional Christmas prep things: baking, wrapping, listening to lots of holiday music, and reading through my HUGE box of Christmas books!

 

The 24th and 25th are pretty standard: fish for Christmas Eve dinner (my husband's Italian), then Vigil Mass or in the morning, presents, Christmas brunch, and we break our screen-free rule to watch a Christmas movie.

 

Our 12 days celebration is a mix. We do a service project or two, last year we hosted a 12 Days party for out of town family, and basically continue the celebration! This year we'll add celebrating our youngest's nameday. He was named for St. Stephen who's honored on the 26th. Of course, New Year celebrations are part of the 12 Days as well.

 

On Epiphany the kings arrive at our Nativity scene, we have Epiphany cake and start to wind down the season.

 

Now, all that said, we're moving early in January somethings might be a little scaled down once we get past January 1!

[forty-two]

This year I was wanting to do more for the 12 days of Christmas. We're members of a liturgical church, so at church we do Advent - the season of hope and anticipation - leading up to Christmas and then the Christmas season extending from Christmas Day to Epiphany (Jan 6). But it seems that our at-home celebration goes along the lines of the Christmas season starting the Friday after Thanksgiving (Advent? what is that?), culminating on the 25th, and then the 26th is back to normal again :glare:.

 

For Advent, we do light an Advent wreath - here is a nice overview of the history and meaning - and do Advent-themed devotions. Perhaps we will finally get to our Advent calenders this year, too :glare:. And this year I'm wanting to space our decorating over all of Advent - maybe putting up just a few ornaments each day, and putting up each piece of the Nativity scene separately. And for Christmas, I'm trying to persuade dh to spread out the opening of the presents over the entire Christmas season, instead of one big orgy of materialism on the 25th.

 

Anyway, those are my thoughts thus far.

[Nicole M]

We decorate our tree on Gaudete Sunday and take it down on or around Epiphany.

 

Otherwise our Advent activities are pretty traditional Christmas prep things: baking, wrapping, listening to lots of holiday music, and reading through my HUGE box of Christmas books!

 

 

On Epiphany the kings arrive at our Nativity scene, we have Epiphany cake and start to wind down the season.

 

Now, all that said, we're moving early in January somethings might be a little scaled down once we get past January 1!

 

I snipped the above... this reminded me of a lovely tradition we had when the boys were small. We would put out the nativity set, the first week just the empty "barn," and fill it in and decorate it as the weeks went by. The three kings would travel from the east side of the house and arrive at the manger on Epiphany.

 

We also get out the big box of Christmas books, and even though my boys are older, they will still look through them with me. I also read my favorite chapter from The Wind in the Willows, Dulce Domum.

 

Good luck with your move!

[Zuzu822]

Oh, and Around the Year with the Trapp Family is a great resource. You can read the text here: http://www.ewtn.com/library/FAMILY/TRAPP.TXT

 

Selections and ideas here too: http://vontrapp.wordpress.com/

 

Thanks, Nicole! It's going to be an adventure!

 

We got out the Nativity set this morning and so far the palm trees and some sheep have arrived. The boys are so excited!

Edited November 29, 2010 by Zuzu822
Respond to NicoleM

[OregonNative]

Here is an Advent thread from yesterday-I posted a link to the Jesse Study everyone is talking about

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=226802&page=3

[Michele B]

I really enjoy celebrating the 12 Days without "the world!" We go to church and celebrate Jesus and His saints without hearing about Rudolph and Frosty. ;)

[Stacey in NY]

We read an Advent series book each year. This year we are reading "Tabitha's Travels" (This is part of a trilogy, "Jotham's Journey", and Bartholomew's Passage" were the other 2) My boys(ages 9 & 11) love these books.

[Chris in VA]

We do an advent wreath and put out everything in our nativity set except Jesus, who arrives Christmas Eve, and the kings, who come on Jan 6th. We usually take down the manger and shepherd/animals/angel (we don't have a "barn," but we may make a cave this year) and just leave Mary and Joseph and Jesus to greet the kings, as they were probably in a house by then! ;):001_smile:

 

There's a lap book on the 12 Days for free online somewhere, but dd doesn't like lap books.

 

Oh, and we bring our favorite Christmas gift to church on the Sunday after Christmas--we take them to the altar (the kids go up) and my hubby ooo's and ahh's appropriately and holds them up for the congregation to see, then he says a blessing over the toys and the children. It helps them give thanks and see that Christmas isn't just one day long.

[AngelBee]

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas.php

 

I believe this is the free lapbook. :)

[mcconnellboys]

I use this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/057004992X/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

 

There's a new version of it now that comes with ornaments your kids can color, themselves:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Countdown-Christmas-Devotions-Laura-Zimmerman/dp/057004992X

 

But here's also a great Advent study I found online:

 

http://www.teachingmom.com/features/advent.html