Advent: O Antiphons

Last year, I believe it was Katherine J. who had the SENSATIONAL idea to create an O Antiphons house with blocks. Check this post from Jenn GM for her write-up on O Antiphons last year. Anyway, I was too late to do this last year, but remembered early enough this year (surely a minor miracle!) to go ahead and get one ready.

Today we worked on putting it all together for Monday's start.

I wood-burned a wooden "house" I'd gotten at Hobby Lobby. This was my first attempt (ever!) at wood-burning and it really made a cool "rustic" looking house. I then oiled the wood to keep the natural, rustic look while keeping it from drying out in this Colorado desert!

The 1" cubes I'd gotten were too small for the openings, so I put 1-3/4" flat squares on the cubes -- we then did the symbols and name of each antiphon -- Sapientia, Adonia, Radix Jesse, Clavis David, Oriens, Rex Gentium, Emmanuel and I added a final one for the 24th -- Light of the World. Just used Sharpies and a bit of patience.

I think the final result will definitely be a family tradition for years to come!

Traditions: Thanksgiving Eve

OK, I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but we've been doing a tradition for the last few years that I think bears mentioning. On the day before Thanksgiving, we pull out the BEST Thanksgiving book and read it.

Now, this doesn't sound like a big deal, but I don't know what we'd ever do if we lost this book and Dad couldn't read it to the littles on Thanksgiving Eve. My lovely dh always gets off early (if not a whole day) on Thanksgiving Eve and makes a point of curling up with the littles and reading this book. They all enjoy it and look forward to the annual reading. This year, I had to turn the house upside down to find the copy that I knew I'd placed in a safe place -- it was a safe place, it was just the LAST place as well as a SAFE place!

Even more wonderful is using the recipe in the back, "Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread", and making it into a "cooking math" lesson. It warms the house while it's baking, the smell fills the air and reminds of tomorrow's feast, and it warms our bellies with it's taste!

Today it will be really wonderful to cuddle up to this book as we've had a good snowfall early this morning and it's only 25 degrees ... so a slice of warm Cranberry Bread, a cup of tea and dh reading ... ah, the bliss path!

What more could you ask of a well-loved classic?