Our Jesse Tree hangs bare waiting to begin on the 1st!
I'm curious... do your Jesse Trees begin on December 1st or on the first day of Advent?
I'm curious... do your Jesse Trees begin on December 1st or on the first day of Advent?
I picked up a pillar candle for our Christ Candle and we are planning on decorating it for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Probably just something simple that involves using an old Christmas card.
Our Advent basket is heavy, full of books just waiting to be (re)discovered. One each night. Old and new, mingling together in quiet anticipation.
Goodbye Fall Mantle! Hello Advent!
Our watch word for Advent is "patience".
We save our Patience letters for Advent every year and the Pray letters for Lent, but this year, we were also inspired by Michelle's "family phrase". You can't see the sparkles, but these chipboard letters are purple and pink glitter.I do believe that while Advent can be a "mini-Lent", the Church does not call us to fast the way Orthodox Christians do. While we do not deny ourselves all the comforts of the season in anticipation of the celebration of Our Lord's birth, we do try to focus our efforts of waiting and preparing. To help us focus on this season of preparation, I wanted to focus on the Holy Family's preparations so I made a silhouette of the journey to Bethlehem and put lights behind to highlight both at night.
(a close up shot)
(a close up shot)
We have some special saints to celebrate this season but other than that, we are keeping things calm and quiet. If you find this place more quiet than usual, that is probably the reason why. Blessings to you all!
I love, love, love that you wrapped the books! I'm going to snatch that idea (if the books and other Advent items ever make it out of the attic. *sigh*)
ReplyDeleteI have been pondering the when to start the Jesse ornaments and I think I've decided to go for 1 December.
I love your mantle. I LOVE your Advent wreath!!!
ReplyDeleteSue,
ReplyDeleteThe wrapping paper is from Target, in case you were wondering. One roll of solid purple and one roll of pink and purple dots for Gaudete week.
Our Jesse Tree was made my my SIL (who is now in the convent) and it has the readings set to begin December 1st. It didn't occur to me until I did the Jesse Tree Ornament Swap a few years ago that some of them started on the first day of Advent, but that makes more sense. Anyway, I think you can do whatever works best for you.
Thank you, Ruth! I used a gold charger and our fall mantle foliage recycled so that I would only have to spend extra money on candles (since the Advent Wreath I had already purchased was such a let down). :(
I have enjoyed reading through your recent blog posts and look forward to reading through some of your older ones. They made me smile, and I love the beauty of how you share your faith.
ReplyDeleteVery nice! Is the silhouette something that you could share? It's fantastic! Could we print it out? How did you do it?
ReplyDeleteXOXO
What a great idea with the books. Just wondering, what type of books, related to Christmas and Advent?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I absolutely love your mantel -- especially by candle light. Gorgeous.
As always, thank you for sharing your wonderful ideas.
Sandy
Leila,
ReplyDeleteI'll see if I can throw together a tutorial since I was planning on making another one for a friend.
Sandy,
Last year, I just gathered up whatever Christmas/Advent/Winter books I could find to get us through every day of Advent. This year, I was able to pull out all of the "winter themed" ones, place them in a basket on the other side of the fireplace and replace them with new Christmas books. There are some that I would like to set aside for the actual Christmas season (like books about the wise men), but I'll have to find replacements for them next year. Right now, we need them to help fill in the days. If I get a chance, I'll post which ones we opened at the end of this week.
Your Advent mantle is beautiful! I love the simplicity. Did you paint those letters or purchase them?
ReplyDeleteI also like wrapping the books. Very creative!
Thanks for the SIMPLE ideas. I'm into simple this Advent, too, but for some reason I still seem to be making the simple too complicated, if that makes sense! Ha!!
Blessings =)
Simply beautiful, Charlotte!
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteI bought the letters. The small chipboard ones were in the scrapbooking section of our local craft store and the Patience sign is all one piece that I purchased several years ago at Hobby Lobby.
Beautiful, Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous mantle! How inspiring.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing your advent plans. I like your advent mantle. Patience is something I need to work on, specially with my children.
ReplyDeleteWow - these things you do are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteJust lovely! I have enjoyed many of your posts in recent months. Thanks for the great idea for the silhouette! I have been wanting to do something similar, and now have a better idea how to proceed. When I was little, we had a silhouette of Mary and the manger, and would place it in our front window. As we kids did good deeds, we placed stars above Baby Jesus to make his birthday bright (it was all on a large poster board).
ReplyDeleteWe are also trying to read an Advent/Christmas book each day. The kids really treasure it.
And, we always start our Jesse Tree on 1st Sunday of Advent. You have to adjust each year a little, but not a big deal!
Thanks for your inspiring blog. God Bless!
Just seeing this and WOW! Do I love that "Patience" thing on the mantle. Very creative....
ReplyDeleteAnd a blessed Advent 2011 to you & yours, from SC