MJ's Party Plans
This weekend is MJ's birthday so we have been getting things ready all week. I'm trying to get more organized and things are coming together slowly but surely. This year I actually planned the party about a month ahead of time. I gathered all my ideas on paper and then it sat there for another 3 weeks...lol. That was still better than last year. Anyway, this past weekend I started creating things based on my ideas.
And we built his present. Here it is before it was finished.
It now has a middle shelf and pegboard on the top frame. I'm working on a sign to put on top that has his name. Hopefully he'll be as excited to receive it as we were to build it. And in case you have no idea what it is, it's a child-sized workbench.
Next year if I could just get this stuff done a week earlier, I'll be all set and not running around like a chicken with my head cut off the week of. You live and learn I guess, but the learning is definitely a s-l-o-w process.
I'll be posting pictures of the party after this weekend.
Planning for Advent
So this weekend also starts off the Advent season! This year I have a few good ideas we will be putting into practice. I've never actually planned a liturgical season yet so this year should be fun. These are a few things that inspired me.
Advent Calendar:
This one
and this is my absolute favorite
I can't actually find this on the site anymore to show you the front of it. I had bookmarked this and didn't realize I saved the picture of the back! I'd actually like a *true* advent calendar that allows you to adjust the days for the current year since advent doesn't necessarily start on December 1st each year. So I'm thinking we are going to make one using these as my inspiration. I have a few ideas already but I have to decide and then draw up some plans! That's the fun part!
O Antiphons:
I also want to lead up to Christmas by celebrating the last seven days with the O Antiphons. I have never done this before and only read about them once. This is a short and sweet description of what they are:
"December 17 marks the beginning of the "O" Antiphons, the seven jewels of our liturgy, dating back to the fourth century, one for each day until Christmas Eve. These antiphons address Christ with seven magnificent Messianic titles, based on the Old Testament prophecies and types of Christ. The Church recalls the variety of the ills of man before the coming of the Redeemer."
This was my original inspiration
This is from the Shower of Roses blog. She is one of the Catholic blogs that I follow and her ideas are just lovely!
Anyway, the Messianic titles are in latin as follows:
O Sapientia - O Wisdom
O Adonai - O Lord and Ruler
O Raddix Jesse - O Root of Jesse
O Clavis David - O Key of David
O Oriens - O Rising Dawn
O Rex Gentium - O King of the Gentiles
O Emmanuel (meaning God with us) - O Emmanuel
Each day starting on December 17th, we recognize these titles and the last title lands on Christmas Eve. When you take the first letter of each title starting with Christmas Eve (Emmanuel), it spells out ERO CRAS. This means "Tomorrow, I will come". Each O Antiphon also makes up one verse of the song O Come O Come Emmanuel. Just beautiful!
That sums up my first *real* post. Tomorrow I'll post some of our Montessori work.
Jenn
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