Happy St. Nicholas Day! Stable, Advent Tree, Tids ‘n’ Bits….

Happy Feast of St. Nicholas! May your day be blessed!

A gallery for you. Click on the first picture to see full-screen…

I accidentally left this old post from last year tacked onto this post. I was going to erase it when I finally noticed it but decided not to if any of you are interested…..

Today will be a special day in our household!

We offered to do a nice lasagna dinner for our married children and then Hannah and Gemma will be spending time with the grandchildren…playing games, eating (relatively healthy…we got them from the Health Food Store) goodies, coloring St. Nicholas pictures, watching the St. Nicholas CCC cartoon, etc.

It will be a busy evening, we will wrap it up early and head off for the third evening of our Parish Advent Mission.

In the past we have done a Puppet Show:

The St. Nicholas puppet is made! Now just for the Black Pete puppet!

Black Pete gives straw to bad boys and girls. St. Nicholas gives goodies.

A couch always makes for a good puppet theater!

Our audience!

We have also had a celebration at our Parish (a Puppet Show included):

Grandchildren Emma and Johnny….

The puppeteers!

The three daughters who needed a dowry…..

The show begins!

Below is two renditions of the St. Nicholas song courtesy of the St. Nicholas Center. I always liked the tune of Jolly Old St. Nicholas but the words are silly. So here is a chance to sing it with some good words!

Song 1:

Saint Nicholas Song
Song tells the story of Saint Nicholas

Thankful Bishop Nicholas,
friendly good and wise,
when he could he helped the poor,
always by surprise.
Rich folk came to Nicholas,
Bringing wealth to share,
so it could be sent to those living in despair.

Three maidens husbands could not find,
their father was so poor;
No dowry was available, to tempt a suitor’s lore.
Word came to youthful Nicholas,
who acted in good taste,
In darkness threw three bags of gold,
retreating in great haste.

Zealous Bishop Nicholas,
born in Pa-tar-a,
Was the Bishop of My-ra
in times of great trial.
Who suffered prison for his faith,
Through torture still held firm,
Released by Constantine the Great,
to My-ra he returned.

Holy Bishop Nicholas,
The sailors patron saint,
saved the storm-tossed mariners
from a salty fate.
Who at Nicea formed the creed—
but jail became his fate,
He punched a pastor in the jaw,
so heated the debate.

Patron Saint of children,
Saint Nicholas did become,
giving gifts at Christmas time,
a special act of love.
His style was different from his peers,
as they would often see,
“Give to the truley needy ones
with a-non-ym-i-tee.”

Gentle Bishop Nicholas,
friendly good and wise,
When he could he helped the poor,
always by surprise.
We too must always seek to share,
our means with those in need,
God help us imitate this saint,
on Advent winter eves.

Song 2:

The Song of St. Nicholas
To the tune of “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”

Once upon a long ago
Very far away,
In the town of Bethlehem
Lying in some hay,
Jesus came for you and me
Bringing heaven’s love
As a gift for us to have
From the Lord above.

In the town of Myra once
Also long ago,
Lived good Bishop Nicholas
Hair as white as snow.
Nicholas loved Jesus who
Loved and helped us all.
“I will do the same,” said he
“Helping great and small.”

Thankful Bishop Nicholas
Friendly, good and wise;
When he could, helped the poor
Always by surprise.
Rich men came to Nicholas
Bringing wealth to share
So it could be sent to those
Living in despair.

We should be like Nicholas
Thankful, good and kind,
Loving those who need our help
All the ones we find.
Jesus and Saint Nicholas
Taught us how to give:
Share but never seek rewards,
That is how to live!

I posted these yesterday, but here they are for you again today….coloring pages for your children available here.

My two younger daughters and I all have an Advent Journal going! It has been helpful, very helpful! My mother has not been well and so I have been at the doctor quite a bit lately. The girls look at their own journals and know what needs to be checked off! It’s great!

(It’s not too late to jump in with this Catholic Mother’s Traditional Advent Journal! You can order the book here or you can download and print the e-book here! Come, join us on this wonderful walk through Advent!)

Today’s Journal Page with a reminder that, yes, today is St. Nicholas Day and to do something special!

Tids ‘n’ Bits!

Z’s (our daughter-in-law) mantle and Advent wreath….she is now about a week overdue with their 5th baby!

Gin’s Advent Wreath

Beautiful Kanzashi Flower made by Jeanette…

Devin (Theresa’s husband) made this extra big manger for the straws that the children will be getting through the Advent season as they perform their sacrifices or good deeds, extra prayers, etc. It will be comfy and soft by the time Christmas and the Baby Jesus comes!

Theresa’s family has new members! Puppies! The puppy’s eyes may not be open yet…but look at Adrian’s! 😀

Gin’s children have begun the Spiritual Christmas Crib!

Theresa’s little people are busy working on Advent/Christmas projects…

We love Dad! (Gin’s husband, Vinnie)

Theresa’s stable awaits the Baby Jesus.

Our Advent Parish Mission has been fantastic! Father’s first conference was on sin….whoa! Powerful! And last night was heaven….beautiful meditations! We have two more evenings of talks.

We have a lovely Christmas Tree Market this year in our little hometown. There was live music, lights, food, hayrides, etc. The weather has been so mild this year so we met some of the married couples and had a good time there….

This is Grammy Estelle (our son-in-law’s Grandma) who is 92 and playing Ring Around the Rosie with the little ones!

We got our stable up on Monday! The kids all pitched in and just got it done in spite of a very hectic day! We will add the Nativity figurines as Christmas Day approaches. It is always an exciting day when we get this accomplished!

A “before” picture.

Hehe… Hannah posed for this one. She was peeved that Rosie always gets in the picture….so that it looks as if they don’t help with it. So here she is patting the dirt….oh brother.

Here, Gemma takes all credit.

Me, after the today’s St. Nicholas party…..except I won’t be reading a Vogue magazine! 😀

Don’t you just love the logic?

Some things just don’t quite turn out the way we imagined they should!

For you busy mothers!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Be attentive to the sacrifices your husband makes for the family. Each day he battles the world, the flesh and the devil out in the workforce for you. Don’t let that go unnoticed. Thank him often! Appreciate him. -Finer Femininity

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