My invitation, by music and book, into the hushed shadows of what I think of as the dear and oh so needed Advent chapel, a space to find our yearning and our hope afresh in this waiting season.

Uses: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Second Advent Scripture: Luke 21:7-28, Job 38:7, Revelation 22:16 Here is hopeful statement anticipating the life and ministry of Christ, the Bright and Morning Star. Perfect for Advent, the anthem celebrates the arrival of the Light of the World through the music and the original text. Features: SATB Pages: 8 Instrumentation: Choral Voicing: SATB

“ Jesus’ birth is the Immaculate Conception – This is a big ol’ conception misconception. People seem to be confusing the words miraculous and immaculate.”

“Happy Three Kings Day, Twelfth Night, Epiphany and Theophany”-what a mouthful! It may sound like four different holidays but in truth they are four separa

Making sure that you celebrate all 12 days of Christmas is a great way to live the liturgical year with your kids! The last day of the 12 days of Christmas is the Epiphany, and

Each year we try to repack our Christmas decorations in the order we'll need to get them back out the beginning of next Advent. It looks something like this: nativities, Advent wreaths, Advent calendar, ALL THE BOOKS, everything else. Little by little over the years, I've add

Please see the 2023 updated version of this calendar here. For each day, from now until Epiphany, I've thought of one thing I can do to practice joy and gratitude, and to give love, putting it on a calendar that draws on ancient Advent and Christmas traditions. In the 6th century, the Celtic Christians celebrated Advent during the

For several years now, our family has had a baby crib sitting under our tree. During Advent it's empty: Christmas MorningChristmas morning the best gift of all can be discovered under that glowing tree! On the Epiphany Then, on the morning of the Epiphany, our King of Kings, baby Jesus, is found to be wearing a golden crown, red

We want you to have the most meaninful Advent ever With that goal in mind, we developed daily readings that run from December 1st to the feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. We’ve been using these readings and carefully selected songs for years in our own home, and now we offer them to you as a da

The Solemnity of Christ the King is THIS WEEKEND! Already! The end of the Liturgical Year just snuck right up on me, which is exactly what it is not suppose to do. (hello, Sunday readings.) The blow is softened however, because every end also means a new beginning, and this beginning brings Advent. I LOVE Advent. The preparing, the waiting, the hope, the peaceful promise. Here are some ideas for you to use with your kiddos to keep and celebrate the season of Advent: Looking for music to keep you in the season? Check out this Advent Song Playlist: And videos are always a great addition in the classroom: Printable Advent Candles for an Advent Wreath: What Advent Looks Like printable: Wandering Wise Men: An alternate activity to Elf on the Shelf, I used the Wise Men from our classroom Nativity to emphasize the waiting and preparing and seeking that is required of us during Advent. Click on the images to go to the posts with 15 different ideas. Seeking our Savior: An Advent Detective Journey based on Scripture, showing how Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Christ. Printable coloring book, Scripture cards, mini craft projects, and a leaders guide. Advent Jeopardy Trivia games here and here. What if they had email? Youth Group Advent lesson idea putting the Christmas story in a new perspective. A Stocking For Jesus: Activities to go along with the book, including some Advent printables. Nativity Photo Booth, putting all of those Nativity play costumes and props to good use! Advent Prayer Ring- Great for Youth Groups or Bible Studies: My Gift- An Epiphany Readers' Theater: How will you be keeping Advent this year?

My Advent daybook for these 24 days of waiting. Join me, won't you? (see all Advent daybook posts from 2014 here) ..... look Street Light Giocamo Balla source ..... read Luke 1:5-17: he will go before him to make ready for the Lord a people prepared {all readings for the day: Psalm 27; Malachi 2:10-3:1; Luke 1:5-17} ..... pray Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Grant us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (source) Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Amen. ..... listen Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus Red Mountain Church ..... make / do leave a thank you gift for the mail carrier Advent calendar via Ambrosium .....

In western Christian tradition, today, January 6, is the Twelfth (and final) Day of Christmas. It is the feast of the Epiphany, the commemoration of the Three Kings, who followed a star to the Infant Jesus. There are a few desserts that developed to celebrate the holiday. The most familiar is the Epiphany Cake, or Three Kings Cake, which can have a prize or tiny figure of the baby Jesus baked into it. When I taught Sunday School, I used to bring Epiphany cupcakes to class, and hide jelly candies inside three of the cupcakes. The children who ended up with those cupcake became "kings" for the class, and the rest of us were the followers. We made and decorated crowns and had a royally good time. There is another Epiphany dessert, a tart with pastry strips forming a star shape (to recall the star that the kings followed to find the infant) and filled with different flavors of jam; one flavor per segment of pastry. The final effect is like a stained glass window, only edible. As soon as I learned of this tart (in my Williams-Sonoma Holiday Favorites cookbook) I knew that I would have to make it; I love tarts and I have an extensive jam selection just begging to be used. Luckily I had the perfect occasion. Every year our book group has an annual Christmas dinner on a Saturday towards the end of the Twelve Days, so our dinner is often Epiphany-themed. How could I not make this tart for the group? n.o.e.'s notes: - You can read more about both of Epiphany desserts on The Old Foodie's post. - The tart is quite simple: prepare a tart crust dough, shape a star from the dough, prebake the crust then fill the tart with various kind of jam and bake for an additional 5 minutes, until the jam is set. crust: - For the pastry I used Dorie Greenspan's sweet tart dough. I made the nut variation, substituting hazelnut meal for some of the flour. You can find the basic sweet tart dough recipe by clicking here and scrolling down. Dorie's tart crust is perfect: easy to work with and delicious as well. - I used all purpose flour I received from King Arthur Flour back in the summer. King Arthur gave small bags of flour away with the request that it be used in a baked good to give or share with others. When the flour arrived in the mail we were in the middle of some construction work on the house, and I had limited access to my kitchen. So I put the flour aside and after that it was out of sight out of mind. When I came across the flour in December I decided that it would be perfect for this celebration dessert to be shared with a special group of close friends. - My tart was on the petite side; I baked it in a 7.5 inch tart mold. I made a double batch of tart dough, and used two thirds of it for this Epiphany Tart and the other third for the Tarte Tatin. - First I lined the tart mold with dough by pressing it lightly along the bottom and up the sides. I rolled the remaining dough between two sheets of plastic wrap to a thickness of about 1/4". I cut the dough into strips about 1/2" wide, then positioned them inside the tart shell to make a star shape, pinching to join them at the seams. - I baked the crust until lightly golden. About halfway through the baking time, I used the handle of a silicone scraper to gently shape and fix the walls of the star, which had spread and sagged a bit in the oven. filling: - Apparently it was a point of pride and/or a good omen in Victorian times to use as many different jams as possible in the Epiphany Tart. I used a different flavor jam for each of the 13 sections of the tart. The jams I used were: cloudberry marion blackberry raspberry peach apricot pink grapefruit black cherry gooseberry strawberry three citrus marmalade rhubarb raspberry fig orange huckleberry (I actually took a photo of all of the jam jars I used, but since I'm writing this on an airplane and the photos are on my home computer, I can't show you. Just imagine 13 different sizes and types of jam, and you pretty much have the scene!) - I spooned jam in each of the sections. Some of the sections were very small, so I only used a teaspoon or so of jam. At that rate I'd need to make a whole batch of tarts to make a dent in my jam supply! I made a diagram of the tart and labeled each type of jam and where it was located. The red raspberry was the one that I could instantly recognize, so that's what I used to orient the chart at serving time. - After filling the tart, I returned it to the oven for 5 minutes to set the jam. the verdict: This tart was a fun addition to the dessert buffet at the book group's Christmas/Epiphany dinner. The distinctive star shape sparked a lot of discussion and everyone was pretty amused at the diagram explicating the locations of the different flavors of jam. When it came time to serve the tart there were a few requests of jams to include and avoid. I had halfway expected that the primary appeal of the tart would be its novelty and symbolism, so I was surprised at how much people liked this tart. The crust is quite cookie-like and the jam wonderfully jammy. It was reminiscent of a large star-shaped thumbprint cookie. The next time I will make the tart bigger, so that the jam parts are bigger and the jam-to-crust ratio will be higher. One of the group members, JT, tasted his tart first and really liked it. He offered the following advice, which became our guideline for serving and enjoying the tart: "Make sure your piece of tart has at least 3 different kinds of jam, then mix the flavors in your mouth." In his opinion, the tart would even make a good breakfast. And why not? It's got jam! I'm glad that I had the opportunity to bake this intriguing, historical, and pretty dessert. It was perfect for our Epiphany party!

Epiphany is celebrated by many Christians around the world. When is Epiphany and what does it mean? What is Epiphany? What is Epiphany? Epiphany is a celebration of the arrival of wise men, also called magi, from the East who brought gifts to Jesus. What Does the Word “Epiphany” Mean? In spiritual terms, the wordContinue Reading

The Epiphany is 12 days after Christmas and is the day that the 3 kings arrived to visit Baby Jesus. Many families celebrate Christmas all the way through the Epiphany and it's a really great

Advent is the perfect time to introduce (or re-introduce) children to the person of Jesus. In addition to geography works and prophecies ...

PinFacebookTweetEmail Background: Christmas and Epiphany Frankincense and myrrh are known to many because of their appearance in the Christmas story. According to St Matthew’s gospel

The Advent Season in our Catholic Home"Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man.

Have the standard traditions not worked for you? Observe a non-traditional Epiphany celebration with these simple and meaningful ideas.

The Christian year is structured around the central seasons of Christmas and Easter each preceded by a season of preparation and followed by Ordinary Time. Ask The UMC explains what that means.

I can't believe it's time to start thinking about Advent, but the new Liturgical Year will be here before we know it. I'll definitely be pulling out some favorite tools and activities (you can find all my Advent posts here) but it's also nice to bring some new resources into both my classroom and personal prayer time each year. Here are a few things I'll be using once Advent begins that I thought you might enjoy too! (All of these items are new to me and I'm using them for the first time this year. I only recommend things I love and think my readers might like to use in their homes and classrooms. I received the Mosaic Jesse Tree and the Wee Believers resources for free in exchange for an honest review. I won the Christmas Crazies book in a giveaway and liked it enough to share. I ordered the Rejoice pack as a parish leader to review.) The Mosaic Jesse Tree by Sara Estabrooks of To Jesus, Sincerely Sara sent me a copy of her updated Mosaic Jesse Tree and reflection booklet (which now has the Imprimatur!) and I thoroughly love it. The Jesse Tree is a perfect way to help keep Christ at the center of your preparations during the Season of Advent. Her full color ornaments give an awesome impression of texture and depth through the mosaic symbols, and while I have seen many versions of the Jesse Tree, I am particularly excited that the images are simple, but not particularly childish, meaning that they will work for a K-8 display in my school and not be too complicated for the primary kiddos or dismissed by my junior high students. I also love that the daily reflections about those in Jesus' bloodline contain a Bible verse from both the Old and New Testament, making it a great resource for my upcoming unit on Salvation History. The reflections are well written but brief, making them a doable addition to daily prayer. The booklet is printed in full color on high quality paper. The ornaments are on heavy cardstock and the art pops in vivid color. I will probably laminate the ornaments so that they will last for years of use, but you can decide the best way to display and preserve yours. You can order your own set to assemble, or ready to use, or a printable version to color yourself. AND Sara is generously offering my readers 15% off any option of the Mosaic Jesse Tree in her Etsy shop using the code KATIEBOGNER2018, good until December 1st! Rejoice! Advent Meditations with Mary from Ascension Press I'm always on the look out for new (and affordable) resources to use in parish ministry, so when I heard about Ascension Press' Advent series I ordered a review pack. This isn't their typical Bible Study series- instead it is meant to be used more as a parish mission. Gather your people, show a 30 minute intro video to capture their attention, and give out affordable copies of a journal that lasts the rest of Advent. Instead of requiring groups to meet during the inevitably busy season of Advent, the participants can sign up to receive weekly videos through email. The videos bring together the talents of a few speakers you might have seen through Catholic social media- Fr. Mark Toups, Sr. Miriam James, and Fr. Josh Johnson. The meditations seek to guide us to see Advent through the eyes of Mary. Each day offers a reflection, a Psalm, a Scripture reading, a prompt, and room to journal. The books are also full color and offer a weekly piece of art showing the experiences of the Holy Family. At the link above you can get a review pack for your parish, order bulk sets of books at great prices, download free phone backgrounds of the beautiful art, and preview some of the content and videos. Participants can sign up to receive a new video by email each week of Advent to go along with the companion journal. I'm excited to use this for my personal prayer this Advent and to share it with my parish. Advent and Nativity toys from Wee Believers I've written multiple times before of my love for Wee Believers toys, especially their Vocation Dolls and Mass Kits. Their series of Advent and Christmas resources continues their reputation for superior quality, lovely design, and rich educational value. The Nativity Paper Chain, Advent Calendar Clings, and Pop Out Nativity all utilize the same art (which is a beautiful watercolor/cut paper style that reminds me of Eric Carle), making them perfect to use to "count down" and pray during Advent and then continue to use during the Season of Christmas, showing the connection between our time of preparation and celebration. You can see all of their Advent and Christmas resources at the link above, AND they have a site wide 30% off sale running right now, so it's a great time to order for the coming Seasons! The Advent Calendar Clings include a set of heavy weight wall stickers that you can hang on your windows, wall, fridge, etc. Starting on December 1st, there are 24 numbered stickers, one for each day leading up to Christmas, as well as lots of little accent pieces to decorate with. The stickers are sturdy enough that if removed carefully they could definitely be reused again another year. The set includes a full color insert with a short meditation for each piece, telling the story of Christmas as your little one adds one sticker each day, ending up with a whole Nativity on display for Jesus' birthday. Another option for encouraging the meaning of waiting during Advent is the sweet 120 piece Nativity Paper Chain. This easily could be used as a way to count good deeds during Advent, or allow each family member to add a link during the days leading up to Christmas (no fighting over which kid gets to add the singular daily piece!) The variety of links includes twelve different designs, and again includes an educational insert telling the story of Christmas using the images. No glue or adhesive is required, as each piece is cut and notched to fit together easily, meaning after the Christmas season you can disassemble and reuse another year. This chain would be fun to decorate a Christmas tree with, or drape around the living room as a festive and child-like reminder of the story of the first Christmas. And finally, they also offer this sweet Pop Out Nativity (full picture above) made of sturdy heavy cardboard pieces on their own little stands. The set is great for little hands as there is nothing to worry about breaking. There is another educational resource telling the story of Christmas, and the storage folder opens up into a trifold stable. All the pieces can be easily disassembled and stored flat, folding down to the size of a children's book, so this also would also be perfect to tuck into a book basket during the Christmas season. The Cure for the Christmas Crazies by April Hartmann This vibrant picture book is exactly what you might be looking for to remind your kids (and yourself) of what we are really getting ready for during Advent. The book features a series of letters between little elf Norbert and Santa Claus (with an included biography on the connection between the names St. Nicolas and Santa Claus). Norbert observes some "crazy" behavior in his family during the days leading up to Christmas, including super long gift lists, overwhelming baking, tons of Christmas decorations, and stressful shopping. Santa writes back with the cure for these "Christmas Crazies," pointing Norbert to stories from the Bible that remind his family about the real meaning of Christmas. I think kids will really like the bright illustrations, fun back-and-forth letter format, and relatable holiday "craziness," and the messages of truth will be heard loud and clear. Visit the link above to preview the pages inside, hear more about the storyline, get free matching printables, and order your own copy. And if you follow @cureforthechristmascrazies on Instagram, April is giving away more copies leading up to Advent- you can go enter and win your own signed copy! So those are some of the new resources I'll be using this Advent. What are you excited to implement in your home or classroom?

How to fold a 5 pointed origami star with step by step photos. An easy way to make beautiful Christmas star decorations.

＋ The Epiphany of the Lord, Year A, January 6, 2017 ＋ Et adorabunt eum omnes reges universae nationes servient ei. image: Simon Bening (Flemish, about 1483 - 1561): The Adoration of the Magi, about...

My invitation, by music and book, into the hushed shadows of what I think of as the dear and oh so needed Advent chapel, a space to find our yearning and our hope afresh in this waiting season.

It is interesting to discover the various traditions of the Christmas season from around the world. My interest in Italian culture incre...

Celtic Advent Calendar 2023 The holidays can fly by in a rush, full of events and activities, both joyful and tiring. Finding a way to slow down and savor each day of our Christmas preparations is important. Drawing on ancient Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany traditions, here is a calendar that offers one simple daily way to practice