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GIVEAWAY (Now Closed): 100% Beeswax Advent Candle Making Kit from Toadily Handmade

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Haley | 89 Comments

Halloween is over. All Saints Day and All Souls Day are passed. We’re in November. Has it hit you yet? In the blink of an eye we’ll be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. Advent will sneak up on us and then BOOM, it’ll be Christmas!

If you’re like me, you’ve just realized that the holidays are right in front of us. And you probably haven’t ordered your Advent candles, yet. Well, you’re in luck, because I get to giveaway a fantastic Advent candle making set to one of my readers!

Two or three years ago, we were living out in the country in central Texas and I wasn’t sure where the closest Catholic bookstore was or if we even had one in the vicinity. When I was searching around online for Advent candles to order, most of the options I found weren’t looking great. I try to be careful about what kind of candles I burn because of the nasty toxins that float around your home from most candles and in general always try to buy natural beeswax candles. I was so excited to find Toadily Handmade’s web site because all their candles are 100% beeswax. Beeswax, a natural product, burns very clean (and it’s traditional for liturgical candles). I love their product so much that I’ve been ordering their Advent candles every year since. This year I asked if they’d be willing to share their wonderful product with one of my readers!

Last year, instead of ordering the already assembled candles, I tried out their Advent Candle Making Kit. It comes with 9 honeycomb beeswax sheets that you gently roll around the wicks that are provided. There’s actually enough supplies included to make three sets of candles! I absolutely loved that it was simple enough for my toddler to do (with some assistance) and he had the most wonderful time getting to participate in making the Advent candles for our table. In fact, he had such a good time that my mom let him help make her some Advent candles, too. He remembers how much fun it was and is already asking if he gets to do it again.

So, one lucky winner will get one “Make Your Own Advent Candle Kit” from Toadily Handmade. Here’s the drill, to enter, leave a comment telling me about an Advent tradition you have (or one you would like to start). For additional entries (1) “like” Toadily Handmade on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you did, (2) and/or subscribe to Carrots for Michaelmas by email subscription or RSS feeder and leave a comment telling me you did, and/or (3) “like” Carrots on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you did. Got it?

This giveaway will be open until Friday night (November 9, 2012), 9 pm EST.

Disclosure: I was not paid to host this giveaway. Toadily Handmade graciously sent a review kit to me and will send one to the lucky winner. I will only giveaway items that I love and use and mention businesses that I want to support. All opinions are my own.

UPDATE: Giveaway is now closed. Thank you for entering and sharing your Advent traditions! Our winner was chosen by random number generator and it is Sarah who said, “I think this year if we can just commit to candles and prayer every night, I will be happy with our Advent celebration!” Congrats, Sarah! You’ll be receiving an email from me shortly

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Posted in Advent, Giveaway

Tagged advent candles, beeswax candles, christian year, Giveaway, toadily handmade

Michaelmas Traditions: Prayers, Food, and Flowers

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Haley | 10 Comments

Michaelmas is quickly approaching: September 29th (next Saturday)! It will come as no surprise to you that I love St. Michael’s Day. It was the first feast we celebrated when we started observing the Christian Year in 2009, the Fall before our conversion to the Catholic faith.

What is Michaelmas?

Michaelmas (pronounced Mickel-mas) is a feast day celebrating the Archangels. It follows the fall Ember Days during which Christians traditionally thanked God for his creation and the bounty of the earth and fasted penitentially. Michaelmas was a Holy Day of Obligation until the 18^th century and honors St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael. My linguist husband particularly likes the name Michael which means in Hebrew “Who Is Like God?” and is the battle cry of the angels. St. Michael fought against Lucifer and the fallen angels and defended the friends of God. You probably remember that St. Gabriel announced the coming of Jesus to the Virgin Mary and also the coming of John the Baptist to Zachariah. St. Raphael is found in the book of Tobit.

Michaelmas Menus:

For a seasonal table for Michaelmas, think of autumnal foods. Usually our Michaelmas feast is full of beta-carotene.

Carrots are very traditional. According to a Scottish custom, women would harvest wild carrots on Michaelmas by digging triangular holes with a three-pronged mattock. Apparently the holes represent St. Michael’s shield and the mattock represents his trident.

I love this Whiskey-Glazed Carrots recipe by The Pioneer Woman. These are seriously amazing. Whiskey? Butter? Brown Sugar? Can you go wrong?

St. Michael’s Bannock on the left!

Another traditional food is St. Michael’s Bannock, a simple, sweet bread. We’ve used the recipe from Meredith Gould’s The Catholic Home. It’s super easy and turns out well.

Goose is also very traditional but we’ve discovered that it’s almost impossible to find an organic goose that’s remotely in our price range. So, we’ve cooked turkeys or chickens for the occasion. Last year we roasted sweet potatoes and onions with the chicken which turned out so yummy.

Blackberries: There’s a legend concerning Lucifer falling into a blackberry bush after being expelled from heaven by St. Michael and spitting on the blackberries to make them bitter so that they cannot be picked after Michaelmas.

On Michaelmas Day the devil puts his foot on the blackberries.

-Irish Proverb

We’ve had blackberry buckle and blackberry cobbler but since they’re not in season right now in Florida, we try to just get organic frozen berries.

A super easy and yummy blackberry cobbler recipe is The Pioneer Woman’s.

A Michaelmas Prayer:

Saint Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle;

be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:

and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,

by the power of God,

thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits

who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

Michaelmas Daisies:

The aster flower, also known as the Michaelmas Daisy is in season in North America at the end of September. We meant to grow some from seed but…never got around to it. Last year my two sweet boys picked beautiful Daisies they found and Bachelor’s Buttons and Marigolds from our garden to decorate our Michaelmas table because I was almost 9 months pregnant: