I’m always trying to figure out how to make it easier for families to observe the Christian Year because we felt so overwhelmed when we first started that journey (which is why we wrote the book we wish we had then). I thought it might be helpful for our family to have resources compiled for the month ahead so that we can plan in advance which special saints days we want to observe and I hope having them all in one place is helpful to you, too!
And I pinned all of the following resources on a December Liturgical Living pinterest board for your convenience!
As always, remember not to get overwhelmed. You don’t have to observe every saints day! (We certainly don’t at our house.) The liturgical year is a gift. It shouldn’t feel like a burden!
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The Season of Advent
This year’s Advent season is the shortest possible! Advent doesn’t begin until December 3rd and the 4th Sunday of Advent is actually Christmas Eve which is making people confused about when they have to be at Mass. You could do a Sunday morning Mass for your Sunday obligation and then a Christmas Vigil Mass Sunday evening. You could go to the Sunday Vigil Mass Saturday and wait until Monday morning to go to Christmas Mass. There are so many combinations!
Advent is my favorite season in the liturgical year so I have a lot of ideas for making it a special and spiritually rich time.
I always try to get gifts out of the way at the very beginning (if not before Advent) so that it’s not a stressor that distracts me from a quiet season. Here’s a little gift guide I made for this year.
And feeling like you need a thorough and beautiful resource to get you through the Advent season? I always love Blessed Is She’s Advent journals. And this year my goal is to read Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives.
Traditions:
- Light Advent Candles. (We always get ours here.)
- Begin the St. Andrew Christmas Novena and pray it 15 times from November 30th to Christmas Day. I made a printable you can download for free.
- 30 Jesse Tree Ornaments to Print and Color: Do Small Things with Great Love
- How We Celebrate Advent: Carrots for Michaelmas
- DIY Advent Countdown Craft: Two Os Plus More
- My Eco-Friendly DIY Advent Wreath: Becoming Peculiar
- 24 Day Printable Advent Calendar: Audrey Eclectic
- Free Advent Activities for Kids: Look to Him and Be Radiant
Food for Thought:
- Superstition, Trust, and Imperfect Prayer: Thoughts on the St. Andrew Christmas Novena: Amongst Lovely Things
- Advent: Nourish Your Spiritual Life and Avoid the Holiday Burnout: Kitchen Stewardship
- Choosing Peace This Advent When You’re a Mom to Littles: Fountains of Home
- A Gradual Advent: Franciscan Mom
- A relaxed but intentional Advent: Fountains of Home
- Jesus Storybook Bible Reading Plan for Advent: Adriel Booker
(You can find more resources for observing Advent in our liturgical year ebooks Feast! and More Feasts!)
Advent Music:
- Advent Playlist: Wonder: Carrots for Michaelmas
- Advent Playlist: Sleepers, Wake!: Carrots for Michaelmas
Book Suggestions:
- 27 Picture Books for Advent and Christmas: Carrots for Michaelmas (updated)
December 6th: St. Nicholas
Faith and Little Ones:
- New Shoes and St. Nicholas Day: Carrots for Michaelmas
- St. Nicholas Day printable coloring page: Audrey Eclectic
Celebrating Around the Table:
- St. Nicholas Spice Cookies: Kitchen Stewardship
- Dutch Speculaas Cookies: Life Your Way
Food for Thought:
- The Real Face of Santa Claus: UCatholic
Book suggestion:
The Legend of St. Nicholas by Demi
December 8th: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Don’t forget it’s a Holy Day of Obligation, so get thee to Mass!
December 9th: Ven. Fulton Sheen
Ways to celebrate this faithful son of the Church on the anniversary of his death at A Knotted Life.
December 12th: Our Lady of Guadalupe
Celebrating Around the Table:
- Make Carnitas to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe! (Find our recipe in our new cookbook, More Feasts!)
- Celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Two Os Plus More
Book Suggestion:
Our Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola
December 13th: St. Lucy
Food for Thought:
- Light of St. Lucy: Daniel Stewart for Catholic Exchange
Celebrating Around the Table:
- St. Lucia Bread: Catholic Playground
- And these Grain-free Cardamom Sticky Biscuits look amazing for the gluten-free/paleo crowd.
Book Suggestion:
Lucia Saint of Light by Katherine Bolger Hyde
December 17th: The Golden Nights (O Antiphons) Begin
- Celebrating the O Antiphons: Shower of Roses
December 24th: Feast of the Seven Fishes
Last year we tried out this Italian-American tradition of cooking a seven course meal of seafood. Well, my husband Daniel did all the cooking. But it was awesome!
December 25th: Christmas (Beginning of Christmastide)
- Our Twelve Days of Christmas: Carrots for Michaelmas
- Orange Pomanders (Super easy kid-friendly holiday craft): Carrots for Michaelmas
- Celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas (and how it made my Advent better): A Knotted Life
- Twelve Days of Family Christmas Movies: Catholic All Year
- G.K. Chesterton and How to Celebrate Christmas: Fountains of Home
Do you have any special traditions for holy days in December? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
(Some links in this post are affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Carrots!)
Quick question… Is the white Christ candle in the middle of the Advent wreath something from my Protestant days? I’m all of a sudden noticing that all the Catholic references to Advent wreaths only have four candles. Just curious!
I’m curious about this, too! Growing up, we always had the white candle in the middle, to be lit with all four other candles on Christmas Day. We were converts from Anglicanism, and it now occurs to me that I’ve never seen this in Catholic circles. I think it’s a beautiful tradition, though, and am planning to keep it for my family. 🙂
We do the white candle for Christmas. 🙂
We put lighted candles in the windows of our house (usually on the outside because, uh, small kids…) on 8th December. It’s a tradition in Lyon (France) to thank Mary for saving the city, but it’s done in other places as well for the Immaculate Conception.
Our favorite children’s books about Our Lady of Guadalupe is “The Beautiful Lady – Our Lady of Guadalupe” by Pat Mora. It is a very special devotion in our family.
A fun preschool craft for Our Lady is to do celery stamp roses with red tempera paint.
I am protestant, but I enjoy your posts. I would like to pray the O Antiphons this month as a family devotional.
Catherijn, that’s so cool! We live in an apartment so we can’t do that, but we’re going to try serving up vanilla icecream shakes and apple crisp (shakes because they’ll be white like our Lady’s purity from sin …and we live in Houston…and apple crisp because of what happened when Eve ate the apple?) lol that latter was an afterthought just now. It’s more because I’ve been eager for it be cool enough to bake something yummy with apples ^_^