I’m making an effort to inject more Catholic traditions in our daily life. In fact, I have an entire plan for 2015. It’s part of my New Year’s resolution, but that’s a long post for another day. Today, I’m just sharing pictures of how we celebrated the Feast Day of Saint Nicholas, which is on December 6th.
Mikey had a sleep over on the 5th, so he didn’t get to put out his shoes. Oh well! I fudged the days and had them put out their shoes on the 6th. I figured 5th, 6th, 7th–they won’t know the difference. I’m counting on the fact that years from now they won’t remember that one time mom took the Gregorian calendar into her own hands.
The boys read The Legend of Saint Nicholas, a book which I spent a good amount of time researching. I must have looked up every single picture book about Saint Nicholas before I bought this one. The problem with buying a Saint Nicholas book–at least from the perspective of a Catholic mom trying to beef up the Catholic component at home–is finding a book that has even a modicum of Catholicism. I just wrote, and then deleted, a very long rant on some of the books I found and will instead say: in this book Saint Nicholas is a saint and the Bishop of Myra.
Mikey and Nico each received from Saint Nicholas a Santa Claus chocolate and a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards. I really wanted to turn my Santa Claus chocolates into Saint Nicholas chocolates like in this post, but the craft materials I had on hand didn’t work. The boys still loved their chocolates! Next year I might make these Saint Nicholas chocolate wrappers or buy these chocolate gold coins. Next year! The fact I’m planning something so far in advance means the world will most likely end long before December 6, 2015.
You can learn more about the Feast of Saint Nicholas here.
I can't wait to hear your plan. I might have to steal it!
Haha! Let's see if it's any good, first. :)
Hi there! Long time reader, first time commenter. I wanted to pass along an item that you might consider including in your 2015 plan: the My Catholic Advent and Christmas Activity Book by Jennifer Galvin (you can find it on Amazon). I use it with my boys (ages 7 and 4) and they love it. I have also found that it corresponds nicely with what they are teaching in school (my boys are in Catholic school)…for example, we completed the worksheet on the Immaculate Conception on 12/7, the day before they had mass/reviewed it in school. You boys might be too old for it but I imagine it could come in handy in your classroom.
Oh, thanks for the tip! I'll go look that up. :)
I can't wait for that post! I really want to start injecting more Catholic traditions in our life now that Alyson is getting older. I want her to grow up with those traditions as part of our life. I'm adding that book to my Amazon wishlist for next year. Thanks for the tip!
You're so smart to start now.
I'm seconding all those in favor of you sharing your Catholic traditions plan. Have you read "The Catholic Home" by Meredith Gould? Some good ideas in there.
Anyway, when we moved to Wisconsin I was SHOCKED to realize that EVERYONE here celebrates Saint Nicholas Day. Even as Catholics in Michigan we NEVER did so imagine my surprise the first time I went to school and everyone was talking about chocolate and things in their shoes!! Anyway, we've since adopted the tradition but I love the idea of putting the focus less about the goodies (like another holly-jolly upcoming holiday).
Anyway, looking forward to hearing more!
Yes, have The Catholic Home and really like it. That's something along the lines of what I'm looking for, but I'm still on the search for the perfect book. I'd love to read about how a mom/family did it and how/if it changed them.
It sounds like that's the book you're going to write in 2016!
I'm not a Catholic, but we do observe the saints days that correspond to my children's names. If there's a choice of saint we choose the nice one:)
We don't do a great deal other than talk about the saints life and the child chooses breakfast that day (and my mum sends a text saying Happy Saint Matilda/Constance/Barnabas Day!) which I know sounds rather random, but anything to show there's a whole life out there…
Please keep your favorite DRE informed of all things family and Catholic that you are doing. Looking forward to some ideas that I can pass along… =)
My family isn't Catholic, but we decided to do the Feast of Saint Nicholas instead of Santa Claus with our son.