A Little Advent - Christmas Resource Round Up

Advent starts Sunday!  We sure are getting excited around here!  We even had trial runs of O Come, O Come Emmanuel!  and People Look East! at breakfast this morning!  Friday and Saturday we'll be pulling out the Advent wreath and Jesse Tree and dusting off some of the holiday books!  

I'm not planning on writing much that's Advent-y or Christmas-y this year.  But I did enjoy looking back through some of my past holiday posts and thought I'd stick some of them together here for you.  

Advent and Christmastime Picture Book List

I can't wait to get out holiday book basket out!  In this old post, I starred our

favorites.  What are you favorite picture books to share with kids during

Advent and Christmas?

For non-Christmas book ideas, check out my book lists page for lots of other great gift ideas!


Advent and Christmas Classical Music Recommendations

Music that we love that's not Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer or Barenaked Ladies 
singing We Three Kinds (which I'm pretty sure is one of the all time absolute worst 
recordings of a Christmas song.  Of all time.  Ever.  All time.) 

Advent for Adults
My favorite books for my own personal spiritual reading during Advent.
(cause it's not just about kids, you know.)


10 Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids that Are Not Stuff

I love this list, if I do say so myself!  It's refreshing to bless our kids, and to be blessed by others with thoughtful gifts that don't add to our clutter.  

(Cause, boy, do we have enough clutter!)

The Toys They Actually Use and Love (and I Don't Mind Storing)

But if you ARE in the market for some good old fashioned Christmas toys, here are some

that the kids and I heartily recommend!  

Want to help your kids made homemade gifts for family and friends??  Check out our Kids Made Gift series from last year and the Kids Craft Ideas page too!

And don't forget!  There are still many items available in the Ordinary Lovely Etsy Shop for your shopping convenience!

The Theology of the Third Verse (Thoughts on Christmas Carols for Twelfth Night)

It's the twelfth day of Christmas!  Are you still singing carols?  You can, you know!  I am.

There's no rule that says the carol-singing has to stop when the sun sets on Christmas day.  In fact, if you're a practicing Christian who's paying attention, you probably already know that "Christmas" is often considered a twelve-day ordeal - a dozen days of Christmas!  If you're a really attentive Catholic, you may know that the season doesn't officially end until the the Baptism of Jesus (celebrated on the Sunday after Epiphany).  And some people who really really like to extend their celebrating, keep it all going until the Feast of the Presentation in the Temple (all the way out there on February 2)!  

But even these Feasts and dates don't "contain" Christmas.  

Christmas isn't merely about celebrating the birth of Jesus on one particular, finite day over 2,000 years ago.  That was one day.  We cannot "be" there.  We can imagine it - all that there was to see, hear, smell - the stable, the hay-filled manger, the baby's soft breathing and tiny cries, the mother rocking, the skies filled with angels and light, "Glory to God in the highest!!,"  the astounded shepherds, the bleating of their sheep, a blinding star.  Indeed, we know these sights and sounds well from Scripture and from Christmas carols.  

For the most part, not exclusively, but for the most part, the first and second verses of the well-known Christmas carols tell the story - the one with the angels and shepherds and kings.  

 Everybody knows the first verses.  Lots of people know the second verses.  But if you never make it to the third and fourth (and fifth!) verses, you're missing the whole of the Christmas message.  Because celebrating Christmas is not about one day, or twelve, or 39.  Just as the songs are not over after the second verse, Christmas is not over after the Christmas season.  To be sure, we should never stop celebrating, because Christmas celebrates much more than the one-time birth of a baby.  It is about God made man, the Savior of the world entering into that world to change it from within, and the holy anticipation, joyful expectation, and life-giving hope that He will come again.  "Christmas" doesn't end because Christmas is about our the Savior, our present-day King of Kings and the expectation of and preparation for Christ's coming to Earth... again.  

This is the message that is so often conveyed in the later verses of Christmas carols.  Sing them to the end.  The entire message of Christmas is often contained in the entirety of the song, from the birth of the baby, to his Saving work, to his promised return.  Sing to the end!  The meaning of the Christmas "story" - the donkey, the shepherds, the star, the gifts - finds its fullness in the theology of the third verse!

  *   *   *   *   *   *

Here are some lesser known verses you might enjoy...

Hail the Heaven born Prince of Peace

Hail the Sun of Righteousness

Light and life to all He brings

Ris'n healing in His wings

Christ the highest Heaven adored

Christ the everlasting Lord

Come desire of nations come

Fix in us Thy humble home

Come desire of nations come

Fix in us Thy humble home

(3rd verse of Hark! the Herald Angels Sing)

*   *   *   *   *   *

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord,
That hath made heaven and earth of naught,
And with his blood mankind has bought.

(6th verse of The First Noel)

*   *   *   *   *   *

O holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sins and enter in,

Be born to us today.

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell:

Oh, come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Emmanuel!

(4th verse of O Little town of Bethlehem)

*   *   *   *   *   *

No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make
His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found
Far as the curse is found
Far as, far as the curse is found

(3rd verse of Joy to the World)

*   *   *   *   *   *

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long
Beneath the heavenly strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong

And man at war with man hears not
The tidings which they bring
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing

O ye, beneath life's crushing load
Whose forms are bending low
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow

Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing
O rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing

For lo, the days are hastening on
By prophets seen of old
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold

When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing

(3rd, 4th, and 5th verse of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear)

*   *   *   *   *   *

Merry Christmas, dear friends!  He Lives.  He Reigns.  He will come again.  Merry Christmas!

Classical Christmas Music Recommendations and Giveaway Winners Announced!

Advent is more than half over...  I'm not quite done with our shopping and I still have some projects I'm working on.  But I'm getting there.  We finally got our Advent/Christmas music out of the attic and to have it on in the background has helped me stay motivated!

Here's a quick look at some of the classical and choral  Christmas music we've been loving lately and then, at the very bottom... the Happy Handmade Christmas Giveaway winners are announced!   

Christmas with King's Singers

(Starts with a beautiful version Veni,Veni, Emmanuel)

Joy to the World / Music of Christmas, Empire Brass

What If Mozart Wrote "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

(fun and funny to hear holiday favorites played in the style of Mozart's string quartets!)

Advent at Ephesus, Benedictines of Mary

Catholic Christmas Classics, Cathedral Singers

Christmas With the Tallis Scholars

(This one is especially beautiful if you like to play music for kiddos at bed time.  The boys love to listen to this falling asleep :)  )


John Rutter: Music for Christmas 

Well, seeing that everything Rutter writes is beautiful, this CD is... beautiful!


  Classical Kids Christmas 

  We really love this unique CD.  I mean have you ever  heard any other Christmas CD that weaves the Huron Carol into a holiday story for children??  (don't you just love the Huron Carol?!?!  In excelsis gloria!)

*   *   *   *   *   *

And now... for the moment you've all some of you have been waiting for!  The giveaway winners!  I have to admit I was simultaneously so happy to choose the names and really disappointed that I can't send something to everyone who entered.  I think I see more giveaways in my future... ;)  (is it less painful each time??)  

The winners randomly selected from a shatter resistant Corelle bowl (white with red stripes) are...

of the crocheted nesting and stacking bowls, Katie!

of the child's kitchen apron, Christine!

of the Holy Family peg dolls, Kelly!  (kgill26)

of the gray crocheted beret, Ann-Marie!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered and congratulations Katie, Christine, Kelly, and Ann-Marie!  Ladies, please send me your addresses so I can send you my thank yous :) (my email address is theresa[dot]blackstone[at]gmail[dot]com)

Have a happy Tuesday!