Cottage Blessings

Mantel in Miniature

For years now, it has been a dream of mine to decorate a dollhouse for Christmas. The scene is set in my mind's eye--miniature presents wrapped in foil, lights twinkling in every window, infinitesimally small wax tapers, a beribboned tree teeming with angels shading thimble-sized nativity, and, of course, a table set extravagantly for a doll's Christmas feast.

Now, given the fact that we barely put up the life-size tree this year, you can just imagine how the dollhouse fared. Still, it occurred to me a while back that I could perhaps manage a piece of the dream, something to make the children smile and let the dolls know they have not been forgotten--a miniature Christmas hearth.

We started with an unpainted wooden doll's mantel, available in the dollhouse aisle at the craft store:

One coat of Folk Art paint in "parchment" added a bit of depth:

The stockings--created by ten-year-old Margaret with the greatest enthusiasm imaginable--were hung by the chimney with care glue:

I love Margaret's attention to detail. Each one is slightly different:

We added a beautiful miniature triptych, purchased a while back at our local Catholic store (this could easily be replaced by a cut out from a Christmas card or small nativity scene):

I can't resist showing you what the back of the triptych looks like:

Greens from the tree and red ribbon add a crowning touch:

Just for fun, we put the miniature mantel on the floor beside our real mantel for scale (it's too bad our fire had already burned to ashes, or this would have been a lovely picture):

Our mantel makes a timely display for the Feast of Mary, Mother of God:

An old friend of ours hopped right off the tree to check her stocking:

We are hoping to keep our minuscule mantel decorated for a while, adding new embellishments for Candlemas, Lent, Easter and May. [I say "hoping" because the things we strive for and the things we actually do are often quite different!] Another fine addition would be a miniature fireplace screen. Perhaps I will ask the production crew to work on one tomorrow.

Happy New Year's Eve, dear friends!

Scenes from the Feast of St. Nicholas 2007

Last year, we shared pictures of a day spent at a friend's house crafting and baking for the Feast of St. Nicholas. We continued the tradition this year with many of the same activities, but a few new twists as well.

There were cookies to cut:

Mexican God's Eye Ornaments (the perfect simple and inexpensive craft to make in advance of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe):

We brought our traditional sled full of cookies:

And taught the children how to make these easy Take Along Mangers in Miniature reminiscent of last year's craft. (For details and materials, please see today's post at O Night Divine):

This little project was engaging for the older ones, but simple enough for a three-year-old:

And speaking of simple, my friend Mary taught the children to make these religious ornaments--cardboard discs embellished with holy images and trim:

Look how the baby has grown! It made me laugh to realize she is wearing the same outfit, only now she has grown into Maureen's dress from last year!

St. Nicholas, patron of children, pray for us!

Scenes from the Feast of St. Nicholas

Whenever Marie truly loves a dress, she wears it as often as possible! Here she is baking cookies at the home of a friend on the Feast of St. Nicholas. Ladies, if you have more ideas than time this year, consider gathering one or two families for a day of baking and crafts, asking each of the mothers to plan a project. Our family was invited along with two others for a peaceful, productive day we will not soon forget.

My wildly artistic friend displayed her Advent Wreath, a simple collection of four large pillar candles on a round reflective tray with purple sprigs from her daughter's ballet recital wreath tucked around it:

Here is the sleighful of fresh-baked cookies we brought from the best bakery on Long Island. (I post this photo not so much to pass along ideas as to ensure that none of you ever have friends over without inviting me.)

Our family contributed "Take-Along Mangers" to the day's lineup of activities. For details on creating this economical craft, please see my post on O Night Divine.

While we were there, the children sampled many projects we wouldn't normally do at home, like these hammered foil hearts:

And vibrant Mexican "God's Eye" ornaments:

I was so impressed by the simplicity of the God's Eyes--just loop colorful embroidery floss around crossed q-tips adding a bit of glitter for a very effective adornment, or use them to embellish a memorable gift:

I may never throw away another Clementine crate after marveling at the fabric-lined gift and storage boxes each of the children created. Margaret made hers to resemble a winter scene and plans to use it to display her toy Nativity. We have not yet properly hot-glued the lining to the inside, but this photo gives an idea of the potential of these versatile, sturdy little crates:

Rolled cookie baking is one of those things we never seem to get around to doing at our house, but my children had their fill of it yesterday, rolling and flocking to their hearts' content. Theresa's love of the kitchen shined through in her joyful creations:

It is difficult to see in this picture, but Agnes cut to the heart of the season by transforming her cookie into a shining Blessed Mother:

Patrick discovered that adding sprinkles to cookie dough is the greatest pleasure in life:

I just had to include this picture of a bit of the food, also served potluck style, if only because the presence of Maureen's wee, reaching arm is so amusing!

And a good time was had by all!

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The Take-Along Mangers cost approximately $2.00 each--99 cents per wooden basket and roughly a dollar or so for paint, clay, felt, and "straw."

It is not too late!

So you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by all those inspirational Advent ideas popping up around our little cyber-neighborhood like vibrant spring bulbs you somehow forgot to plant. Perhaps you just hosted Thanksgiving and find it impossible to believe yet another season is already knocking at the door and demanding admittance. Maybe you simply have not been able to get to the store to purchase supplies. You see the beauty all around and worry that your dear children will be shortchanged.

Take heart! It is not too late!

At a time like this, we may follow the example of Our Blessed Mother, who was herself the perfect symbol of Advent. "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart," [Lk 2: 19] teaching us that prayer and reflection are the soul of this holy season. Simple prayers, like the Christmas Novena or The Angelus may be begun with the children tomorrow morning, bringing in the eternal mystery of Advent to their waiting hearts with no advance preparation necessary.

Yesterday, during one of those quietly humming moments of our school day, I found myself thinking about our Advent Cubes. These simple little cubes are so dear to my heart, and I have high hopes for them as an addition to our own celebrations this year, yet a nagging thought kept insinuating itself into my daydream: Why should the activity be so dependent upon the wooden cubes? Shouldn't a mother with nothing but paper and a pen be able to bring the six separate aspects of the project to life?

My nine-year-old was fairly surprised when I interrupted her math page to ask, "Margaret, do you know how to make paper cubes?"

"Sure," she responded immediately, happily fashioning a cube out of looseleaf using a pattern block as a guide. I asked her to repeat the process with pretty pink paper, and the result was every bit as beautiful as any wooden block could hope to be:

[You will note that we wrote the name of the Jesse symbol rather than drawing it to show it is not necessary to transform the blocks into Jesse tree ornaments. The children could just as easily participate in creating a paper tree similar to the paper creche.]

Yes, I hear some of you saying, "Those are sweet, but what mother has time to fashion twenty four paper cubes by Sunday?" Well, the truth is that even paper cubes are not indispensible. You could use plain or colored paper, writing down your six Advent Cube panels on each one and allowing the children to pick folded papers like names out of a hat. Wouldn't something like this work?

Or, if you wanted to get fancy, you could fashion paper leaves, writing the name of a Jesse tree symbol on one side and the five other cube panels on the other. Each day, as you complete the activities on both sides, one of the children would draw the Jesse tree symbol directly onto the leaf, adding it to a paper tree similar to the one in the original O Night Divine post, but without the need for blocks. (Karen Edmisten's Thanksgiving Trees would be perfect for this purpose. Just imagine a tradition of a Thankgiving Tree transformed to a Jesse Tree each year.)

In other words, no special or expensive materials (or elaborate preparation) are needed to create a children's creche and Jesse tree, honor the saints of the season, offer a nightly treat, emphasize penance and sacrifice, and remember the books, hymns and prayers that make Advent sing.

At the end of a day, the joy of a new activity and family time spent in prayer is all that matters. For your children, your smile is the only glitter needed to make this Advent shine brightly in their minds and memories.

Advent Cubes

At long last, the post about Advent Cubes is available at O Night Divine.

With all my talk of buying the blocks in advance, I am a bit concerned about having oversold the idea. It is fortunate that the sweetest, most generous mothers in the world will be reading it!

Shoppers rush home with their presents

It may be a bit disconcerting to read about this in late October, but, if you have a spare moment, please take a look at the results of our early shopping trip: O Night Divine.

A Host of Angels

Please take a look at "O Night Divine" to read a reflection about motherhood and my lifelong angel collection:

A Host of Angels.

O Night Divine

My dear friend Mary Ellen has honored me with a spot as a guest author on her new Christmas blog, "O Night Divine." With Dawn, Gwen, Jenn and Mary Ellen sharing the line up, you can see that I am in excellent company. It will be fun trimming the tree with these friends, and I hope you will check in daily.

Please take a look at my first contribution, A Family Christmas Card, the follow up to last year's Cottage Blessings reflection on Christmas photos, "If I had a photograph of you."