Christmas Day/Season

December 25

Foods & Symbols

• Now that it has aged nicely, enjoy the fruitcake, plum pudding, or mincemeat pie you made on Stir-Up Sunday.
• Mincemeat pies- The original mince pies were oblong crib shapes decorated with a baby Jesus on top. They were made from 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his disciples, including dried fruit, lamb to represent the shepherds, and spices for the Magi- with all of the contents representing the gifts of the Magi to the Christ child.  During the Reformation, the Puritans banned Christmas and everything related to it, including mince pies. Sounds like a good reason to revive this tradition!
• Have a birthday cake for Jesus.

Activities

• Replace advent wreath candles with the Christ candle you made on St. Ambrose Day (or just a white candle) placed in the center of your advent wreath.
• Put on a Nativity play at home- let the children lead it, but allow them to pull adults (grandparents, etc.) in to play some of the parts if necessary. (This can also be done just as a reading if you don’t want to mess with costumes and props- although that’s half the fun for the little ones.)
  • An At-Home Nativity Play Printable Script
• Listen to or attend a performance of Handel’s Messiah
  • If you have school-age children, try listening this Hallelujah Handel CD for some historical context.

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Saint Stephen

December 26

Prayers & Devotions

• Read about St. Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles (ch. 6 and 7).

Activities

• Read or act out the story of Good King Wenceslas. Remember, he went out “on the feast of Stephen”.
  • Good King Wenceslas – Traditional Choir
  • Good King Wenceslaus Background Info

Charity

• Honor your deacons. The apostles made Stephen and six others deacons to take care of the corporal needs of the faithful so that the apostles could focus on the faithful’s spiritual needs.
• Boxing Day (in England, this is the day to give gifts to servants and delivery workers).
• Serve the poor in some way (like King Wenceslas did).
  • St. Vincent De Paul – Mary Our Queen

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Feast of the Holy Family

December 26

Prayers & Devotions

• Blessing of Family
  • Order for the Blessing of a Family
• Consecrate your family to the Holy Family
  • How to Prepare for Consecration to the Holy Family
  • Consecration to the Holy Family

Foods & Symbols

• Lebanese food: stuffed grape leaves, stuffed cabbage rolls, lentils and rice, spinach and meat pies, chicken and dumplings, hummus, Lebanese bread, tabbouleh, kibbi, etc.  This is the same kind of food that Mary served Jesus and St. Joseph.

Activities

• Do some kind of activity together as a family.
• Have a family portrait done.

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Saint John

December 27

Prayers & Devotions

• Spend time in adoration (since St. John was “the disciple whom Jesus loved”).
• Blessing of Wine (since he survived drinking poisoned wine because he blessed it before drinking it).
  • Blessing of Wine for the Feast of St. John the Apostle

Foods & Symbols

• Fried foods (since he survived being boiled in oil).
• St. John’s Wine (mulled wine)
  • St. John’s Wine (Mulled Wine) Recipe

Activities

• The Love of St. John: This is a special toast shared with others over a glass of wine, since St. John survived being given poisoned wine by blessing it before drinking it.
  • St John’s Blessed Wine: A Glorious Catholic Tradition

Charity

• Honor your priest. Our priests are like John who, strengthened by his love for Jesus, was not afraid to stay close to Our Lord during the Passion and Crucifixion.

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Holy Innocents (Childermass)

December 28

Prayers & Devotions

• Listen to the Coventry Carol. This haunting,  fifteenth-century carol is from the point of view of the mothers of Bethlehem, just before Herod’s soldiers came to slaughter their children.
  • Coventry Carol lyrics
• Blessing of Children
  • Book of Blessings: Blessing of Children

Foods & Symbols

• “Baby” food- cream of wheat, oatmeal, grits, chicken nuggets, applesauce, etc.

Activities

• Latin American “Dia de los Santos Innocentes” (kind-of like American April Fools’ Day- because of the way the magi tricked King Herod)
• Play or procession of the Magi’s dealings with King Herod
• If you have replaced your purple and pink advent candles with a larger, white Christ-Candle, today surround it with smaller white candles representing the Holy Innocents. Have as many as there are children in your family. Each child is allowed to light one small candle from the flame of the Christ-Candle, signifying that just as he received his life from Christ, he will live and (if need be) die for Christ just as the Holy Innocents did.

Charity

• Honor altar servers
• Donate to Embrace (ministry for families experiencing miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death)

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Saint Sylvester

December 31

Prayers & Devotions

• Pray (or sing) the Te Deum for a plenary indulgence.
  • Gregorian chant: Te Deum laudamus (Lyric Video)

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Mary Mother of God

January 1

Prayers & Devotions

• Pray (or sing) the Veni Creator Spiritus for a plenary indulgence.
  • Gregorian chant: Veni Creator Spiritus (Lyric Video)

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Epiphany of the Lord

January 2

Prayers & Devotions

• Bless your home (aka “Chalking the Door”).
  • Blessing of the Home & Household on Epiphany

Foods & Symbols

• King Cake (to celebrate Christ, the newborn King) There are all kinds of these, not just the New Orleans kind- French puff pastry, Swiss sweet rolls, Scottish fruitcake, English tart. Make what you like- but remember to put the little plastic baby (through a hole you poke in the bottom after you bake it).  The lucky finder is “king for a day”.
• International-themed food (since the Magi came from foreign lands)
• Chocolate gold coins (for the gifts the Magi brought)
• Smarties, Nerds, Milky Ways (for the Wise Men and the fact that they followed the star)
• Wassail or “Lambs’ Wool” (mulled ale with baked apples)
  • Lambswool Recipe

Activities

• Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (or What You Will): This was written as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season.
• Twelfth Night Party
• White Elephant gift exchange (maybe a good way to trade off not-so-favorite Christmas gifts?)
• Star Singer procession: This stems from an acting-out of the Christmas story in the gospel of Matthew, and traditionally involves boys walking from house to house with a star on a rod, dressed to resemble the Magi. They sing special songs, act out the story, and collect for charitable causes.

Charity

• Collect donations for poor children (especially those in other countries). Children’s shoes or toys might be good choices.

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Most Holy Name of Jesus

January 3

Prayers & Devotions

• Pray the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus for a partial indulgence.
  • Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus Printable
• Read The Wonders of the Holy Name for free online.
• Renew your resolution never to offend God by the abuse of His name.
• Read Psalm 8, in praise of God’s name.

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Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

January 4

Saint John Neumann

January 5

Prayers & Devotions

• Pray for Catholic schools/education: Elizabeth founded a Catholic school, and John was the first ecclesiastic to organize a diocesan school system in the United States.

Foods & Symbols

• Colonial American food
• New York food (pizza, cheesecake, etc.): Elizabeth was born there, and John ordained there.
• Black-and-white cookies: These are very “New York” and also resemble Elizabeth’s habit.
• Philadelphia food (cheesesteak, etc.): John was bishop of Philadelphia.

Charity

• Honor teachers in some way (especially Catholic teachers).

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Baptism of the Lord

January 9

Prayers & Devotions

• Renew your baptismal promises.
  • Renewal of Baptismal Promises

Activities

• Invite the children’s (and/or your own) godparents over for a little party.
• This is the official end of the Christmas season. You can take down your decorations now.
• Have a Christmas greenery bonfire.

Charity

• Honor godparents in some way.

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