Handmade Christmas

I'm not the craftiest knife in the drawer, but wanted to share some of my handmade Christmas gifts.

When we asked Nicholas what he wanted for Christmas, he would say:
You! (Cute)
One big happy family! (Cuter)
A giant robot to destroy Michael. (Not so cute)

Giant robots being hard to come by, I made him a "Make Your Own Robot" Kit instead:








I gathered a bunch of beads, blocks, and other wood findings and painted them a metallic silver. I added a silver glitter to some as well. I added details with a Sharpie and then used adhesive velcro. I threw in some silver pipe cleaner lengths as well. I was afraid the velcro would fall off, but so far, so good!


Nick loves his robot army.


And so does Daniel!

Handmade (but NOT by me!) is this great robot shirt I bought from Bellflower Textiles on Etsy. Ignore the chocolate dribbling out of his mouth.


For Katie Grace, I made this hair accessory organizer:


I bought this great handmade-by-someone-else diaper for Daniel from Tot Wraps at the Hyena Cart website:


And my friend Lisa knit these longies for Daniel before he was even born, but I never had a shirt to go with them. Thanks to Marisa at The Funky Giraffe, I do now!




And look- I made them myself!

Long time, no see.

So, as usual, we had our usual Christmas outbreak of the plague... erm... of illness... this year. Michael threw up the Sunday before, then we had a few days off. Then Daniel started hurling, and then it was my turn. I couldn't even go to church on Christmas Eve. I couldn't even direct my own choir--my husband had to do it. I don't have pictures of everyone wearing their Christmas outfits and standing around the church tree. *weeps*

Nevertheless, we had ourselves a merry little Christmas. By Christmas Day I was well enough to cook dinner, if not to eat it. And now, two days later, we mostly seem on the mend. Here's hoping the rest of them don't get sick!

And despite my lack of photos of the children clothed in Christmas splendor, I do have a picture of them dressed up in their tradition Christmas jammies a nice church lady gives them each year:

More to come, hopefully. I hope your Christmas was merry, bright, and blessed!

Take action! Save handmade.

Remember Christmas a year ago? Hundreds of toys were being recalled for having dangerously high lead levels, small parts that could detach, and unsafe components. Toys had magnets that could be ingested and dangerous chemicals that could and were making our children sick. By and large, these recalled toys were from major toy manufacturers who outsourced their labor to China and other developing nations.

Fast forward to August, 2008, when Congress, recognizing that the Consumer Product Safety Commission lacked the people-power to stop dangerous toys from coming into the US, passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, or CPSIA. Among other things, this Act bans pthalates, lead, and other dangerous chemicals in toys, mandates that all toys be tested for these things, and requires a date and batch number be placed on each toy.

Sounds good, right?

Well, it is if you're a large toy manufacturer with the money and means. For small American, Canadian, and European toy makers who haven't been a problem in the first place? Not so much.

The costs per toy are going to be upwards of $4,000. Per toy.

That's an impossible sum for the dad in New England carving wooden cars, or the mom in the country making dolls, or even Selecta, a German company who has already announced its plans to withdraw from the US market.

It's not too late. The CPSIA can still be modified to exclude a class of toymakers that have never abused the consumers' trust--small American, European, and Canadian toymakers.

Take Action!
Find your congressperson here, and your senator here. Write to them. The Handmade Toy Alliance has a great sample letter here, as well as a more thorough explanation here.

You can also sign an online petition here.

Save handmade!

Winter Saints: Elizabeth Has a Baby

I've always loved the story of St. Elizabeth, not just because it's another story of a woman longing for a child and God blessing her, but because he gave her another gift as well-- nine months of silence from her husband, Zechariah.

Let's think about it for a minute- this is a man who argued with an angel, a messenger from God. I can only imagine what he must have been like to live with.

Nine months of silence did Zechariah good, though. When he finally spoke, it wasn't to question or criticize, but to praise God.

You, child, will be called Prophet of the Most High,
for you come to prepare a pathway for the Lord.

Winter Saints: Lazarus, Come Forth!

In Scripture, the story of Lazarus ends when Jesus calls him out of the tomb. He walks and breaths and eats, a witness to a miracle. But legend picks up where the Bible leaves off, and tales are told of what Lazarus made of his second life.

One such story tells of Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, sharing the gospel in Jaffa. Their enemies put them in a leaky boat and sent them out to see, but God intervened once again and saved them, settling them on the island of Cyprus, where they settled and lived and preached for 30 years.

Another story, much like the first, has them landing on the coast of France, where Lazarus became a bishop and was eventually martyred by the Roman emperor.

What would we do with a second chance at life?

Winter Saints: Lucy, the Stubborn Teenager

We were out of town on Saturday morning (though we did wake up a little earlier so we could have our St. Lucy buns, masquerading as muffins!), so we didn't get to the story of St. Lucy until today. But what a story!

Legend has it that when the man chosen to marry Lucy was rejected, he denounced Lucy to the governor as a Christian. Lucy sat in a chair and waited to be taken away.

When the soldiers came, they found that they couldn't carry her out. They even hitched a team of oxen to her, and they still couldn't carry her out! They poured boiling oil on her and set the house on fire, but she would not move, nor would she die. Said Lucy,

To bear witness to my true bridegroom Jesus Christ, I do not burn.

It was only when a soldier ran a sword through her throat that she finally died.

We celebrate St. Lucy, whose name means "light" as one of the many lights along the path of our Advent journey.

Saint Lucy,

you did not hide your light under a basket,
but let it shine for the whole world,
for all the centuries to see.
We may not suffer torture in our lives the way you did,
but we are still called to let the light of our Christianity
illumine our daily lives.
Please help us to have the courage
to bring our Christianity into our work, our recreation, our relationships, our conversation
every corner of our day. Amen

Winter Saints: Old Testament Justice

This week, we've visited some women of the Old Testament:

Hagar, who conceived and bore a child as part of her duties as a slave.

Sarah, who wanted a baby more than anything in the world, and laughed when she was told that it would be so.

A woman known only to us as "A woman of Zorah," who was also visited by an angel, and given a pregnancy to-do list that makes "What to Expect When You're Expecting" look pretty mild in comparison.

Hannah, who wanted a child so badly that she was willing to give him back to God in return.

God, who heard the cries of their hearts, protected them and their children. During this Advent, we can seek to be like the women who place their hearts' desires in God's hands, like their families and friends who supported them, saying "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant what you ask", and like the angels sent by God to bring good news and peace to broken hearts.

Winter Saints: Our Lady of Guadalupe

"My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen."

Once again in Advent, we have a story of an unlikely messenger. The Mother of God appears not to a king or even directly to the bishop, but to a member of the lowest, despised class of the Aztecs, who themselves were now despised by the Spanish conquistadors. She chose him, not in spite of his lowliness, but because of it. He said:

"I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf"

And Mary replied:

"My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother's Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard."

Buy My Stuff

If anyone is interested, I have tons of stuff for sale here on my yard sale blog. So far, it's lots of books and DVDs-- homeschool, homemaking, Waldorf, and more. I have lots more to add!

Winter Saints: Franco Lippi

Some saints get an early start. Like St. Rumbold, the infant saint who supposedly said "I am a Christian" when he was three days old, and then died. Or St. Therese, the Little Flower, who began seeking God early in life.

Other saints get off to a later start, like today's saint, Franco Lippi. After a life of sin, he fled Siena when accused of murder. He became blind, and went on a pilgrimage to Spain. When he returned, he sought to join a monastery, but was turned away. And really, who can blame them? He left an accused murderer and returned a saint-wanna-be. They instructed him to come back in five years, probably figuring he would be dead by then, since he was past fifty years old. He continued his life of penance and returned to the monastary in five years, where he was taken in. He died at the age of 70.

Where does this fit in on our Advent journey of social justice? Like Franco Lippi, we're all living a life of self-indulgance. We may not think we're as deep in as he is, but the truth is that every instance of putting ourselves above others grieves our Lord. And also, like Franco Lippi, we can remember that it's never too late to turn and repent, to put away the old person and be born again. And a final lesson, I think, is to remember that sometimes, even when we have a conversion experience and change our ways, we need to give those around a chance to see the change in us before they can believe it.

Peace and grace to you along your Advent journey!

Nicholas's World

That's a Duplo cat riding a knight's horse, ready to charge a race car. I'd love to get inside this kid's head for just ten minutes.

Matisse's Goldfish

This week we took a look at Matisse's painting Goldfish.
We especially loved the detail of the fishies reflected in the top of the tank.
We wanted to observe some live goldfish, but unfortunately, we don't have any. We had to settle for YouTube instead.




After a brief period of making fishie faces, we broke out the markers, and here's what we came up with!

Michael's goldfish

Nicholas's fish. One has chicken pox, one is a "rocket fish" and another has an acorn on his head.

Katie Grace's goldfish

Wordless Wednesday (A day late!)

Family Advent Calendar

I posted about it here, now here's a picture of ours!

Advent Nature Table

The first light of Advent is the light of stones.
Stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones.

The second light of Advent is the light of plants;
Plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.

Works for Me Wednesday: A quiet church toy

I started doing this when my oldest, who is now almost ten, was a baby! Laminated holy cards on a key ring make a great quiet-time church toy!

From my notebook...

Location, Location, Location

I'm taking a break from Advent and Christmas to share this fun idea from my notebook. Use a set of measuring spoons to show the relationship between geographical concepts. Label the smallest spoon with your address, the next smallest with your city, then your state, your country, continent, and so on. The smaller spoons rest in the larger spoons, showing how they're all related!

Winter Saints: St. Francis Xavier, Big Maruthas, Crispina, Nicholas, and Ambrose

Obviously, I have gotten a bit behind.

Every morning during morning prayer, we read

Love and fidelity embrace,
peace and justice kiss.
Fidelity sprouts from the earth,
justice leans down from heaven.

The Lord pours out riches,
our land springs to life.
Justice clears God's path,
justice points the way.
--Psalm 85

Justice is a recurring theme in our Advent journey this year.

St. Francis Xavier sought justice and peace. In a time when those around him were attempting to share God's word with people they neither loved nor respected, St. Francis learned their language, wore their clothes, ate their food, adapted their customs. In a way, it mirrors the story of Christ's incarnation,

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2: 6-10

As our book states, "How could anyone hear of the love of God from people who didn't love them?" How indeed.

And then Bishop Maruthas, that great, ungainly saint. He went seeking justice for his people and, along the way, caused another bishop's death. And yet it was his unfailing ability to love the unlovable--healing the very king who was a party to the persecution of the Christians--that brought justice to his land.

St. Crispina also sought justice. She would not, as the judge suggested, pretend to worship the gods of the Roman Empire just to keep her head, even if that meant being martyred. We copied the words of St. Crispina:

Would you have me turn against the one who gives me life?

And of course, St. Nicholas, who filled our shoes on Saturday morning with gingerbread men representing children, candy canes representing his staff, and chocolate coins representing the dowry of the girls destined for prostitution. St Nicholas, who said to the sailors when he wanted grain for his hungry people

Do not be afraid to do what is right.

And not only did his people have grain enough for that year and the next, but the sailors were left with the same amount of grain as they started with, satisfying the inspectors.

Finally, we have St. Ambrose, the poet bishop.
Our books says Ambrose was "fierce in God's service." He was not afraid to seek justice, and even engaged in a peaceful protest when a Roman governor misused one of the Christian churches. The people sang songs at this early sit-in written by St. Amrose himself. Here is one we still sing today:

Redeemer of the nations,
Make known your wondrous birth
Which so befits your grandeur
And sanctifies the earth.
A virgin was your mother,
O holy mystery!
Let all creation marvel
At your nativity.

It's a joy this Advent to study the lives of these peaceful, faith, and just saints. I pray you are finding similar inspiration during this season!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Baked beans and chops
Tuesday: Tuscan Cannelloni soup
Wednesday: Salmon, potatoes, and veggies
Thursday: Potato and Bacon coddle, cabbage
Friday: Beef enchiladas and salad
Saturday: Out of town!
Sunday: Lasagna

Circle Time! Advent, Week One

Opening verse, from Wynstones Winter book:
Winter is dark,
Yet each tiny spark
Brightens the way
To Christmas Day. (Light candle)

Shine little light
And show us the way
To the bright light
Of Christmas Day!

Adventsong from Pentatonic Songs
From the forest bring the boughs
Of fir and spruce and pine.
Bring them home, bedeck the house
For now it's Advent time.

Light the candles one by one,
Count off the days in rhyme.
Every day a task well done
For now it's Advent time!

Light the Advent candle.
Stay awake, be ready,
You do not know the hour when the Lord is coming.
Stay awake, be ready,
The Lord is coming soon -
Alleluia, alleluia, the Lord is coming soon.

For week one, St. Nicholas!
Sing "Jolly Old St. Nicholas".

Another St. Nicholas rhyme:
Kind old man, St. Nicholas dear.
Come into our house this year.
Here's some straw and here's some hay
For your little donkey gray.

Pray put something in my shoe.
I've been good the whole year through!
Kind old man, St. Nicholas dear,
Come into our house this year.

And another one from Let Us Form a Ring.
Nicholas, St. Nicholas
Come to us today.
Ride upon your white horse
From far, far away.

Bring us golden treasure,
Fill our hearts with love,
Ready for the Christ child,
Fill our hearts with love,
Ready for the Christ child
Coming from above.

Clap Your Hands
Oh clap, clap, your hands and sing out with glee!
Christmas is coming and merry are we.
Now over the snow comes old St. Nick
He comes with his donkey, quick, quick, quick.
We'll put out our shoes and when we're asleep
Into our house St. Nicholas will creep.
He'll fill our shoes with presents and then
St. Nicholas and his donkey will scamper off again.
So clap, clap your hands and sing out with glee!
Christmas is coming and merry are we.

A circle play: From Heaven's Arch on High. If you have Nativity figures, you could also do this as a little table play.
Begin by holding hands and walking in a circle.
From heaven's arch on high
A little light draws nigh.
Stops to hear,
Stands quite near,
Wonder what is happening here.

Stand still and rock a "baby". Beckon with hands where appropriate.
The mother with her baby
Calls the light in gaily:
"Come in here!
Come in here!
Light us with your radiance clear."

Two hold hands so a third can walk through.
And shining ever clearer
The light comes softly nearer
In the night
Shines so bright
That the child may take delight.

End by kneeling on the floor.
Then all the lights divine
They bring their golden shine
And the bow
Deep and low
Bringing him their heavenly glow.

We say this verse from Journey Through Time in Verse and Rhyme before we add something to our Advent nature table. For the first week, we added some interesting rocks/stones each day.
Sun, sun, shining one,
Have you a gift for my little son?
Moon, moon, glittering one,
Have you a gift for my little son?
Stars, stars, twinkling ones...
Fir tree, fir tree, strong ones...
Flowers, flowers, fragrant ones...
Lamb, lamb, gentle ones...
Oh children, children of the earth,
Have you a gift for my new son's birth?

Five Little Bells
Five little bells hanging in a row
Hold up five fingers
The first one said, "Ring me slow!"
The second one said, "Ring me fast!"
The third one said, "Ring me last."
The fourth said, "I'm like a chime."
The fifth one said, "It's almost Christmas time!"

Before we blow out the candles we sing
Peace, peace, peace on earth
And good will to all.
This is the time for love.
This is the time for joy.
Now let us all sing together
Of peace, peace, peace on earth.

From my notebook...

Wood Block Nativity

SUPPLIES: Wood blocks cut from two-by-fours, from 5" to 10", felt scraps, beads, ribbon, glitter, etc, and craft glue.

Decide what figures you want in your Nativity scene and cut a block for each figure. Sand the blocks well, especially if little ones are going to be playing with them. Round the corners for safety as well.

In addition to Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus, you may want Wise Men, shepherds, sheep, an angel, and other animals. Copy simple drawings and cut the shapes from felt. Glue to the appropriate block. You can layer the felt or add the other materials for details.

This week's feasts and festivals, plans and projects

Monday, December 8
Feast of the Immaculate Conception! We like to celebrate Mary's birthday with a cake.
Also, Michael has Scouts and Katie Grace has basketball practice.

Tuesday, December 9
Nothing but Katie Grace's ballet practice. Whoo hoo!

Wednesday, December 10
Human Rights Day

Thursday, December 11
Blessed Franco Lippi
Chime choir and basketball for Michael, Brownies for Katie Grace.

Friday, December 12
Our Lady of Guadalupe, which means Mexican food for dinner! Then tonight is the church hike down Candy Cane Lane, followed by cocoa and cookies.

Saturday, December 13
Santa Lucia!
This is also the day of our family Christmas party.

Sunday, December 14
The third Sunday of Advent. Choir practice tonight.

We'll continue to do Advent stuff this week and slowly start decorating the house for Christmas. I'm also hoping to get back into a cooking and cleaning routine. I've been lax!

From my notebook...

Nose So Bright

This is a silly project, but fun!

On black paper, let your child sponge paint to his heart's content with white paint. When it's all done, glue on a red pom-pom-- Rudolph's nose!

From my notebook...

A Family Advent Calendar

Make a large calendar grid on a piece of poster board (blue or rose for Advent is nice!). Be sure to leave the squares big enough to write your plans for each day! Plan your Advent season together, writing down special dates, get-togethers, parties, family outings, deadlines, saints' days, etc. Add pictures to represent different activities. We like to draw 4 little candles in each Sunday box, with one lit the first Sunday, two the second, etc.

Hang in a place where you all can see it, and mark off the days until Christmas.

From my notebook...

Snow-Covered Snack Mix

This easy peasy idea is a yummy winter snack. Just mix together yogurt-covered raisins and yogurt-covered pretzels. My kids like to put them in a brown paper baggie and shake them up themselves.

From my notebook...

The Empty Manger

Give each child a smallish cardboard box (alternately, you can all work together to fill one "manger"). Decorate it if you wish. Each time a child does a good turn or a kind deed, they can add a piece of straw (even cut up yellow construction paper works!) to the manger. The goal is to make a soft, snug manger bed for Baby Jesus! After the children are asleep on Christmas Eve, add a sweet little Infant Jesus to the bed.

A Day in the Life...

Sadly, this will be a pictureless day in the life, not because there's anything wrong with my camera, but because I couldn't find it. DOH!

Our official school day got off to a late start, not because we slept in (OK, Daniel and Nicholas slept in until 9, but the rest of us were up by 7) but because Michael and Katie Grace were engaged in a game of Monopoly. They were busy "learning" math and, more importantly, social skills. While they did that, I puttered around the kitchen a bit and made our family Advent/Christmas/Epiphany calendar.

At 9:15, everyone was awake, dressed, fed, and changed, so we had morning prayer. We've put aside our morning devotions to follow the stories and readings in Winter Saints (see previous posts). Their format for morning prayer is just lovely.

Afterwards, Michael got to work on his daily stuff (spelling, geography, math, and reading The Maiden of Northland: A Hero Tale of Finland) while I worked on Katie Grace's main lesson. She is doing an Advent saints unit. Today she drew a picture of Rosa Parks, who we learned about yesterday. She said to me, "Mama, they can lock up a body, but they can't lock up a person's thoughts." Smart girl.

We also worked a little on measuring with inches and half-inches. It was a short main lesson, as I hadn't really finished planning yet. I worked on that today.

We broke for oranges and then did copywork that went around with our saints' story: "Whatever you did for the least of mine, you did for me."

Next it was time for Michael's main lesson--Norse Mythology. Not exactly Adventy, I know. We defined some vocab terms and reviewed some basic Viking facts, including some map work. He did a creative writing exercise from the point of view of a Norseman leaving his homeland. Then he started reading "The Children of Odin." He was really put out by the unfairness of the Norse gods, too. I mean it. He was ticked. It was kind of funny.

Due to the late start, poor Nick didn't get his time with me today. Which he was fine with, really. He's in some sort of hunter-gatherer phase where he likes to hide up in his room and make piles of stuff under his sheets. Who knows? He's cute, but odd.

Lunch--potato soup topped with bacon and cheese, YUM!--followed by a 10-minute tidy, and then Catherine, Called Birdie.

Then we read about the Vikings invading England--we have Vikings coming out of our ears--and then moved on to Latin. The saying of the week: Homo est animal rationale. I don't know how to do accent marks, sorry. "Man is a rational animal." We looked at vocabulary words that come from the Latin root word rationale. Then we looked at the genitive/possessive case. The Michael read a little Cicero and we discussed the idea that animals live solely in the moment, but people can make decisions based on the past and present. And this is why I love homeschooling-- my fourth grader is reading freaking CICERO! Too cool.

We were going to do science but again, no planning. So we cleaned up and called it an afternoon. Everyone had screen time while I did my planning and put the baby to bed.

I hope you had a productive day as well!

Winter Saints: Four Martyrs of El Salvador

"If we leave the people when they suffer the cross, how credible is our word to them? The church's role is to accompany those who suffer the most, and to witness our hope in the resurrection."
- Maura Clarke

Today, we read the story of four other modern saints: Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel. Maura and Ita were Maryknoll sisters, Ita, an Ursuline sister, and Jean a laywoman. They took to heart Christ's words:

"I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison, and you visited me, for whatever you did for one of the least of mine, you did for me."

In the midst of a war raging in El Salvador, the women made their home among the widowed and the orphaned. They were afraid, and thought of returning home to the safety of America. Jean wrote:

Several times I have decided to leave-- I almost could except for the children, the poor bruised victims of adult lunacy. Who would care for them? Whose heart would be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of tears and loneliness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine.

And so, they chose the hard thing, and stayed. On December 2, 1980, Sisters Maura and Ita were picked up at the airport by Sister Dorothy and Jean. They were followed by soldiers, ordered out of the car, raped, beaten, shot, and left to die in a cow pasture.

Of course, the book didn't speak of the rape or the beating. The execution itself was enough to cause my children to stare at me in shock. "Why, mama? Why were they so afraid of their love that they had to kill them? What could they hurt by caring?" Good questions. And I had to ask myself, why does this martyrdom done only 20 years ago seem so much more real than the martyrs of old? Why does it prick my conscience so?

My husband preached a sermon not too long ago asserting that the opposite of love is not hate, but fear. And, of course, "perfect love casts out all fear." Indeed, "the history of the church is written in the blood of the martyrs," and in the stories of those who were willing to set aside their own comfort, their very selves, in order to serve others. May we, too, choose love over fear this Advent season, no matter what path it takes us down.

Am I willing to suffer with the people here, the powerless? Can I say to my neighbors, "I have no solutions to this situation; I don't know the answers, but I will walk with you, be with you"? Can I let myself be evangelized by this opportunity?
--Sister Ita Ford

From my notebook...

Surprise Stocking

The time leading up to Christmas can get a little hectic. One thing I like to do is to write extra treats and surprises on slips of paper and keep them in a small stocking. When we have some extra time or have had an extra great day or just need to reconnect, we pull out a "stocking surprise" and do what the paper says. It can range from making cookies to watching a holiday movie to going for a walk and counting Christmas lights.

Winter Saints: Rosa Parks

During Advent, we'll be working our way through a book called Winter Saints by Melissa Nussbaum with illustrations by Judy Jarrett. It fits in nicely with Katie Grace's second grade saints main lesson block.

The book not only tells the tales of great saints, both familiar and not-so-familiar, but also of some great heroes. Today we heard the story of a quiet hero, Rosa Parks.

What I love about this story is that it doesn't make Rosa out to be a passive hero, too lazy and tired to move to the back of the bus, a hero by happenstance and not by design. Neither is she an unsuspecting, unknowledgeable bystander-- this Rosa Parks, though forced to drop out of school to care for a sick mother-- was well-read, studying Ghandi and discussing with her church group how to effect change in a society that regarded her and all her people as second-class citizens. It acknowledges that Rosa and her friends spent hours planning how to make things more fair. Rosa wasn't a reluctant hero, but a purposeful one, volunteering to be the first to strike a blow for civil rights.

Another fascinating fact is that Rosa Parks had a baby just two weeks before she was arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus. I can't imagine how bonewrearingly exhausted she must have been, how worried she must have been for her infant child at home, yet how convinced and sure-footed she was in knowing that her cause was just and right. Katie Grace wanted to know who nursed the baby while Rosa was in prison. It was an opportunity to explain the sad fact that some women cannot nurse their babies not because they don't want to, but because economic realities force them back to work at jobs that don't make accomodations for little babies.

In this time when we learn about the winter saints, it seems very fitted to acknowledge this brave woman who said "Do what you have to do. I am not moving."

Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:24) ~*~*~ Seek good and not evil, that you may live. (Amos 5:14) ~*~*~ For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever. (Psalm 9:18)

From my notebook...

A Hand-y Santa Banner

These are cute grandparent gifts, or they look sweet hanging on a door.

You will need red, skin-colored, and white paint. Paint your child's fingers white, palm skin-colored, and the part closest to the wrist and the thumb red. Then have your child press her hand onto the center of a dark green square of felt. After it dries, add blue fingerprint eyes and a red fingerprint nose to Santa's face, as well as fingerprint snowflakes around the Santa. Don't forget a fingerprint white pom pom at the end of the thumb "hat"!

You can add a ribbon for hanging and use fabric paint to write a message or your child's name and the year on your banner.

From my notebook...

A verse for lighting your Advent wreath...

Winter is dark,
Yet each tiny spark
Brightens the way
To Christmas Day.