The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter! (This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
Maybe in the next week or so you will have a little time to check out the few links I have here.
Is it not so wonderful that we have an Octave of Christmas (a real version of that proverbial “month of Sundays”!) and Twelve Days of Christmas and the Christmas Season! Plenty of time to bask in it all and enjoy the fruits of all our preparations and visiting with friends!
And also send out Christmas cards… ahem.
Tonight, when some more of our family will have arrived, we will decorate the tree.
Bridget and I have had a lovely week of relatively calm time to get things ready. I still find myself wondering why, if I'm going to freeze my babkas etc, did I not make them in early December. But, hey ho.
(Not pictured: a freezer full of breads, pie crusts (for that tourtière I linked to last week!) and more cookie dough that Habou will attend to today!)
I pray that you have a happy Christmas time! God bless you all!
Some links for you:
- A really long piece about the Blessed Virgin, via Anglo-Saxon O Antiphon poetry. We need to be studying what the Church has always taught about her (and continues to teach in the Liturgy) because our contemporary commentators often have a hold of the wrong end of the stick.
“The idea of Mary as the ‘gate to heaven' (porta caeli), and the ‘ladder to heaven' (scala caeli) are both metaphors with an ancient history, but to modern ears they can be surprising.”
Because we are caught in the therapeutic mode of our modern culture, we tend to reduce transcendent realities to projections of the self, ironically destroying, in the process, the very road (or door! or gate!) to freedom and truth. Yes, the intimate relatability of Mary can help our spiritual life, but if that is the only lens through which we ever view her, we are missing out on the bigger picture.
- Misunderstanding Mary leads us to misunderstand Christmas. We make the mistake of thinking that the Liturgical Year is a mere commemoration, rather than a living contact with the past. We begin to believe that Christmas is something we outgrow; that the childlike wonder that loses itself in simple adoration before the crèche is an unworthy response. We start to see Christianity itself as a sort of elevated social program and ourselves as mature operators whose meaning can only be found on the plane of activism. But the soul of the apostolate is deep contemplation and utter prostration before the Other, the unreachable God who became Man, but not man as God King — at least not until he was first the helpless Babe, yes, in a manger. I loved this article by Elizabeth Anderson, The Wisdom in Wonder: Children at Christmas Time — a good antidote to the self-affirmation of approaching Christmas as yet another opportunity to preach the social gospel.
- I never knew how to do Christmas Eve. This article about the Polish wigilia tradtion is inspiring; it's not that we have to do every little thing according to one country's customs, but using the main ideas and reflections as a template could be very helpful for those who are struggling with no traditions at all to fall back on!
- For no particular reason at all — just some decorating eye candy (and maybe inspiration for the coming new year? Even just that adorable orphan teacup-turned-scoop in the glass bin on the counter?): Pantry in Progress from Homespun Living.
From the archives:
- If you are getting overwhelmed with how overwhelmed your children are about to be, consider holding back some of the treats to bring out during the Twelve Days of Christmas: My plan for making Christmas less, not more, stressed.
- Plan some low-key visiting with friends and family next week or the week after: Deirdre's easy Hot Cocoa Party is a great way to do it.
Merry Christmas!
While you’re sharing our links with your friends, why not tell them about Like Mother, Like Daughter too!
We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).
James Anderson says
Hi, I was glad to see the Springerle cookies in one of your photos. They brought back fond memories of my youth and the cookies that my German grandmother used to bake and send to us every Christmas. A couple of years ago I found a German Bakery online that sells them.
Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family.
Jim
Leila says
Thanks, James! I am still learning, so mine are not perfect! But it was fun to do it!
Merry Christmas to you and yours — thank you for reading!
Clara says
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Thank you for your blog.
I made the tourtiere you linked to last week – it is delicious! The leftovers are delicious too.
priestswife @byzcathwife says
Merry Christmas! Christ is born!
Thank you for this series of posts- I love that I don’t need to ‘surf’ the web- because LMLD has done it for me already 🙂
Can I beg prayers for 2 of my sisters who are expecting babies in 2018 (one much sooner than the other) — thank you everyone!
Corina says
Merry Christmas to you and your family! Have a lovely Christmas season and thank you for your on line presence.
Annie says
Merry Christmas!!
My mom is Polish and hails from a large family AND an ethnic enclave, as described by that Wigilia article. What he writes about is my experience of celebrating Christmas Eve, which is one of my most beloved days of the year, too. My grandparents got engaged on Christmas Eve in 1950, so that day always had special significance in my family in addition to the Polish traditions we keep, which are magical in themselves.
Some of the more religious parts of the celebration have gone by the wayside in my family, but I look forward to emphasizing them more with my own family in the future. This tradition is a huge part of what has kept my extended family united (together with the strong faith of my grandparents). What a treasure!!
spindlitis says
Merry Christmas! And I have some good news to share. My stepson, who has been at odds with his dad at times and had a nasty break up with his girlfriend last year, made up with her and has been up twice to see us in the last month. And…she is pregnant! She is very happy about it. I will be working on him to do the right thing this time and marry her. We are really hoping that this will be a grandchild that we actually get to visit with. He’s not perfect, but he is a good dad.
Jess says
Please, please, please share your cookie recipes! I come from a very domestically challenged family (cooking = hot pockets and taquitos) and haven’t the slightest clue where to begin with Christmas cookies and pastries. I would love to start some of these traditions in my own family, but I never know what to make.
Leila says
Jess — our favorite Christmas cookies (or most of them) are linked here in this post (scroll down… ) http://likemotherlikedaughter.org/2013/12/pretty-happy-funny-real-christmas/
I suggest that as you sample others’ cookies this holiday season, just make note of what you like! Next year by the second week of Advent or so, you can start making plans of your own!
Jess says
Thank you! We have to make January cookies around here just to try this out!
Dixie says
Jess, go to the King Arthur Flour website and try some of their cookies! They even have a hotline you can call if you are having a problem/disaster while baking and they will help you.
Jess says
Thanks for the tip!
Caitlin says
I always so enjoy coming here– thank you for the lovely round-up. We make tourtiere every year at Christmas time… it’s fancy enough for us and a bit more practical at this all-toddler-and-baby stage of life than roasting a goose! Merry (sixth day of!) Christmas!
Mattie Nelson says
Beautiful as always Leila!
Any chance you would have a link (or source) to the beautiful Jesse Tree stain glass window coloring pages in the background for us? Very pretty please? Thank you!
Stephanie says
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Auntie Leila and LMLD Family! 🙂
What types of cookies are those that look like squares with pretty, raised designs stamped up from them? What type of dough do you make from them, and do you have special molds for them? They look beautiful and so unique – I would love to hear more about them!
God Bless!
Leila says
Stephanie, those are Springerle. I’ve had a mold for a while now and have just been experimenting with it — I tried some last year and then again this year. You can read about them and find a good recipe here: https://www.houseonthehill.net/
Marta says
Merry Christmas! Where did you find that printed coloring book medieval Jesse tree hanging in your dinning room? We had one in grade school and I can’t seem to find it online. The ornament-type Jesse trees are too high maintenance for us right now, but I love this one!
Debra Andriulli says
Leila, what a wonderful surprise to find my pantry mentioned under ‘bits & pieces’. Thank you so much for that and for your amazing website. I am always learning and inspired by your wisdom, which I would love to have had as my children were growing up!
A Happy New Year to you and yours,
Deb
Leila says
Marta and Mattie, the calendar is designed by C. E. Visminas Co. Ltd. The number on it is for Morehouse Publishing: 800-877-0012. Mine came from The Dumb Ox Publishers, I think, but it was a long time ago now. This is their information: Dumb Ox Publications
10201 Grove School Road
Beloit, WI 53511
Phone/Fax 608-879-9400
Toll free – 877-432-6454
Mattie Nelson says
Thank you so much Leila! I’ll call them next week 🙂