Christians’ fathers and mothers in the faith gifted us a season of preparation right at the perfect moment, in the weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas. The darkening of winter up to the Dec. 21 solstice is a somber time in the natural world, leading the faithful to ponder our glorious life to come.
Such images fill my thoughts as I execute the big mom job of making the holidays happen. With six kids so far and performing hosting duties most years, I have to plan quite a bit ahead to pull off all the food, activities, and presents. I’m sure it’s similar for most mothers. So here are some of the things I’m up to in this domain in the hope of inspiring you.
In all your holiday prep, do remember that your prayers and service to others are the reason for all the buying, wrapping, cooking, and decorating. We mothers are the festivity makers of the home and the world. This is a privilege, and it starts not with our credit cards, but the dispositions of our hearts. You can always borrow other people’s tools for free!
1. Freezing Holiday Food Now
Usually around October, I start freezing holiday food. Sixteen years into marriage, I have the menus for Thanksgiving, our favorite saints’ days, Christmas, and New Year’s pretty well set. So I prep and freeze one or two things for the holidays each week during any non-frenetic weeks between October and December. I often double or triple the food item so that part or all of it also puts me closer to the daily dinner.
So, for example, last week we had a scrumptious crockpot chicken and stuffing dinner (with homemade mushroom gravy, not the Campbell’s can), and I froze half of the bread cubes and mirepoix for Thanksgiving stuffing (I love Martha Stewart’s recipe). This weekend, I doubled Chris Kimball’s no-fail pie crust recipe in my food processor and froze the two crusts.
Because we have six kids, all my kitchen gear is the largest available to non-commercial kitchens: KitchenAid, Cuisinart food processor, InstantPot, etc. Today, around the same time as I finished off this article, I filled my 20-quart Nesco roaster to the brim with chili, working two InstantPots simultaneously to make all the beans. If we have enough left by midweek, I’ll be freezing that for a Thanksgiving-week dinner.
I also froze a 2-gallon bag of chopped, marinated sweet potatoes to roast for Thanksgiving, and next will make and freeze two cheese balls and the pumpkin pie filling. I’ve already canned up the pear and apple pie fillings and the cranberry sauce. That’s pretty much everything for a Thanksgiving dinner, outside the whipped cream and turkey.
If you want rolls on top of potatoes, you can freeze the dough for that, too! These cornmeal molasses rolls are delicious and very easy. I would make a double or triple batch, freeze part of the dough for Thanksgiving, and eat the other part with soup for a weeknight dinner. I also freeze our Christmas cookie doughs ahead of time. Then we can spend family time cutting out and decorating in Advent-tide.
Speaking of Christmas cookie doughs, let me introduce you to my two favorite resources for Springerle molds. I have also bought these as gifts for our daughters. They are Ad Crucem (the two below) and Kitchen Vixen.
These are pricey but also heirlooms to pass down. I’m currently eyeing this Saint Patrick one and this Saint George one (yes, I know, those are for another season!). My favorite is our Saint Nicholas one because it took me YEARS to find a Saint Nick mold that looked like a bishop and not Santa. It looks like Kitchen Vixen no longer carries my precious full-body Saint Nicholas mold, but they do carry this nice bishop-y one that is also distinguishable from a Santa.
Springerle do take more time than other cookies, because you have to dust the mold with flour for each impression and sometimes use a toothpick and clean them out. Making the dough beforehand leaves more time for the imprinting, which our children love to do.
2. Fresh Holiday Decor
I recently stopped at Ikea to refresh our collection of glass school lunch dishes and was delighted to accidentally encounter some of their Christmas designs this year. I like to add to my holiday decor just a little bit every year, to spread out both the cost and the overwhelm.
Some of their new designs are tacky, of course, but several were thrilling. Here are the things I picked up that I can’t wait to decorate my house with in mid-late Advent.
I love these heavy gold ornaments and picked up an entire stack to decorate the mini Christmas tree that goes on my kitchen counter.
They will go very nicely with the Christmons I always use on that tree and all over our fake greenery starting the third week of Advent.
I also grabbed a couple of packs of these inexpensive white paper decorations. I also love natural textures and fibers, like paper, wood, and stone. This year, Ikea has several variations on the paper theme.
You can make similar but larger decorations with natural or white paper lunch bags, something I like to do with my daughters during Advent. They’re reminiscent of paper snowflakes, another simple, classic wintertime family craft.
Speaking of paper, the items that had me nearly squealing in happiness were multiple kinds of hanging paper star lights. They remind me of the Moravian star designs that originated in the 1830s in Germany. Many traditions that we now consider to define Christmas ambiance come from Germany, including the Christmas tree, which appears to have originated in the 16th century with Martin Luther, who was inspired by stars shining through trees.
Of course, the association of stars with Christmas is original to the Bible, as famously the wise men followed a glorious star to find Jesus and worship Him. The Moravians particularly used geometric and mathematical star designs, reflecting God’s love of order as revealed constantly throughout nature. It’s also a reflection of the natural world, as stars look brighter in the dark of winter.
So I’ve wanted a giant glowing star for many years, and now, thanks to Ikea, I have three. Be forewarned that you not only have to pay for the star lampshade but also for special lightbulbs and a cord or lamp base separately to make a working light contraption, which brings the price up (or I would have bought twice as many!). I cannot wait to put these up!
I bought three sizes of the snowflake-like star light above, but they have many designs, and I also really like this big gold one, even though I didn’t pick it up this time. They look magical! I love decorating with lighted objects for Christmas. “Glow” and “twinkly lights” really define the Christmas atmosphere to me, in addition to “greenery” and “softness.”
I also like this red lantern, which they have in two sizes, and these lovely leafy gold light strands — a touch of gold or red can really pop a color scheme — but decided not to buy them as I had reached my spending limit on other items. Plus, I have two other lanterns that hold candles and more LED twinkle lights than I have ever used all at once.
3. Knocking Out the Christmas Gift List Early
Throughout the year, I buy gifts whenever I see a suitable item on sale. I always try to take care of gifts before Thanksgiving hits so I can focus on celebrations, cooking, and events during the holidays. So I have almost my entire Christmas list for this year bought, wrapped, and stored in my bedroom closet.
No, I never accomplished this with a nursing baby, but in those days, I did make at least some early headway on this big chore that is even bigger when one has six children to procure gifts for. It really takes pressure off November and December and helps me be present with my family and God during the saints’ days and Divine Service special music the children prepare at school, and so forth.
I’ve bought these wooden Advent candle wreaths for my children and godchildren, and they sell out early every year, so get yours today if you want it. Thirty-two dollars from a lovely American-based small business.
I can also recommend Wicking Vicar’s play baptism candle set, another great gift for a young godchild. We like to give godchild gifts for Christmas and baptism days/birthdays (in our circles, pious parents tend to baptize their babies about as soon as mom can physically get to church, so baptism days are very close to birthdays).
Another of my favorite gift options for godchildren (or any children) are hymn board books for toddlers and babies, or the Creed and 10 Commandments fictional series for elementary-school children from Kloria Press.
I particularly love these two series because: a) They are so inexpensive! I can easily get copies for a dozen children with hardly a dent in the budget. b) They are very well-written and fabulous family read-alouds. And c) the series isn’t all published yet, so I don’t have to worry about what I’m going to buy my godchildren for the next couple of years! I also love to support current authors who are putting out quality work amid the self-implosion of the woke publishing industry.
Tip: If you sign up for Kloria’s email list, you can buy each subsequent book as it comes out for a pre-release price even lower than their standard (seriously, $10-$15 for a hardback plus free shipping is an insanely low price — I don’t know how they make any money!).
While we’re at it, I’ll throw in a 25 percent off coupon for my Advent Prepbook, the guide I designed for my Christmas season preparations. Use code FEDERALIST now through Nov. 30, the first day of Advent this year.
4. Refresh the Advent Supplies
For those of us liturgical Protestants (and Catholics) who celebrate, now is a good time to refresh your Advent candles if you burned yours all the way down last year like we did.
We’ve enjoyed making our own Advent candles together using this set from Toadily Handmade, a Christian small business ($45). It is very easy. When I am very prepared, we’ve made these candles on Candlemas (Feb. 2) for the next Advent season. The kit makes three complete Advent candle sets. You can also buy it on Amazon, but I prefer to buy directly when possible because Amazon is evil.
If you’d rather buy them premade, I’d go with this set from Theology of Home ($28). It is also beeswax, which doesn’t emit yucky chemicals for your family to breathe in.
Some friends of ours prefer pillar Advent candles, as they are less at risk of toppling over if a kid bumps the table, and they burn longer. Toadily also offers those:
Years ago, I bought our Advent candle holders at Goodwill for probably $1 apiece. We have two different-looking glass sets. Glass candle holders are often in good supply at secondhand shops, so check out your nearest one if you need some. A few years ago, I had to get a replacement because a kid broke one, and it was one quick trip to the nearest Goodwill, plus another dollar. If you buy things like this cheap, then you don’t have to freak out over inevitable kid destruction!
If you’re in the market for an heirloom Advent candle holder, I don’t think you can do much better than Theology of Home’s gorgeous wooden one.
As for other Advent prep, I can’t get myself to buy the chocolate Advent calendars or other similar ones that contain treats because Advent is a penitential season, during which I usually give up sweets and more. I can’t justify teaching my children the opposite by giving them a daily candy or Lego figure. Gifts are for the 12 Days of Christmas, not Advent.
Plus, to eat candy every day in Advent and THEN have Christmas treats for two weeks is a sugar overload. So I prefer paper or cloth Advent calendars.
Theology of Home has a $12 Jesse Tree sticker kit, which is great, especially with little children. We have a felted Jesse Tree that I made years ago.
Another lovely, anti-greed option is the Sharing Kindness Advent calendar, a popular sticker-based calendar ($34). Each sticker reveals a suggested way to show kindness to another person, such as writing a thank-you note or holding a door. This reminds me of the old European Christkindl tradition in which each family member picks the name of another family member from a jar, then tries to secretly do at least one kind thing for that person each day of Advent.
These luxe calendars are large and interactive, offering an entire scene to decorate with the daily sticker. My favorite is the Paris museum scene. One drawback of these calendars is their lack of recognizing Jesus Christ as the reason for and center of Christmas. I would use them to augment a Jesse Tree or other Bible-focused family tradition, as another tool for helping the kids mark the Advent journey towards celebrating Christmas and anticipating Christ’s return.
Studio Senn, another small Christian business, has a lovely, definitely Christ-focused scratch-off Jesse Tree Advent calendar ($20). I hope her Jesse Tree window clings come back into stock soon because those are another fabulous option.
I use Studio Senn’s O Antiphon cards for the last eight days of Advent. Another beautiful option is this relatively new O Antiphons package of artwork and meditations by Kelly Schumacher via All the Household.
All the Household is a Protestant liturgical resource. Their liturgical wall calendars are extremely popular and tend to sell out ($36). They run December through December to match the liturgical year, and buying one this week will perfectly time your planning for a fresh church year. Catholic All Year offers a similar calendar with the Roman saints calendar as a printable download.
I have a growing collection of artwork from Kelly, and the next one I’d like to get is this Saint Nicholas print. For the various saints’ days, I put framed relevant artwork on a stand on our kitchen counter where all can see. Someday, I will share my filing system for all these mementoes. Remember, Saint Nicholas’ Day occurs during Advent!
Kelly has an incredible selection of Christmas cards to look at, too. Speaking of which, I just picked up my chocolate coins for the kids’ Saint Nicholas Day shoes at Trader Joe’s. I also pick up “gold” one-dollar coins from the bank to mix in with the chocolate.
5. Preparing the Mind and Heart
A Hillsdale College press release for the perfectly timed “Colonial America” course gave me the idea to switch my podcast listening time to Hillsdale’s free online courses and audiobooks. They provide a lot more value for the time spent, and not currently having a baby gives me more mental ability to process thicker ideas.
The first lesson is an excellent match for Thanksgiving and Advent-tide. The other five drop Nov. 25 — just in time to do the whole course during Thanksgiving weekend if you want.
Martinmas, or Saint Martin’s Day, is Nov. 11, on what is now called Veterans’ Day. Martin Luther was born on this day, which is named after the saint.
Three years ago, I listened to a podcast episode I’ll never forget, a series of poems, proclamations, and thoughts on the conjunction of Martinmas, Armistice Day, and Thanksgiving. You can listen to that episode of A Brief History of Power here.
For those who want some more Thanksgiving audio, click on over to Brief History host Rev. Dr. Adam Koontz’s 2022 Thanksgiving episode here. I’ve come to love Martinmas after that 2021 episode and now think of it as the bookend of fall, with the opening bookend being Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael and All Angels. Thanksgiving weekend, usually falling as it does on the Thursday before Advent, to me marks the beginning of winter.
There’s a traditional connection between Martinmas and Thanksgiving, too, as Martinmas is essentially the Old World Thanksgiving — the feast marking the end of the harvest. The time between Martinmas and Epiphany is a cycle of preparation and feasting to bring light and joy to the darkest days of the year.
