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December 24, 2011  

Advent Shadowbox: Christmas Eve Checklist

December 24, 2011
28th Day of Advent
Christmas Eve

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Christmas Eve Checklist
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□ Make Chocolate Chip Cookies for Santa

□ Make Gingerbread Cutouts, too!

□ Go to Family Mass

□ Indulge in the Feast of the Seven Fishes

□ Ice the Bûche de Noël

□ Drink Hot Chocolate and Sing the Carols You Wrote in Your Pajamas

□ Open One Gift From Under the Tree!

□ Leave Cookies, Milk, and Reindeer Biscuits by the Fire
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To say we’ll be busy this Saturday is an understatement…But we’ve gotten most of the prep work done ahead of time. So, the “business” will be in the fun!  The cookie doughs have been in the freezer for a week, as have been our pasta sauce and soup for this evening’s feast (see below). We made our reindeer biscuits on Wednesday and wrote our carols last weekend!  So, aside from heating up the supper and whipping up an easy peasy jelly roll cake, ie the Bûche de Noël (and I skipped the meringue mushrooms this year!), we’re good to go!

The Feast of the Seven fishes (festa dei sette pesci), sometimes also dubbed the Feast of the Thirteen Fishes, is a traditional Italian supper celebrating The Vigil (la Virgilia), or Christmas Eve. The “Seven” typically represents the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church, while the “Thirteen” usually represents the twelve apostles and Jesus. I never grew up with this particular feast in my own Italian-American families per se, but my mom always made clam sauce on Christmas Eve.  Over the past several years, my Italian-Canadian family has incorporated this into our own set of  traditions.  Typical Italian festas incorporate delicacies such as salt cod, deep fried fish, marinated eel, squid salads and stuffed lobsters (mmm, dying to try!).  We make life simple for ourselves at our house by serving, at most, 3 or 4 courses that incorporate 7 or more fish within them. You can actually just get it down to just 2!  I typically serve cold shrimp with a fancied-up cocktail sauce and fried calamari as apps (you can just get these in the freezer box at your grocery store). Although, this year, I might even pass these by. I always serve an easy fennel seafood soup (I’ve been tweaking Giada De Laurentiis’ recipe for Cioppino in recent years) in which you could pretty much incorporate all seven fishes in one fell swoop. And I always make fresh linguine or spagettini (purchased) with a homemade red sauce of smoked mussels and clams with an onion, garlic, and anchovy base – this blessed trio deglazed in good red wine, of course.

We hope your Advent has been as wonderful as ours!
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Our Christmas Eve Shadowbox:

20111222-054740.jpg

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December 20, 2011  

Advent Shadowbox: Day 24, Carols to and from the Concert

December 20, 2011
24th Day of Advent
5 Days ’til Christmas

Sing Carols To and From Your Christmas Concert!
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 Today’s Advent Shadowbox Insert:

The Shadowbox from afar:

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December 17, 2011  

Advent Shadowbox: Day 21, Carol Hootenanny

December 17, 2011
21st Day of Advent
8 Days til Christmas

 

WRITE & PERFORM A CHRISTMAS CAROL!

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Find a Tune You Like
Or Invent One of Your Own
Add Original Lyrics
And Grab a Microphone

It`s Our Annual  
Family Christmas Carol
Hootenanny

Be Ready With Your Original Tunes!
The Gang Meets Tonight
At Seven O’clock Sharp
In the Living Room! That’s Right!

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Today we tackle what has become an annual tradition in our house during Advent: Writing and Performing Original Christmas Carols!
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 Here’s a look at today’s Advent Shadowbox Insert:

And here’s the Advent Shadowbox from afar:

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We finished before 7, so we had our Hootenanny early! Here are the results!

Toby’s Song
Away in a Farm

Away in a farm, they thought it was Santa
Coming down the Chimney
Oh it was not Santa, it was just a Ghost.
A Ghost? A Ghost on Christmas Night?
More Like Halloween Night!

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Bea’s Song
The Star in the Sky

The star in the sky looked down where he lay,
Baby Jesus Drinking Egg Nog.
I just think he should have been asleep in the hay.
That’s my opinion. What’s yours?
On this cold winter night, today.

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Papa’s Song
Christmas in the Evergreen Forest

If on Christmas Day you go out to the Evergreen Forest,
You may hear a most unusual cry.
Look at mine. Oh, look at mine! Well, look at mine!
Santa never forgets the Evergreen Forest.
And leaves a present under every pine.

What’s a good present for a snowshoe hare?
The elves know and make it with love and with care.

What should you get for a badger family?
Whatever it is, they’ll find it under their Christmas Tree!

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My Song is inspired by the girls in my writing workshop for the Now Hear This! Program, who, upon my suggestion, wrote a short carol of the same title as the one below, based upon the popular Maroon 5 song, Moves like Jagger.

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Mama’s Song
Moves like Santa
(feat. Mrs. Claus)

 Ho! Ho! Ho!

Verse 1
So shoot for the Pole if you want kid.
And write me at home with your long list.
And tell me your name, and what kind of game,
And swear you’ve behaved! 

So you want some more toys last minute.
You make lots of noise bout what’s missin’.
Hey listen up kid! Your list’s not too big!
You know I’m ‘onna give! [And it goes like this]

Chorus I
Tickle my fat belly and I’ll giggle.
Pour me some ‘that ‘nog and I’ll wiggle
All the moves like Santa
I’ve got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the mo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Santa 

I don’t need to try to convince you
Just look by the tree and I’m with you
With the moves like Santa
I’ve got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the mo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Santa 

Verse 2
Maybe it’s hard to believe ‘n-me
You’re old and you’re scarred, nothing’s for free
But when you’re with Kringly
He’ll make you belie-vee
He don’t need a key [to get in, Ho! Ho!] 

So get in the sleigh! We can ride it
Wherever we want! Get inside it!
We won’t need to steer,‘cause Rudolph is near
He’ll take if from here [Ho, Ho Ho!]
And it goes like this [Ho!] 

Chorus II
Tug on my beard and you’ll know me
Watch those cookies disappear and you’ll own he’s
Got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the mo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Santa 

I don’t even need to try to convince you
Just look at that fat stocking, I’m with you!
Got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the mo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Santa 

BRIDGE: Mrs Santa
You wanna know how to make him smile?
Make him laugh, make him jiggle all night?
Go ahead and share my secret!
You don’t even have to keep it!
Everyone else can hear it!

 So watch and learn, I won’t steer you wrong!
Just a couple cookies and a glass of ‘nog!
Go ahead and share my secret
You don’t have to keep it!
Everyone else can hear it!  [Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!]
And it goes like this: 

Chorus III
Tickle my fat belly and I’ll giggle
Pour me some ‘that ‘nog and I’ll wiggle [Ho! Ho! Ho!]
All the moves like Santa
I’ve got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the mo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Santa
[Ho! Ho!]

 Tug on my beard and you’ll know me.
Watch those cookies disappear and you’ll own he’s
Got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the moves like Santa
I’ve got the mo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooves like Santa

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