O Night Divine

Advent Giving

We have always maintained here at O Night Divine that Christmas begins on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and that the time leading up to that day is a time of preparation called Advent. Most of the readers of this blog know that and most of the rest of the world does not. 

Advent is a time to prepare our souls, hearts and homes for the coming of the Christ child. While Lent gets all the press for sacrifice Advent is also a season of sacrifice and penance.

Some people have sacrifice and penance thrust upon them.

From Hillside Education's website they have a new Helping Those In Need Page :

More and more we are hearing about good people struggling with the simple things of life that many of us take for granted. We'd like to make a small dent in the needs of people that we hear about. All the items for sale on this page are donated and all income goes directly to families who are in special need of help. Prices include shipping.

This month, (from now until Christmas) the proceeds go to help the Quigley family in Lancaster, PA who have 2 children recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (see picture above). Because of a mistake in processing their claim and bureaucratic red tape to correct the problem, the insurance company will not be covering the insulin needed by the children for at least a month. The family is unable to cover the cost of the insulin, yet it is essential to keeping the children alive

Michele and her family are dear friends of myself and my family and this insurance disaster comes at a particularly difficult time. Her daughter Maggie was recently in the ER and things just seem to be piling up in the way that things do when you are down.

I would like to appeal to all of my readers to visit the page at Hillside and consider making a purchase or a donation to help out. To give up a treat or present makes the giving holy and helps to prepare your soul. It also merits some grace for both the giver and the recipient.

You might also consider giving as a Christmas gift Michele's lovely planners. She now has the January - December 2009 planners ready and I can tell you they are lovely and make very nice gifts.

View details here.

I will be occasionally posting here about oppotunities to practice Christ-like charity as we prepare for Christmas joy. Think how much more joyful our celebrations will be when we know that our giving included helping those in need and making a difference in the lives of our fellow man.

Blessings to you all.

Majestic Imperial Regal Yuletide Plum Pudding

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Kari. Kari shared this Christmas pudding recipe with our homeschool group and I have yet to try it but have always wanted to. It's not going to happen this year since my house is under construction and we are in a state of chaos. I do hope some of you will give it a go and let us know how it works out.

Some history

Christmas pudding is the traditional end to a British Christmas dinner. It began, not as a sweet but as a fasting meal made of leftover meats, raisins, currents, wine and spices.  It was a soup like consistency and was eaten during Advent.  In the Elizabethan era prunes were added and were so popular that the dish became known as plum pottage. The sauce was thickened and in the eighteenth century the savory aspects of the dish diminished and the sweets became dominant. It is thought that Mrs. Beeton's Cookbook was the first to refer to it as Christmas pudding.

In the Anglican tradition the pudding was steamed on stir-up Sunday which is a reference to the text in the Book of Common Prayer;

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Stir-up Sunday is what we Catholics refer to as The Solemnity of Christ the King.  While this started as an Anglican tradition many Catholics have adopted it as their own in keeping with the enjoyment of the anticipation of Christmas Day and some of the symbolism associated with Christ in the making and ultimate display of the pudding.

It is said that originally the pudding had only thirteen ingredients to represent the twelve apostles and Jesus. Silver coins were distributed among the pudding to represent the betrayal of Christ (sounds more Easter than Christmas). Often the finished pudding would be displayed with a sprig of holly stuck in the top to represent the crown of thorns. And finally when set upon the table the pudding would be doused in brandy and lit on fire to represent the power and love of Jesus.

So even though it is Protestant in origin I thought it would be fun to post the recipe and see if anyone is interested. I'm posting early because it may take some time to assemble the ingredients.

Kari tells me that she fiddled with  this recipe from a book called Beat This by Ann Hodgman .

Majestic Imperial Regal Yuletide Plum Pudding

1 pound finely chopped beef suet

1 pound dark brown sugar, packed

1 pound regular raisins

1 pound golden raisins

1 pound chopped mixed peel (highly recommend some that is homemade or from Williams-Sonoma or somewhere – just not that grocery shelf stuff that tastes like “sugared asphalt shingles” as Ann Hodgman says)

1 pound whole-wheat bread crumbs (crumbs should be homemade; bread doesn’t have to be)

8 ounces dried currants

8 ounces dried cherries

4 ounces (1 cup) all-purpose flour

4 ounces chopped almonds

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons allspice

2 teaspoons cloves

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

12 ounces Guinness Stout

1 ½ cups brandy

½ cup milk

8 jumbo eggs

Juice and grated rind from 2 large lemons

In a large bowl, mix the suet, brown sugar, raisins, peel, bread crumbs, currants, cherries, flour, almonds and spices thoroughly by hand. Add all the liquids – the eggs should be added one at a time – and continue to hand-mix until the mix becomes a true blend. (This all really does need to be done by hand as the pudding batter is very heavy and will probably overheat your mixer easily.)

There will be about 2 gallons of batter, which you can distribute among pudding bowls as you choose. I use greased Pyrex 12oz. bowls – about 10 of them – to steam our pudding.

Grease your bowls/molds and spoon the batter into them. Cover the tops of the bowls tightly with a double layer of old sheet or dampened parchment paper, or muslin (I use this). Fasten the cloth or paper with a rubber band, and then cover the puddings tightly with a layer of aluminum foil.

Take out a couple of large, lidded cooking vessels into which you can fit the pudding bowls as well as a rack to steam them on. A canning pot or a big steamer or even a roasting pan if it can go on the stove will work. Place the racks inside the vessels, pour in enough water to provide steam without slopping up through the rack and then arrange the puddings on the racks. (I even have to sort of stack them in a staggered way). Bring the water to a boil, and steam the puddings over low heat, checking the water levels frequently. The 12oz size will take about 5 hours to steam; smaller puddings will take a shorter time.

If you can’t steam all the puddings at once, it’s okay to do a second batch. In her Christmas book, Martha
Stewart also suggests steaming large quantities of plum puddings in the oven. She puts her pudding bowls into large roasting pans, pours boiling water into the pans, covers the bowls and roasting pans with foil, and cooks everything in preheated 300-degree-F oven for 5 hours, being sure to add boiling water as needed.

When the puddings are done remove them from the steamer and place them upside down on a wax-paper-covered surface. They will slide free of the bowls as they cool.

 When the puddings are thoroughly cool, remove the foil and paper and place each inside a plastic bag along with 1 oz of brandy. (1 for the bag and 1 for mom! J ) Seal the bag tightly, turn it over a couple of times to make sure it’s not leaking, and store in the refrigerator until Christmas. Every 3 weeks moisten the pudding with more brandy. When it’s actually time to give the pudding away, place it in a new plastic bag, seal the bag tightly, and wrap it in foil.

The puddings should be brought to room temperature, unwrapped and steamed for another hour before serving. Serve them with hard sauce or much better:

Mozart’s Rum Sauce as follows.

 

MOZART’S RUM SAUCE

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 large egg

1 shake of salt

1 cup superfine sugar

¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter unsalted

2 tablespoons good rum

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

few gratings of nutmeg

Whip the cream until it holds soft peaks.

In another bowl, beat the egg with the salt until thick and light in color. Gradually add the sugar, beating until the mixture is thick, light and grit-free.

Melt the butter over very low heat. Cool it slightly while you beat the egg mixture some more.

With a rubber spatula, thoroughly fold the melted butter, rum and vanilla into the beaten egg. Then fold in the whipped cream. Pour the sauce into a serving bowl, decorate it with a few gratings of nutmeg and chill it for at least 1 hour.

 This recipe makes 1 scant quart. The traditional way to serve this is to heap a plate with a big scoop of sauce, then drop a few tiny crumbles of plum pudding on top. For second helpings, it is traditional to just have the sauce. Truly divine. This must be tried!

Preparing for the New Year

While there may be 53 days until Christmas, what is more pressing is that there are four remaining Sundays left in Ordinary Time. The First Sunday of Advent, the new Liturgical Year arrives November 30, usually the feast of St. Andrew.

Every year I tell myself "This year I'll be prepared for Advent" and then I'm not. I start reading all my liturgical customs and craft books too late to start something. I may not have my Christmas cards stamped and addressed until after Christmas, nor will I have Christmas baking done, and presents bought and wrapped before the New Liturgical Year, but the following is a checklist of things I'm trying to get in order before Advent begins:

1) Countdown to Christmas -- the Advent Calendar

To purchase or make? We have a Playmobil calendar, and several cardboard ones. From last year archives there is an Advent Calendar Tutorial from Nissa's Simple Gifts, and this wonderful calendar idea by MaryM.

2) Time to Change the Calendar...

the Liturgical Calendar, that is. It's also time to get a new 2009 yearly calendar

Some Liturgical Calendar ideas (usually these are calendar wheels):

• Templates from MicheleQ, using Downloadable software.
• Liturgy Training Publications has Year of Grace 2009 Liturgical Calendars. This is my favorite. We always buy the laminated version and hang it in our dining room. This year we're going to use our Dry Erase markers to mark the days, or at least weeks. There are other options, such as unlaminated posters, or also notebook size, which is the right size, if laminated, to make placemats for the table.
• Church of St. Paul has a calendar with two options, to be colored or already colored and laminated.
• Good News Planners also has a laminated poster, but it doesn't break down the weeks.
• Pflaum also carries a liturgical calendar.

As far as yearly calendars, I need both a planner and a wall calendar. My favorite planner that include all the feasts of the liturgical year is from Family-Centered Press. There is also a really simple planner that many parishes use, the Liturgical Desk Calendar.

For my wall, I usually use the one from our parish, but I might consider this larger one has ample room for all the activities to be written down. When I was growing up we had a large calendar attached to our refrigerator. Everyone was up to speed on upcoming events in the family. I like this one because it includes all the liturgical year feasts.

3) The Advent Wreath is No Good Without Candles!

Don't forget to buy new purple and pink candles for your Advent wreath!

Is your family going to use the same one from last year or make a new one? I sometimes think an Advent Wreath is like a snowflake -- no two are alike. Each family creates or buys their own. From the archives, Homemade Advent wreath, and instructions from Catholic Culture. And these are my favorite Advent Wreath Prayers.

4) What Ways Shall We Reinforce the Advent Message?

Advent Traditions and Crafts -- Which ones are you concentrating on this year? Make a list of ideas and feasts that are important and start gathering supplies. Even though I would like to, I know I can't and shouldn't try to do too much. More concentration on a few activities can help focus on preparing hearts for the birth of Christ. Then adding some little activities (like coloring pages and special foods) throughout Advent and certain feast days can flesh out the season. The archives have a variety of crafts, but also Alice's Jesse Tree Tea Time, and ideas for Marian and saint feast days.

5) Music Soothes the Savage Beast

Advent and Christmas carols -- Do you have favorite recordings, or some albums you wanted to purchase for this Advent and Christmas season? I'm still looking for a good collection of Advent hymns to play...I like to hold off on the Christmas carols until closer to Christmas.

Besides background listening, there's also active participation. Choose some music to sing and perhaps accompany as a family, and start practice now to be ready for Christmas. Make a family Christmas carol book as Bridget has suggested.

This year for my family, I want to focus on Gregorian chant, just a small piece, that we can learn. Background playing helps reinforcing the music. Two cds I will add for this purpose are Propers of Christmas from St. Michael's Abbey and Announcement of Christmas from Regina Laudis Abbey.

5) Cozy Up With Books

There's no shortage of books to read this season, but if you planned on buying new ones, or borrowing from the library, order or reserve them now. I have my shelf with Christmas books all prepared, drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, including Cay Gibson's Catholic Mosaic, Christmas Mosaic, and the Advent and Christmas Tomie dePaola Unit Study by Elizabeth Foss.

6) Capturing and Sharing the Memories

Christmas Picture and Cards -- now is the time to prepare. I have our matching Christmas outfits, I just need to schedule an appointment for the photo. Read some great tips from past posts:

• Family Christmas Card by Alice
• Christmas Cards by Mary Ellen
• Gather Ye Addresses While Ye May by Mary Ellen

7) Watching the Pennies

Economic times being a little unsteady, planning is the key to saving money. I'm not always prepared, but I'm feeling the pressure to decide now how our money should be spent for Christmas and stick with it. See the previous posts on organization, Organization and Getting Organized by Mary Ellen. Suggestions include following something like FlyLady's Holiday Control Journal can help get the focus in the right direction.

So now I have Advent on the mind, and just need to follow through on make the plans happen. Let me be the first to wish you an early Happy New Year!

Christmas Cookies Galore

My dear friend Bridget linked to this site on her blog and I am snitching it. I receive Taste of Home Magazine and I can't believe it has never occurred to me to check their website. If you enjoy baking Christmas cookies this is truly the mother-load of inspiration and recipes.

Organizing the Site

I am attempting to make this site a bit more user friendly by grouping like posts on to individual pages so that you can easily find a craft or feast day post for which you might be looking. Of course I choose to do this on a day when Typepad is having all kinds of difficulty. It's slow going but I am hoping in the next day or so to have a few sidebar items that will make things easier for you, our readers. I will also be updating the resources and links we have here.

Hang in there.

Gather Ye Addresses While Ye May

Now would be a good time to start gathering the addresses of those you want to include on your Christmas card list.  Go through your existing list and make any changes or corrections that are necessary. Don't forget to update for new friends, newly married couples, people who have moved and any other life changes that have occurred to your nearest and dearest over the last year.  If you are super efficient you might want to buy your cards now and get them addressed. I use labels that I print from MS Word. Nearly idiot proof.  Those of you with the fancy pants Mac can use File Maker Pro which I understand is nearly idiot proof and very comprehensive.

Or you can be the kind of woman my mother wanted to raise and do them all by hand.  If so I bow down to your fortitude.

Whatever you do, just do it. This week.

Advent Lights

Just checking in to remind everyone that Christmas is in 73 days.  You are all ready right?

Me either.

Don't worry. We'll get there together and have a beautiful time doing it.

I have had several emails from people over the last few years telling me they wanted to hang purple lights as decoration in and around their home for Advent but they were unsure where to get them.  Well in November there is no place to get them. We live in a secular society that really has no use for Advent so there are very few Advent type items out there to help us get in the right mood. You can buy a wreath and a calendar but that's about it.  However, the stores are now bursting with Halloween decor and one of the big Halloween colors is purple. So if you are thinking you might want to string some purple lights around your windows,(Dawn has some lovely inspiration for this that can easily be adapted to Advent), or around your wreath in between candle lightings, or even in your Jesse tree, here are some places to pick up some purple light strings...

PumpkinZone.com
YankeeHarvest.com
Halloweeneffects.us

I do want to caution that these are Halloween sites and as such if you click around some of the decorations are pretty maudlin. Nothing too awful that I saw but I just want you to be aware.  I was able to pick up a string a few years ago at Party City so if you have one of those nearby you can check there as well.

Have a blessed day!

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

"St. John the Baptist is the Lord’s immediate precursor or forerunner, sent to prepare his way. 'Prophet of the Most High', John surpasses all the prophets, of whom he is the last. He inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother’s womb welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being 'the friend of the bridegroom', whom he points out as 'the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world'. Going before Jesus 'in the spirit and power of Elijah', John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism of conversion, and through his martyrdom.

When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: 'He must increase, but I must decrease."(CCC523-524)

We are halfway there. If you look at my nifty little widget to the right you will see that there is, indeed, only six months until we are blessed to celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord.

Now is the time to bring out your Christmas notebooks and start planning. You do not want to be one of those nutty people in the craft store on December 13th trying to figure out a way to make everything beautiful NOW.  I've been that nutty person and I'm telling you it's not fun.

Here is what you can be deciding now:

1. Budget. Set a budget now and start saving or planning for that budget. Include gifts, decorations, food, holiday celebrations, gift wrap, donations, travel expenses, and clothing.
2. Handmade Holidays. If you are a knitter, sewer, woodworker, jewelry maker...now would be the time to start making Christmas gifts. This week make a point to plan who you would like to make gifts for and start getting your materials together. If you start now you might be able to finish off your list before Advent and give yourself a more relaxed season.
3. Travel. If you are going any great distance now might be the time to check out fares and rates that can save you lots of money. Gas prices won't be going down so it might be cheaper to book your air, train or bus ticket now.
4. Outlets. Many websites have outlet sections that allow you to buy out of season clothes at great discounts.  One of my favorites is Lands End . Out of season clothes now are winter clothes so you might be able to pick up some nice things as gifts.

So there is quite a bit you can be doing now to plan and create a lovely Advent season for yourselves. Over the summer the elves here at O Night Divine will be working feverishly to update the site and start helping everyone celebrate this, most beautiful of feasts with joy.

Have a wonderful summer

Twelfth Night, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

"We Three Kings of Orient Are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star, O, O, Star of Wonder, Star of Night, Star of Royal Beauty Bright, Westward leading still proceeding guide us to Thy Perfect Light!"

As we prepare ourselves for this climactic finish to our Christmas Feasting, let us be like the Three Wise Kings and remember that we need to bear these gifts at Christ's altar whenever we approach, with humility, love and joy for our everlasting king!

We will be celebrating Epiphany with this yummy recipe for Three Kings Bread from one of my favorite Christmas cookbooks, The Christmas Kitchen by Lorraine Bodger!!

Mexican Three Kings Bread

2 packages dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons/package)
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter or margerine
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
5 cups flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped red glace cherries
1/2 cup chopped green glace cherries
save some cherry halves for decorating too
Thick Vanilla Glaze (recipe follows)

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and stir with a warm spoon to dissolve the yeast, set aside for a few minutes. Scald the milk and pour it into a large bowl. Stir in the butter, sugar and salt and let the mixture cool to lukewarm. Add the yeast mixture and stir to blend. Add the eggs and beat well. Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour and beat to make a smooth batter. Stir in the walnuts and chopped cherries. Beat in the remaining flour by hand, 1/2 cup at a time, to make a soft but not sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about ten minutes. Sprinkle often with flour to keep from sticking. Put the dough in a buttered bowl and turn all around to coat with butter. Cover with a clean towel and place in a draft-free place to double in bulk, about two hours.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and punch down. Cut in six equal pieces and let rest for ten minutes. Meanwhile grease the cookie sheets.
Roll each piece of dough into a rope 23 inches long. Braid three ropes together and transfer to prepared cookie sheet, shape the braid into a ring and pinch ends together. Repeat with the other three ropes and the second cookie sheet. Cover each ring with a dish towel. Warm the oven for a few seconds and turn off the heat. Place rings in the oven to rise a second time, until puffy and almost doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake 20 minutes until golden brown. Use a spatula to loosen rings and slide onto wire racks to cool.
While the braids are still very warm, spread with Thick Vanilla Glaze and decorate with the red and green cherry halves, perhaps in the shape of a Pointsettia! Enjoy!

Thick Vanilla Glaze

2 Tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 Tablespoons milk or cream
2 pinches salt
6 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
Beat or whisk ingredients together in the order given, until smooth. If necessary, thin the glaze, prevent a crust from forming by pressing a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface.

There are many wonderful traditions and ideas to be discovered at Catholic Culture.  Here's a few other things we will be doing to enjoy the Epiphany:

• Exchange of gifts, I've been saving a very special gift from a delightful friend overseas just for Epiphany :)
• Blessing of our home
• Renewal of dedication and devotion to our special Saints we chose on All Saint's Day
• Marking our Home with the sacred initials C+M+B
• Having a drama of the Wise Men visiting Baby Jesus
• Enjoying the above mentioned Three Kings Bread while wearing our homemade Crowns and reading Shakepspeare's Twelfth Night aloud!

I hope you are able to enjoy some of these lovely traditions and please share if I've missed one of your favorite ways to celebrate this Feast!

By the way, have you ever had an "epiphany". Here's the definition:
A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something.
A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization, revelatory manifestation of a divine being.
I will be pondering these meanings as I ponder the Baby Jesus in his manger receiving his gifts from the Magi!

A blessed Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord to you all!!

Twelve Blessed Days

Just as it is a joy to light the Advent wreath, my children look forward to singing Christmas carols each night of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Fortunately, this blessed season is not over after the 25th, but only just getting into full swing.

Over at Studeo, Alicia gives the perfect reminder: Why I love celebrating Christmas for 12 Days.