Our First Catholic Christmas

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Abrigham

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I am so incredibly happy to be able to say my husband and I are in RCIA and this Easter we will be active members of the Church.

This is our first Christmas we would consider ourselves Catholic. And I have no idea what traditional Christmas/Advent celebrations take place. I know of Advent calendars and I googled and found something about a wreath, but I couldn’t find a good explanation like I was looking for. We don’t have family to pass traditions to us, but I definitely want to pass them on to our son and unborn baby girl (both of whom will be baptized on Easter!!! Can you tell I’m just a little excited? :D)

Any help and suggestions would be great!
 
When it comes to Christmas, a lot of Catholic customs are ethnic. If that interests you, you might re-discover your particular ancestors’ customs.

I believe German Catholics traditionally gives children gifts on St. Nicolas’ Day (Dec 6), while Polish Catholics give most of the gifts on the Feast of the Epiphany (when Christ received the Wise Men’s gifts). The nativity set is common, but particularly special to Italians, I believe. English Catholics have musical traditions, I think.

I’m kind of re-discovering this too, since this will be my first married Christmas and I didn’t grow up with strong Catholic customs as a kid. I’ll be following this thread for more ideas.
 
First of all, welcome to the Family! You were reading abou an Advent Wreath. Its a wreath with candle holders. It has four candlex. Three purple and one pink one. Each sunday you light one candle. The third sunday you light the pink one. In the center is a white candle, the Christmas candle to be lit on Christmas. You can look up prayers to be said at the lighting of each candle online.
 
Welcome 🙂
You can find here some traditional customs and their explanations - feel free to browse).
fisheaters.com/customs.html#advent
Some of them are very old and are no longer observed (St Barbara’s feast, Embertide), but overall the descriptions of the main customs (wreath, cribs, calendars) are correct.
 
Layp3rs0n said:
First of all, welcome to the Family! You were reading abou an Advent Wreath. Its a wreath with candle holders. It has four candlex. Three purple and one pink one. Each sunday you light one candle. The third sunday you light the pink one. In the center is a white candle, the Christmas candle to be lit on Christmas. You can look up prayers to be said at the lighting of each candle online.
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I love, and my children did as well when they were at home, the advent wreath with candle holders. I would definitely have to “vote for that” as a great tradition that is simple, beautiful, and meaningful. In most Churches they light the same candle as well each Sunday and Christmas so the tradition carries on from home to Church.

Peace in Christ
Mary.

Mary.
 
Abrigham said:
I am so incredibly happy to be able to say my husband and I are in RCIA and this Easter we will be active members of the Church.

This is our first Christmas we would consider ourselves Catholic. And I have no idea what traditional Christmas/Advent celebrations take place. I know of Advent calendars and I googled and found something about a wreath, but I couldn’t find a good explanation like I was looking for. We don’t have family to pass traditions to us, but I definitely want to pass them on to our son and unborn baby girl (both of whom will be baptized on Easter!!! Can you tell I’m just a little excited? :D)

Any help and suggestions would be great!
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Welcome to the Catholic Church. It sounds from what you say above that you have come from a non-liturgical protestant denomination. The Advent Wreath is not actually a Catholic tradition but one started by the protestant church in Germany in the 19th century. It was first used by Lutherans, then Anglicans and now us Catholics.

Advent is a great penetential season of preparation and I hope you will enjoy the wonderful hymns leading up to Christmas Day - the Advent lectionary is very rich indeed.
 
liturgyluver said:
Welcome to the Catholic Church. It sounds from what you say above that you have come from a non-liturgical protestant denomination. The Advent Wreath is not actually a Catholic tradition but one started by the protestant church in Germany in the 19th century. It was first used by Lutherans, then Anglicans and now us Catholics.
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I did not know that.
 
liturgyluver said:
Welcome to the Catholic Church. It sounds from what you say above that you have come from a non-liturgical protestant denomination. The Advent Wreath is not actually a Catholic tradition but one started by the protestant church in Germany in the 19th century. It was first used by Lutherans, then Anglicans and now us Catholics.

Advent is a great penetential season of preparation and I hope you will enjoy the wonderful hymns leading up to Christmas Day - the Advent lectionary is very rich indeed.
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Interesting! I was baptized Catholic as a baby, but my family stopped going to Church when I was 5 or so. We didn’t do any Catholic traditions other than the big holidays (and we celebrated them in a secular way like most Americans) and we always said Grace before eating dinner. My husband and I became involved in an evangelical Protestant church last year and after about 6 months and a second baptism I felt pressured into (our infant baptisms didn’t count in their eyes and we had to be baptized again to join their church) I had a panic attack as I was driving by a Catholic Church and realized and admitted to myself I did not agree with that church’s teachings and I knew where I needed to be.
 
Very excited about our first Christmas as Catholics!

I’m Abrigham’s husband by the way.
 
Abrigham said:
Interesting! I was baptized Catholic as a baby, but my family stopped going to Church when I was 5 or so. We didn’t do any Catholic traditions other than the big holidays (and we celebrated them in a secular way like most Americans) and we always said Grace before eating dinner. My husband and I became involved in an evangelical Protestant church last year and after about 6 months and a second baptism I felt pressured into (our infant baptisms didn’t count in their eyes and we had to be baptized again to join their church) I had a panic attack as I was driving by a Catholic Church and realized and admitted to myself I did not agree with that church’s teachings and I knew where I needed to be.
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😃 Did the Holy Ghost literally give you a slap in the face?

I am glad you returned home, hope you now take the time to study your faith so that you become better grounded in it!
 
How exciting for you and your family.
The Catholic.com and other sources posted here are great readings and ideas. You can also always add your own too.
As a cradle Catholic I was raised celebrating Advent with the wreath. We would light the first candle all week long with prayers before or after dinner. Then the next week the two candles, ect.
When I married we added a slow preparation toward Christmas in our home too. First week of Advent we cleaned the house as best we could. Then the second week we made sure we had all of our gift giving together and wrapped and mailed, etc. The Third week we did most of our baking. And the last week we decorated. Our tree goes up on Gaudete Sunday, but not lite till Christmas Eve.
We probably are the only ones in the neighborhood who light up on Christmas Eve and don’t stop till Jan. 6th.
We try to keep Christmas during the liturgical Christmas season. Any parties before are Advent Parties. It can be hard too.
 
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Midnight Mass. You *have *to do that - it’s wonderful! 👍👍
I don’t mean that “legally” you have to do that, just that it’s such a cool part of the celebration. I personally love it.
 
Well, we went to Hobby Lobby to get an Advent wreath and they didn’t have any. So we got a simple, small wreath that goes around a big candle. Then we tried finding the right color candles and we found some purple votives, but they didn’t have pink. 😦 We got a white one for now and I’ll keep my eyes out for a light pink candle. We also got a cardboard advent calendar, which isn’t what I wanted, but it’s what they had.

Our hearts are in it! So that will have to work for this year. I’m excited to get a nativity set next year and have our children prepare the manger up to Christmas Eve. 🙂 Thanks for your suggestions and resources!
 
Here is another resource for traditions. catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0372.html

There is another thread here on advent traditions that you might also get good ideas from. The most important idea is that advent is a time of preparation both for Christmas (the Nativity) and the eventual second coming of Christ. As such it is a time of reflection more than all-out celebration.

The Christmas fun starts with Midnight Mass 😃 and lasts through Epiphany on Jan 6. Of course modern work schedules and secular traditions don’t really support that, but we do what we can. 😉

Welcome home and congratulations on your pregnancy!
 
As for the pink candle, you can buy sets of advent candles (three purple, one pink) from Catholic stores online. Who knows, Amazon probably sells them too!
 
Hobby Lobby sells the candles here. If not, try online!

Our wise men “wander” around the house until Christmas Day/Eve. Not “Catholic” per se, but fun once the kids are 2+ 🙂
 
Abrigham said:
I am so incredibly happy to be able to say my husband and I are in RCIA and this Easter we will be active members of the Church.

This is our first Christmas we would consider ourselves Catholic. And I have no idea what traditional Christmas/Advent celebrations take place. I know of Advent calendars and I googled and found something about a wreath, but I couldn’t find a good explanation like I was looking for. We don’t have family to pass traditions to us, but I definitely want to pass them on to our son and unborn baby girl (both of whom will be baptized on Easter!!! Can you tell I’m just a little excited? :D)

Any help and suggestions would be great!/QUOTE

This is my first Catholic Christmas too (Tiber Swim Class 2012!) . I just finished making my first advent’s wreath (3 purple and 1 rosa candle for gaudate Sunday (3rd Sunday)). I looked up a blessing to say before the lighting of the first candle. This evening during vigil I watched which candle was lit first. Lent, as I am sure you are learning about in RCIA, is like a little Lent. Our priest asked us to consider choosing a virtue and and a charity to add to our daily spiritual life during this holy time. I will be volunteering to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration for our annual 40 hour adoration leading up to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception this week. If you have never gone to adoration, try it. My first was a year ago this week. I didn’t know what to do so I just went and opened my heart to the Lord. Needless to say it was an unforgetable experience! Welcome home!
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Abrigham said:
I am so incredibly happy to be able to say my husband and I are in RCIA and this Easter we will be active members of the Church.

This is our first Christmas we would consider ourselves Catholic. And I have no idea what traditional Christmas/Advent celebrations take place. I know of Advent calendars and I googled and found something about a wreath, but I couldn’t find a good explanation like I was looking for. We don’t have family to pass traditions to us, but I definitely want to pass them on to our son and unborn baby girl (both of whom will be baptized on Easter!!! Can you tell I’m just a little excited? :D)

Any help and suggestions would be great!
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Welcome home! :)😃
 
Welcome Home.👍

I, as a Mexican/American (Chicano) We kind of blend in the American and Mexican traditions together. As mexican we have whats called Posadas. That’s when we re-enact Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay. That includes going to differnt homes praying and singing. It’s really fun. We also have a nativity set-up but baby Jesus isn’t on the manger until christmas eve. Inbetween this we have a christmas tree, lights, great food christmas caroling. Also growing up we didn’t get to open our presents until it was the day the three wise men gave baby Jesus thier gifts, but that slowly was taken out to what do now.

God bless

jesus g
 
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