www.holyheroes.com

I hope that you will find Holy Heroes Advent Adventure fun and easy way to help your children grow in virtue, while you have a more peaceful Advent so that you, too, can prepare for a joyful celebration on Christmas Day.

We hope to help your family to live Advent more fully through the traditions that Catholics have developed over the years and through the prayers that the Church has given us so that we can all be prepared for Him to come to us at Christmas, at each Mass, and when He comes again.

Every day will have this introduction for parents—and today’s is longer than usual.  Please take the time to go through the three background points below, then it’s on to the activities for Day One:

1. We hope to help you capture your children’s imaginations and inform their minds with the themes and people of Advent.  We will help them improve their prayer lives by giving them aids for focusing through at least a “decade-a-day” of the rosary and a daily Angelus (that will start later during week #2 of Advent).  They will also be introduced to some time-honored family Advent traditions that might fit into your own “domestic church.”
   
   And here’s your easy “cheat sheet:” for everything we cover, you will be able to print out the entire day to refer to later, to make copies for all your children, and to answer questions that may arise.  Also, please feel free to contact us by sending your comments and questions to:  info@holyheroes.com
   
   
2. Each daily Adventure page will contain a video about the Jesse Tree.  The Jesse Tree is a great way for your children to learn that God had a plan for our salvation from the very beginning.  It shows that God kept His promise and sent a savior to give us back the grace that Adam and Eve had lost, so that we could be with Him in heaven.  It also shows how through all those generations there were Jews who remained faithful to God, despite very unfriendly cultures around them.  It’s a lesson to us, today, isn’t it?
   
   Every day, watch the video and click on the Jesse Tree graphic along the right hand side of the daily webpage, and you will find the Bible verses that help explain the history of salvation.
   
   You can make your Jesse tree as simple or elaborate as you choose, but it is better to have a piece of paper shaped like a tree than nothing at all.  The children can watch the video, draw the picture, and read the Bible verses you print out, and that will help them to understand that for thousands of years people were waiting and preparing—just as they are waiting and preparing now—for Jesus.
   
   
3. After you watch the videos below, you can click to listen to a short audio overview of the rosary and how to say it, and then you can print out all the materials for today’s activities.

Holy Heroes Advent Adventure: Day One
Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent and the day we light the first purple candle.  In Mass, your parish priest may bless the Advent wreath in your church.  We have included in the materials for today the blessing for your wreath in your own home from the Book of Blessings approved by the bishops for use in the United States.  We’ve included, too, some prayers that we say every night thereafter when we light the wreath.   We also sing a verse of “O, Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” on most nights (but for reasons you can imagine, some nights we just need to cut it short before we sing!).  I have found that lighting the Advent Wreath every night keeps us focused on Advent.  Having it hanging over the kitchen table is also a constant reminder.

Ready?  This first day, before Advent starts, is focused on providing your children preparatory materials with the real “adventure” beginning in earnest with the email we’ll send you for Monday, Nov. 30th.

Let’s go!  God bless you and have a blessed Advent,

PS  You can also buy our coloring book, “The Childhood of Jesus,” (from which most of the downloadable coloring pages will be selected) for a specially discounted price of $1 a book (that’s a savings of $1.75 per book) in sets of 5 books during Advent. Every child can have a complete book—no arguing, lots of quiet time.  The books are great for stocking stuffers and gifts for the nieces and nephews, too.

What's the rosary? (excerpted from Holy Heroes: The Joyful Mysteries audio CD):