Seton Magazine Catholic Homeschool Articles, Advice & Resources
Merry Christmas from the Wersland Family!
Each year, we wait with much anticipation throughout Advent to set up our Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve, followed by pizza for dinner and Midnight Mass.
Then we relax over the 12 Days of Christmas, filling them with family memories. May the Blessings of The Holy Family fill your life, during this Holy Season and throughout the New Year.
Read the Wersland Featured Family story: 8 Active Homeschoolers: The Wersland Family Story
A blessed Advent and Christmas from the Payne family!
Grandma Bevy’s Peanut Butter Balls
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 2 boxes confectioners’ sugar
- 1 and ½ cups creamy peanut butter
- ½ lb. (2 sticks) butter (best to use butter as new margarines don’t have the right consistency)
Directions
Mix sugar, peanut butter, butter and cream cheese and shape into balls (easiest to just mix with your hands)Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. When chilled, roll into balls of about 1” diameter.
Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. When chilled, roll into balls of about 1” diameter.Melt in double boiler:
Melt in double boiler: l large bag choc olate chips (12 or 16 oz)
l large bag choc olate chips (12 or 16 oz)
l box, unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cake paraffin, dip
To dip, PopPop finds a piece of wire (5 or 6 inches long) and makes a circle on the end for a handle.
Dip each ball and allow to dry on wax paper. To store, refrigerate peanut butter balls in cookie tin with waxed paper between layers.
Read the Payne’s Featured Family Story: Resiliency in our Children: The Unexpected Benefits to Homeschooling
Christmas Greetings to our fellow Seton families from the Hendershotts!
May Our Lord bless all of you this Holy Season and throughout the New Year, and may He continue to bless you all the way to eternity.
Christmas Tea Ring – The Unbroken Ring of Giving
Our neighbors look forward to receiving baked goods on Christmas Eve. Sweet dough is rolled up with cinnamon, nuts, and/or raisins, shaped into a ring with slits to expose the contents, and glazed with cherry slices on top.
Recipe: Sweet Dough4 – 4 ½ cups flour
- 4 – 4 ½ cups flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 packets yeast
- ½ cup oil
- ½ cup sugar (or less is okay)
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 1 ½ tsp salt, optional
Directions
Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Knead. Let rise until doubled. Punch down and divide into 2 (for medium rings) or 3 (for small rings) sections.
Roll dough into ¼ inch thick rectangle. Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with cinnamon and your choices of sugar, chopped nuts, and raisins. Roll up like a jellyroll, starting on the long side of the rectangle and shape into a circle, pinching the ends together carefully.
With scissors, make cuts on the outside of the ring about 1 inch apart and 2/3 into the dough of the ring, turning each slice on its side to reveal its contents. Let rise until doubled. Bake 375 for 20-30 minutes, until lightly brown.
Make a glaze of your choice. Glaze the top of the ring. Decorate the wreath by placing cut pieces of cherries or other fruits on the glaze. A medium ring is shown in the picture and the smaller sizes may be appropriate for a single or couple.
Note: We frequently omit the first rising with rapid rise yeast.
Read the Hendershott’s Featured Family Story: All the Way to Eternity: The Hendershott Family’s Homeschooling Story
Merry Christmas from the Rocco Family!
We will be celebrating our Slovak heritage by making and enjoying the štedrý večer (meaning “generous evening”) this Christmas Eve. There is no meat eaten to prepare for the joyous Feast of Christmas Day but there are many other good things to find on the table.
Among the traditional fare is Oplatki, the Christmas Wafer served with honey; bobalki (baked balls of dough with sauerkraut or poppyseed filling, commemorating the sweet and bitter times in life); and sauerkraut and mushroom soup.
Give it a try, the soup is wonderful for chasing away those winter germs! As we celebrate the abundant joy of Christ’s birth, may the Light warm us and lead us into a happy, healthy 2016.
Sauerkraut and Mushroom Soup for Christmas Eve
- 1 -2 lb onion, chopped
- 1 ¼ cups butter, divided (may need a little more)
- 2 lbs mushrooms, finely chopped (we use white mushrooms)
- 1 quart water
- 10 (7 ½ ounce) cans sauerkraut juice
- ¼ cup flour
Directions
Sauté chopped onions in 1 cup butter until golden brown.
Add finely chopped mushrooms to onions, and cook until mushrooms are done.
Add water and cans of sauerkraut juice, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 1/2 hour.
In a small sauce pan brown remaining 1/4 cup butter, adding flour to make a roux.
Slowly add some soup juice (about 2 cups) to the roux, stirring to blend.
Add roux to soup and cook another 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Serve.
Makes 12 Servings
Read the Rocco Featured Family Story: Keeping God at the Center: 8 Questions with the Rocco Family
Merry Christmas from the Shaw family!
“During Christmas, men open tightly clenched fists in compassion to their fellow creatures. Some rejoice, some weep, and a very few will find the illumined, adorable face of the Christ Child in the cross-bearers around them.”
At Christmas, men do open their “shut up hearts freely” as Dickens wrote, and allow a ray of warm, holy light to brighten a darkened world.” ~Elizabeth Shaw
Read the Shaw Featured Family Story: Armed and Ready: How Homeschool Equips the Shaw Family to Encounter the World
Merry Christmas from the Thomas family!
May God bless your families during this special time of year. We hope each of you finds peace, joy, and love while celebrating the birth of our Lord.
Our Favorite Tradition:
On Christmas Eve, my dad’s side of the family has a big dinner. After dinner, all the kids put on a talent show and play.
We get to hear them sing, play an instrument, or recite a poem. Then they usually put on a play that in some way incorporates the most important message of Christmas—Christ’s birth and love.
It’s always a treat to get to see each of the kids shine in his or her own special way.
Read the Shaw Featured Family Story: A Whole New Level – Homeschooling with the Thomas Family
Merry Christmas from the Lyons family!
New Mexico is a wonderfully unique place to be at Christmas time. We might be Irish Americans but we enjoy participating in Las Posadas, the beautiful tradition of re-enacting the Biblical journey of Mary and Joseph, as well as touring the neighborhoods on Christmas Eve to view the luminarias, and following up with homemade green chile stew and tortillas.
This year, as every year, we’ll celebrate Christmas with Mass in the morning followed by a day filled with family and a birthday cake for Jesus.
Read the Lyons Featured Family Story: Faith, Family, & Adventure! Homeschooling with the Lyons
Merry Christmas from the Brelinskys!
Greetings from our family to yours from this place we’ve affectionately dubbed Brelinskyville. With two busy Seton graduates, and one of those away at college seminary, we are thankful to have our whole family back under one roof for this joyous season. We wish our whole Seton family a very Blessed Christmas!
Several years ago, we decided to reclaim the Twelve Days of Christmas in our family. We wanted to keep our focus on Christ and others so we brainstormed the perfect gift to give to our extended circles. Together, we designate specific families or individuals for each of the twelve days.
On the assigned day, our whole family prays for the chosen person/persons and offers up all of our works. We designed a simple certificate that documents the date, the names of those we are praying for, and an explanation of our gift.
We mail this along with our annual Christmas card and letter. This has become one of our favorite traditions (the hardest part is narrowing down our list of recipients)!
Read the Lyons Featured Family Story: How Do You Do It? The Brelinsky Family Homeschool Story
