Recommended Places to Do Your Christmas Shopping

Since it will soon be the start of the mad Christmas shopping rush, I thought I would share some places where you can shop at your leisure and from your own home. I also recommend these sites for the excellent products they offer and wonderful customer service. I have also chosen them based on value pricing. They all received the Catholic Mom in Hawaii Stamp of Approval :-)

Dominican Nuns of Summit, NJ Gift Shoppe Some of the nicest soaps, air fresheners, gifts, you can get...they are made with much care by the Nuns!

Mystic Monks Wonderfully tasting and aromatic coffees.

St. Hubert's Rosary Bracelets -Shana Beautiful and practical Rosary bracelets for daily use.

Prayerful Beads - Barbara Beautiful handmade Rosaries.

Leaflet Missal A great collection of Catholic books, religious medals, DVDs, Fontanini collectibles, T-shirts, etc.

Pauline Books and Media One of my favorite places to shop because we are blessed to have a store near us. Check to see if there is a store near you or you can shop online.

EWTN Religious Catalog Beautiful artwork, books, DVDs can be found here.

Sophia Institute Press I like to associate this book shop with more intellectual Catholic books. Maybe because they care books by Drs. Alice von Hildebrand and Dietrich von Hildebrand.

Saint Damien of Molokai Artwork by Linda Johnston Linda is a local artist on Molokai. Check out her beautiful and original artwork featuring Saint Damien prints, luggage tags, note cards and recently added prayer cards.

Seelos Center Gift Shop I recently bought Cheerful Mystic by Father Michael J. Curley. It is a biography of Blessed Father Francis Xavier Seelos, C.Ss.R. Check out the statues and prayers cards there. The nicest people work there!

Donna Cooper O'Boyle. Donna has written many books that invaluable to Catholic wives and mothers. Be sure to check out her latest on her longtime friendship with Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

and last but not least Joy of Christ Press- Easter Consider ordering Easter's new book to give as a gift.

This list may get updated because I have a feeling I forgot someone.

The Gift That Never Fades...A Spiritual Bouquet

Shared by Sue of Half the Kingdom

Anne Marie was one of those people who truly lived the commitment and calling of being Christ's follower. She had raised her family and kept a home by dint of sacrifice. As she edged into her retirement years, they fully reflected a life of faith. Even with health challenges of her own, including cancer, she attended to the forgotten among us, with regular visits to those in need - the hungry, those in hospitals as well as nursing homes.

Her get-well cards for those she knew well and loved with a Christian heart were starling. They were homemade spiritual bouquets.

"I have remembered you:
in 9 Masses
in the reception of Eucharist 9 times
in 9 rosaries
in the Way of the Cross 9 times
in Eucharistic Adoration 9 times
and offered them for your intentions"

and so on. Each unique. And each, life-giving.

"I was a girl in Catholic school the last time I experienced anything like this" one elderly woman exclaimed. She had experienced wave after wave of disabling illnesses. And that little card and greeting said so much to her. She was not alone but part of a larger body - the Body of Christ. Held before the Lord in prayer (reminding her that she was, of course, held gently and lovingly by her heavenly Father at all times.)

A wonderful gift. Thoughtful and steeping in reality as much as any gift could be.

Advent is a wonderful time to revive your own experience of the spiritual bouquet. You learn the needs of others in a myriad of ways; arrange the "bouquet" in the way best suited to the gift recipient.

Fill it with spiritual gifts offered throughout the Advent season. Embellish it with real or silk flowers, perhaps presented in a small basket, gathered in the festive cellophane wrapping used for artsy gifts and baskets.

Give a Spiritual Bouquet to your parents, if you are privileged to have them with you still. Remember a sick or shut-in friend with a Bouquet. And give them liberally to the young. Their questions, their sense of wonder will grow as a learning experience in faith, as they unwrap your spiritual gift.

And invite the children in your family to create their own Spiritual Bouquets at Christmas - wonderful gifts for parents and grandparents. They will delight in your instruction, in sharing a project with you.

The Spiritual Bouquet will make this a memorable Advent and Christmas for you and your family.

Author Unknown

A few years ago, we were celebrating Fr. Schmidt's birthday. He was a Maryknoll priest who celebrated Mass for our group of Catholic Homeschoolers. One mom had the idea of presenting him with a bouquet of flowers on which we pinned the spiritual bouquet would be offer for him. It has now been over 5 years and I still remember to pray for Fr. Schmidt what I had offered as a Spiritual Bouquet. Since then I have given Spiritual Bouquets to our parents, Fr. Duffy and our Holy Father John Paul II. When he went home to God, Pope Benedict XVI inherited that daily Hail Mary meant for him.

Signature Tag

Attention: For some reason, I am saving the graphic in .gif format so that it will have a transparent background. However, when posted through Blogger, it converts to .png or .jpg and it then has a white background. Does anyone know why this is happening?

To all my lady blogging friends and regular commenters in the sidebar:

I have been noticing that many of you choose to use the sig tags at the end of your posts.

I played around yesterday and today to see if I could create a sig tag that would work for my blog. You probably saw it if you visited today.

Anyway, I thought I would offer to make you one if you'd like. I can't promise what it will look like since I usually make things depending on my creativity mood at the moment. I do hope to make each one unique though.

I would offer these to the men friend too but I don't think you use them.

So, if you would like one, you can either leave a comment or email me. Just let me know what name you want and whether you'd prefer script (cursive) style or print style. And, then leave the rest to me.

Sorry, I can't help you with how to use them. I am still inserting mine manually.