Why bookmarks?
Because our Advent plans include a ton of reading and I loved the St. Joseph novena bookmarks that my friend Karen brought to a St. Joseph playdate that we enjoyed together. Plus, bookmarks are longer than prayer cards and can include more rebus pictures?
Why rebus pictures?
Because as I viewed the many beautiful St. Andrew Christmas Prayer printables that already exist online, I realized that none of them would work for my children this year. My pre-reader prefers multiple picture cues when following along with repetitive prayers. My developing reader also benefits from picture cues and does best with large, simple fonts. My other reader appreciates when Mom takes the time to make something especially for him and his siblings. Thus, to meet my children's needs and wants - as well as my own desire to introduce our family to the St. Andrew Christmas Novena this year - rebus pictures it became.
What Is the St. Andrew Christmas Novena?
The St. Andrew Christmas Novena is an Advent tradition that, unlike most novenas which are prayed for nine days, has many folks praying from St. Andrew's Feast Day on November 30 all the way through Christmas.
Despite its name, the prayer is not addressed as an intercessory prayer to St. Andrew. Rather, it is prayed directly to God Himself, asking Him to grant a specific request in honor of the birth of His Son at Christmas. Because many begin the prayer on St. Andrew's feast day, it is often called the St. Andrew Novena. Others, however, pray it as a literal novena, beginning it nine days prior to Christmas and calling it a Christmas Novena or Christmas Anticipation Prayer.
No matter what you call the prayer or how long you pray it for, it is a beautiful prayer tradition worth beginning.
Resource Roundup of Other St. Andrew Christmas Novena Printables, Reflections, Etc.
Many folks have shared their ideas, hard work and creativity online in order to inspire others (like my children and me!) to begin a St. Andrew Christmas Novena prayer tradition. Perhaps you'll find the perfect tool or idea for helping you and yours among these helpful posts:
- Little Ways teaches how to make sacrifice beads (which we used for he ops of our bookmarks.)
- JOY{filled}family offers step-by-step instructions for making a Christmas Novena Chaplet with beads, ribbon and a beautiful printable prayer card.
- Family in Feast and Feria shares a different look at how a prayer card and beads might turn out, as well as a link to Sacrifice Bead instructions.
- Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints offers a simple, cute one-page printable that would be fabulous for posting near a bedside or putting in a notebook or lapbook.
- The Loveliest Hour offers a one-page printable of the prayer with a lovely image of Mary, Baby Jesus and a lamb on it.
- Michele Quigley offers a simple printable with the prayer that can be posted all over your house to remind you to pray.
- Amongst Lovely Things offers thoughts worth reading about the novena.
- EWTN offers nine days of reflections for those who wish to pray the novena as a literal novena prior to Christmas.
- Young and Catholic offers a beautiful testimony to how powerful the prayer can be.
I'd love to hear about your favorite St. Andrew Christmas Prayer testimonies, tools and reflections. Please share them in a comment!
