Advent & Christmas Planner 2021 | 2022

I can’t believe how quickly this year has flown by! And similarly, it’s hard to believe that Advent is, once again, around the corner!

This year’s Advent and Christmas planner is:

I am a lay Catholic who is faithful to the Magisterium and teaching body of the Catholic Church. This booklet is not affiliated with an approved ecclesiastical source.

Both the Extraordinary Form Calendar of 1962 (the Latin Mass) and the Ordinary Form Calendar of 1969 (the Novus Ordo Mass in the vernacular) are represented in the planner. I use the Angelus Press liturgical calendar for the 1962 liturgical year, and the USCCB liturgical calendar for the Novus Ordo. Some historical feasts are also mentioned on the planner.

The Advent and Christmas planner contains daily plans and ideas from November 28 through January 13 (the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord) – covering Advent and the Christmas season.

This booklet is in pdf format – you are free to download, print, read on your tablet, or computer.

What’s in the planner:

• 21 pages
• Cover page
• The book contains a two page, rich liturgical history of the season of Advent.
• Advent Hymns with linked playlist
• Explanation of symbols used in the planner
• Dated, weekly liturgical year listing for the Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms
• Week 1 – 4 of Advent:
  • Each day contains book ideas coordinating with the daily feast, crafts, and Advent customs.
• The O Antiphons are listed with a link to a prayer companion for praying the O Antiphons. (copyright, Jennifer Gregory Miller)
• Christmas Hymns
• Christmas season daily plans with liturgical designation, crafts, traditions, books, and ideas.
• The full planner contains daily plans and liturgical ideas from November 28 through January 13 (the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord) – covering Advent and the Christmas season.
• The Juggler of Notre Dame resource and history with booklist.
• Advent and Christmas booklist
• The Athanasian Creed (suggested for December 16)
• Advent plan sheet – this printable can be printed for the four weeks of Advent.
• Christmas plan sheet – this printable can be used for the weeks of Christmastide

Booklist from the recommended books in the planner:

What follows is a collection of books our family has enjoyed over the years. Many of them are included on the plans. (Please note that I am an Amazon affiliate and most of these links are through Amazon – if you click through these links I do earn a very small amount. Thank you!)

• Crusade: The Story of the Bible Retold for Catholic Children by the Maryknoll sisters – this out of print set (1 – 20 and 21 – 40) is so worth hunting down – we read these for Bible stories, Church History, and as part of our Advent reading.  It is such a worthwhile investment for your home library and I have peppered them throughout the Advent plans! (If the Amazon link above doesn’t provide many results, try ebay)
• Story Library of the Saints (3 volumes) by Joan Windham
• Twenty Miracles of St. Nicholas by Brenda Bryson
• Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Little Lives of the Great Saints by John O’Kane Murray
• The Christmas Story by Jane Werner (a delight – and the new edition retains the older illustrations which are so quiet and charming!)
• Wonderworker: The True Story of How St. Nicholas Became Santa Claus by Vincent Yzermans
• The Real Santa Claus by Marianna Mayer
• Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend: by Julie Stegmeyer
• The True St. Nicholas: Why He Matters to Christmas by William Bennett
• The Donkey’s Dream by Barbara Helen Berger
• The Miracle of St. Nicholas by Gloria Whelan
• The Huron Carol by St. John de Brebeuf
• The Animals’ Christmas Eve by Gale Wiersum (illustrations are more charming in this older version)
• The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe by C. Lourdes Walsh
• Christmas In the Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
• Christmas and the Saints by Hertha Pauli (excellent Vision book for readers capable of chapter books)
• The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie de Paola
• An Advent Calendar by Tasha Tudor
• A Book of Christmas (Pop-Up Calendar) by Tasha Tudor
• The Ageless Story by Lauren Ford (out of print and difficult to find)
• The Friendly Beasts by Tomie de Paola
• Legend of Old Befana by Tomie de Paola
• Merry Christmas, Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola
• An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco
• Marta and the Manger Straw by Virginia Kroll
• Christmas Around the World by Mary D. Lankford
• Waiting For Christmas: A Story About the Advent Calendar by Kathleen Bostrom
• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski
• Wenceslas: The Eternal Christmas Story by Geraldine McCaughrean
• Good King Wenceslas by Jamichael Henterly
• Stephen’s Feast by Jean Richardson
• The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
• The Christmas Knight by Jane Louise Curry
• My Christmas Book by Lee Mero
• The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson
• The Story of Holly & Ivy by Rumer Godden
• Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon
• The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie de Paola
• The Christmas Flower by Joseph Henry Jackson
• The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado
• The Three Gifts of Christmas by Jennie Bishop
• Saint Francis and the Christmas Donkey by Robert Byrd
• Silent Night: The Song and Its Story by Margaret Hodges
• Nine Days to Christmas, A Story of Mexico by Marie Hall Ets & Aurora Labastida
• The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie de Paola
• The First Christmas Stocking by Elizabeth Winthrop
• The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown
• Saint Francis Celebrates Christmas by Mary Caswell Walsh
• The Living Nativity by David Haidle
• Silent Night by Susan Jeffers
• The Miracle of the Poinsettia: A Mexican Christmas Story by Joanne Oppenheim
• The Glorious Impossible by Madeleine L’Engle
• The Candymakers Gift: The Legend of the Candy Cane by David Haidle
• The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
• Hanna’s Christmas by Melissa Peterson (Wiley)
• Lucia, Saint of Light by Katherine Bolger Hyde
• Kirsten’s Surprise: A Christmas Story by Janet Shaw
• Lucia: Child of Light by Florence Ekstrand
• Jesus, Son of Mary by Fulton Sheen
• The Last Straw by Frederick H. Thury
• The Gifts of the Magi by Carolyn Vaughan
• Mary, Mother of Jesus by Mary Joslin & Alison Wisenfeld
• Mary the Mother of Jesus by Tomie de Paola
• When Jesus Was a Little Boy by Georgia Moore Eberling

The Juggler of Notre Dame books – see note and explanation of the books and ideas that sprung from this beautiful 13th century poem/song in the Advent planner, p. 20)

• The Juggler of Notre Dame by Mary Fidelis Todd
• The Little Juggler by Barbara Cooney
• The Clown of God by Tomie de Paola
• The Way of the Storyteller (The Juggler of Notre Dame) by Ruth Sawyer
• Story Library of the Saints by Joan Windham (Barnabas of Compiegne :: Barnabas the Juggler :: St Hermann Joseph
• Our Lady’s Juggler: An Antique Legend by Alexander Woollcott (Reader’s Digest WWII Compilation, Oct. 1941)

Board Books

• The Saving Name of God the Son by Jean Ann Sharpe, all images Fra Angelico
• Who Is Coming to Our House by Joseph Slate
• The Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore
• One Shining Star by Anne Vittur Kennedy
• Baby’s Christmas by Esther and Eloise Wilkin
• The Christmas Baby by Marion Dane Bauer

Books which may be a blessing in your own home liturgical celebrations:

• Christmas to Candlemas in a Catholic Home by Helen McLoughlin – FREE version is linked; I formatted the free text so it was easier to read and print – you can print it by clicking below:
  • Christmas_to_Candlemas
• True Christmas Spirit by Rev. Edward J. Sutfin – FREE version is linked; I formatted the free text so it was easier to read and print – you can print it by clicking below:
  • True_Christmas
• Around the Year With the Trapp Family by Maria Augusta Trapp (recently reprinted by Sophia Institute Press
• Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs by Father Francis Weiser, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1952
• The Christmas Book by Father Francis Weiser, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1952
• The Holyday Book by Father Francis Weiser, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1956
• The Twelve Days of Christmas by Elsa Chaney, The Liturgical Press, 1955
• Cooking For Christ: The Liturgical Year in the Kitchen by Florence Berger, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, 1949
• Lives of the Saints for Every Day of the Year, edited by Hugo Hoever, 1955
• All Advent Prayers contained in this planner are taken from: Crusade: The Story of the Bible Retold for Catholic Children, Volume #22, Imprimatur, Francis Cardinal Spellman, 1956

I hope you have a very blessed Advent of preparing heart and home and a beautiful Christmas rejoicing in the Incarnation of Christ!