O Antiphons

[Jayne]

We started incorporating O antiphons into our family advent so long ago that I don't remember exactly why or how.  I don't think we ever did a craft for it, though.  Each verse of "O come, O come Emmanuel" is one of the antiphons so we would often not do anything more than sing the verse of the day when we did our (often very simple) evening prayers and lit the Advent candles.  (The song verses are not listed in the order of the antiphons so you need to make sure you get the right one.)

At some point, friends gave us an O Antiphon plaque, so I put that up on the day of first antiphon and it stays until I take down the Christmas decorations. (Receiving the plaque may have been what got us started.)  With older children, we have sometimes done more elaborate prayers which include the antiphons.

BTW, we have a huge collection of Altoid tins because people keep talking about crafts that can be done with them.  I virtually never do crafts, but, thanks to people like Munda, my husband will not throw out the tins.  I wonder if I can give some to my daughter with craft-aged children and get them to do this O Antiphon thing.

[MundaCorMeum]

We started incorporating O antiphons into our family advent so long ago that I don't remember exactly why or how.  I don't think we ever did a craft for it, though.  Each verse of "O come, O come Emmanuel" is one of the antiphons so we would often not do anything more than sing the verse of the day when we did our (often very simple) evening prayers and lit the Advent candles.  (The song verses are not listed in the order of the antiphons so you need to make sure you get the right one.)

At some point, friends gave us an O Antiphon plaque, so I put that up on the day of first antiphon and it stays until I take down the Christmas decorations. (Receiving the plaque may have been what got us started.)  With older children, we have sometimes done more elaborate prayers which include the antiphons.

BTW, we have a huge collection of Altoid tins because people keep talking about crafts that can be done with them.  I virtually never do crafts, but, thanks to people like Munda, my husband will not throw out the tins.  I wonder if I can give some to my daughter with craft-aged children and get them to do this O Antiphon thing.

Then I won't mention the nativity set my 3 year old is working on that uses empty toilet paper rolls

[Jayne]

Then I won't mention the nativity set my 3 year old is working on that uses empty toilet paper rolls

I am already not allowed to throw those out.  My son-in-law uses them starting seeds or some other sort of farmer thing so we collect batches of them and send them to him.

[Daniel]

(The song verses are not listed in the order of the antiphons so you need to make sure you get the right one.)

Yeah, that has always annoyed me. But I have seen a variant that has all the verses (except the Emmanuel verse) in reverse order.

[Chestertonian]

When do you do this and how do you discuss it do you just pray the antuphons oor is it integrated into something else

[Kaesekopf]

When do you do this and how do you discuss it do you just pray the antuphons oor is it integrated into something else

Perfect time to introduce the family to the Office!... 

[MundaCorMeum]

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=958

I plan to read some of this at dinner tomorrow, and then open each O Antiphon "house" that we made on the appropriate day.  One kid per day.  We will pray the prayer that is inside.  I will aslo put a piece of yarn inside, which represents a piece of straw that will go in baby Jesus' manger, to make Him a soft bed for Christmas.  I might put a piece of candy, too, for the child who gets to open and lead the prayer

[Chestertonian]

When do you do this and how do you discuss it do you just pray the antuphons oor is it integrated into something else

Perfect time to introduce the family to the Office!... 

I
it sounds great in theory

[Chestertonian]

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=958

I plan to read some of this at dinner tomorrow, and then open each O Antiphon "house" that we made on the appropriate day.  One kid per day.  We will pray the prayer that is inside.  I will aslo put a piece of yarn inside, which represents a piece of straw that will go in baby Jesus' manger, to make Him a soft bed for Christmas.  I might put a piece of candy, too, for the child who gets to open and lead the prayer

interesting

sounds like the sort of thing that would be great if you have a bunch of children but lame if you only have one kid a lot of things are like that

[MundaCorMeum]

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=958

I plan to read some of this at dinner tomorrow, and then open each O Antiphon "house" that we made on the appropriate day.  One kid per day.  We will pray the prayer that is inside.  I will aslo put a piece of yarn inside, which represents a piece of straw that will go in baby Jesus' manger, to make Him a soft bed for Christmas.  I might put a piece of candy, too, for the child who gets to open and lead the prayer

interesting

sounds like the sort of thing that would be great if you have a bunch of children but lame if you only have one kid

I think even one child would enjoy the anticipatory nature of the devotion, but it's not required, so I wouldn't stress over it if I were you.   Not all devotions are appealing to everyone, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it lame, just because it isn't something that fits with your family dynamics   

[red solo cup]

My parish just finished an Advent retreat. One of the evenings was devoted to the O Antiphons. They had a man come in who sang them in Gregorian chant. They were hauntingly beautiful.