* The Novena before Christmas begins today, December 16.

This is also known as Las Posadas, a nine-day holiday beginning December 16 and ending December 24 ("Noche Buena" — Holy Night). This holiday is a yearly tradition for Christian Latin Americans. It is symbolic of the trials that the Virgin Mary and Joseph had had to endure to find a place where Jesus could be born. Source: "The Company," the world of Jesuits and their friends. Chicago, Winter 2006. See also: Christmas Holidays In Mexico  http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/jking/jkchristmas.html; accessed February 5, 2007).

See also December 16 - O Sapientia.

“A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside – is not a bad picture of Advent”
 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), "Letters & Papers from Prison”

Advent - Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB

Selections From The Every Day Book - William Hone

Advent
Christmas Carols
The London Christmas Evenings of 1826
Hob or Nob
These Christmas Bills
Waits

December 5 - Advent In Normandy
December 6 - Feast of St. Nicholas
December 14 - Ember Week
December 16 - O Sapientia
December 17 - The Season
December 24 - Christmas Eve
December 25 - The Nativity of Christ
December 26 - St. Stephen's Day
December 27 - St. John the Apostle
December 28 - The Holy Innocents
December 31 - New Year's Eve

St. George He Was For England;
compare these two plays from William Sandys:
Christmas Play of Saint George (1833) and
Christmas Play of St. George and the Dragon (1852).

December 26 is also National Candy Cane Day in the United States.
This link opens in a new window at an external site, the National Confectioners Association.

The following links are to articles in The Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), hosted by New Advent.
All links open in a new window at an exterior site.

The Apostles And Their Feast Days
St. Philip (May 3)
St. James The Younger (or The Less) (May 3)
St. Matthias (Replacement of Judas Iscariot) (May 14)
St. Peter (June 29, With St. Paul)
St. James The Greater (July 25)
St. Bartholomew (August 24)
St. Thomas (July 3)
St. Matthew (September 21)
St. Simon (The Zealot) (October 28)
St. Jude (Also called Thaddeus) (Epistle of St. Jude) (October 28)
St. Andrew (November 30)
St. John The Evangelist (December 27)

St. Mary Magdalen (July 22)
Termed by Pope John Paul II as "the apostle to the Apostles" in Ecclesia In America
See also Magdalen.org for updated information, and St. Mary Magdalene at AmericanCatholic.org.

Judas Iscariot (The Traitor)

Mary, The Mother Of Jesus (January 1)
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8)
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8)
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (November 21)
The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (March 25)
Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (February 2)
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15)

St. Joseph, Husband Of Mary (March 19)
St. John The Baptist (June 24, Birth of the Saint)
St. Mark (April 25)
St. Luke (October 18)
St. Paul (June 29, with St. Peter)

St. Nicholas (December 6)
St. Lucy (December 13)

The following four links open in a new window at AmericanCatholic.org

Blessed John XXIII (October 11)
St. Ignatius of Loyola (July 31)
St. Nicholas (December 6)
St. Lucy (December 13)

In Memory Of Pope John Paul II
Opens in a new window at Vatican.va
"Santo Subito"
The Beatification Process began June 28, 2005.
The usual five year period was waived by Pope Benedict XVI.
Prayer for Intercession by Pope John Paul II