The Mom Weekly Volume 120: November 25, 2025
You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.
The Saint Andrew Christmas Novena
This has become a yearly reminder, but I genuinely enjoy this Christmas novena as an Advent practice, and so I’m going to share again.
The St. Andrew Christmas novena begins this Sunday, November 30 (someone special’s birthday!) This year, it actually falls on the first Sunday of Advent this year, which is even more appropriate. And even if you’re reading this after November 30, you can jump in any time.
The St. Andrew Novena is an interesting novena. It starts on the feast of St. Andrew, which is November 30, and ends on December 24. You are meant to pray the pray 15x a day. You can read about it here on the Hallow website.
Now, 15 times a day may seem like a lot, but it’s quite manageable. Here’s how I do it: I have an album in 15 photos of different artist versions of the prayer. Some are repeated. What I do is “favorite” a prayer once I’ve said it, and come back to the album when I have a chance. Once all of the photos are favorited, I’m finished for the day. The next day, I remove them from favorites, and so on, through the novena. It’s worked really well for me. A few years ago, I decided to create my own. I quickly created five different ones in a graphic design program, and they are now part of the album.
Here’s a screenshot of my album of St. Andrew Novenas (still labeled 2023–need to update that!):
Here are a couple of individual ones that you can save if you would like:
Interesting/Notable:
Leaving the Wrong Beneficiary on Your IRA Plan Can Be a Costly Mistake — WSJ Gift Article
This is a good yearly reminder to double-check beneficiaries on your IRAs, 401(k)s, and other accounts. There have been quite a few stories about people having an old girlfriend or former spouse as a beneficiary, and that person gets a sizable nest egg. It’s really important to check and be sure your beneficiaries are what you want, as the beneficiaries of IRAs and other retirement accounts supersede any will or estate plan.
Even though we have done this, I still double-check! It’s helpful. I will also say that the annoying thing is that we cannot divide the amount equally between three children. Everyone has to have a percentage, and so two get 33 percent and one gets 34 percent. Just so you know, it doesn’t mean the person with 34 percent is the favorite child—you are each the favorite child, but don’t tell the others—I think I’ve tried to alternate who gets the “bigger” inheritance with different accounts.
Epstein is a failure of the 21st Century Elites—WSJ Gift link
Dad alerted me to the Peggy Noonahn column, and it is very sobering. I believe that people who prey on those who are vulnerable—in this case, young women with troubled family backgrounds— will have a lot to answer for.