Made with Love
Dawn is hosting a Loveliness of Handmade Gifts fair over at her blog, By Sun and Candlelight! I am so excited and really looking forward to seeing everyones ideas and submissions!What perfect timing! Since we now have our All Saints Party behind us, it is time to start planning for the Christmas season. The kids and I were just talking about what we could make to give as Christmas gifts this year. Last year they all made their own ornaments. They had so much fun doing so, that when asked, the votes were unanimous, they would like to make ornaments, once again.
So our search began and, just like last year, I ended up letting each child choose their own ornament kit to make. I know there are many of you out there that can come up with these little crafts on your own, but I’m just not creative enough! And with 5 little ones, it is so nice to have all the supplies arrive together, this saves me so much time and makes the craft oh so much easier. It looks like, this year, our assortment of ornaments will include: Baby Jesus, a Nativity, a “Colors of Faith” Snowflake, and the Legend of the Snowflake! The kids usually make ornaments for their Grandparents, Godparents, Aunt & Uncles and a few family friends.In addition to making ornaments, we love to make some sort of edible treat for our friends as well! A couple years ago the kids and I made Saint Nicholas Cocoa to give away. The kids especially loved smashing up the peppermint candy! We packaged the mix in Mason jars with decorated lids. With red and white ribbon, we attached candy canes to be used to stir the cocoa mix. It was so much fun and a perfect Christmas morning treat!
Saint Nicholas Cocoa Mix 8 cups powdered milk
1 (16-ounce) package instant cocoa
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
10-ounces powdered non-dairy creamer
8-ounces miniature marshmallows
6-ounces finely crushed peppermint candy
- Combine powdered milk, cocoa, powdered sugar, creamer, marshmallows and peppermint candy; mix well. Store in an airtight container.
RECIPE TO ATTACH:
For each serving, mix 1/3 to 1/2 cup of mix with 1 cup boiling water; mix well with candy cane. ENJOY!!
Last year, instead of making another jar mix, I purchased a number of small batter bowls (since I am a Pampered Chef Consultant) and the kids and I filled them with either Celebration Cookie Mix or Batter Bowl Brownie Mix. We then tied the directions, along with a bamboo spoon, to the handle. These looked really cool! I wish I had a photo to share, but this was pre-blog days 😉 I do have the flier with the recipes, if anyone wants it, I can email it.
There is a sweet older woman at church who has been spoiling me the last few Sundays with her DELICIOUS biscotti. She bakes it weekly to sell at a local growers market. This last Sunday she sent me home with a bag full of at least 10 different kinds! It looks lovely, and tastes even better.. It has inspired me and although I have never made biscotti myself, I am going to give it a shot and try making this recipe to give as gifts this year. I think I will dip them in Chocolate, top them with Coconut and Pecans, and then wrap them up and place them in a pretty coffee mug with a packet of cappuchino. There’s nothing better than a hot cup of joe and a crispy biscotti. Unless, of course, you’re enjoying them at a cafe in Italy! Right?!
Anyways, these are a few of our ideas. They are not the most elaborate gifts, but they are made with much love and that is the important thing! As Mother Teresa said:
A Big Buck
“Mommy… mommy… LOOK! There is a BIG BUCK outside! I guess he spent the night AGAIN! LOOK!”
A few Devotions for the Holy Souls
November 2nd is the feast of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. The faithful who visit a cemetery to pray for the faithful departed, saying the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed, may gain a plenary indulgence if they meet the usual conditions: sacramental confession (eight days before or after the act), Eucharistic Communion on that day, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions (usually one Our Father and Hail Mary as minimum).
Each day between November 1 and November 8, this gains a plenary indulgence that can only be applied to the Poor Souls in Purgatory. Any other time of year this gains a partial indulgence.
We were blessed to be able to attend Mass AT the cemetery this morning! In the Catholic section of the cemetery there is an old altar and our wonderful retired priest said Mass there for the souls in purgatory! It was beautiful! My hubby and boys got to serve the Mass as well.
I couldn’t resist taking this darling picture of the girls as well.
When we got home, we finished reading Father Philip tells a Ghost Story. I HIGHLY recommend this book. It was well written and really explained to the kids the need to pray for the departed souls. This is yet another of the wonderful suggestions in Catholic Mosaic.
Before saying our rosary this evening, the kids and I made this poster from a recommendation in CHC’s A Year with God. On each stone we listed the name of a dear friend or relative that we especially want to pray for this month. We will offer one rosary for each person, starting with “Nino” tonight.
My hubby put together a great little post on other devotions for this month as well.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
In Honor of the Saints
Being the Feast of All Saints today, I thought I would take a few minutes and tell you all a few ways in which we honor the Saints on a monthly basis in our home.
Each morning, before we begin school, the children get to place a magnet on their calendar
During dinner each night my dear husband reads a short story of the Saint of the day from Saints for Young Readers for Every Day of the Year. He had one of them (Vol 2 – covering the second half of the year) from his childhood, and after much searching I was able to find the orignal edition of Volume 1. I was SO excited! Pauline Books has reprinted these books (with a few revisions and new pictures), so here is a link to Saints for Young Readers Vol 1
On special feasts days, we try to do something “extra” to foster a greater love of the saints in our children. Cay Gibson has published a beautiful guide called Catholic Mosaic, which I mention often, and absolutely LOVE!! I am working on building up our personal library with the suggestions in her book.
I also LOVE A Year with God by Catholic Heritage Curricula. It is rather expensive, but I have gotten so many wonderful ideas out of it. A couple other books I draw from are: Cooking with the Saints
Women of Faith and Family has a great page that has info on the current liturgical year that is also very helpful!
I also find so many wonderful ideas from a few of my favorite blogs including: By Sun and Candlelight, Sweetness and Light (she just did a wonderful post on this very topic!) and Real Learning. These women never cease to amaze me!
Here is a bit of what the Church teaches on the Saints as quoted from “The Catechism of the Catholic Church”:
957. Communion with the saints. It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to Christ, from whom as from its head issues all grace, and the life of the People of God itself.
We worship Christ as God’s Son; we love the martyrs as the Lord’s disciples and imitators, and rightly so because of their matchless devotion towards their King and Master. May we also be their companions and fellow disciples! (Martyrium Polycarpi, 17:Apostolic Father II/3,396)
The Catechism also says:
956. The intercession of the Saints. Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in Heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness…they do not cease to intercede to the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus….so by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped.
So, this is a bit of what we do over here to learn about, and hopefully imitate, the Saints of the Church… I would love to here what you do! Feel free to leave any ideas or links to your own posts in the comment section!
Our Cast of Saints
Our All Saints Party was quite a success once again! It just gets better each year! The kids all had such a wonderful time dressing up, carving pumpkins, playing games, and just having lots of fun and lots of sugar!
Saint Magnus – Earl of Orkney
Blessed Jose Luis Sanchez del RioThis is one of Rascals favorite saints. We also learned of this saint from a CD story “My Battle Name is Jose Luis” by Glory Stories. Blessed Jose Luis was a Christero and was sentenced to death by his godfather at the young age of 14. I had been a little stressed about putting this costume together (I can’t sew and costumes have NEVER been my forte). I went to Walmart to try and find a Mexican flag. I asked the woman… and she looked at me funny and said, “Um… NO.” So I came home and saw my felt box. I started to sew, and finished by hot gluing 3 pieces of felt together and adding a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe from one of hubby’s old t-shirts. It worked perfectly, and Rascal was THRILLED!
Saint Cecilia ~ Patron of Church MusicTwinkle Toes wanted to be St Cecilia. She loves pink, and St. Cecilia is depicted wearing pink in our Picture Book of Saints. I was trying to figure out how to come up with a miniature harp, but I was able to make one at the last minute. Doesn’t she look darling?
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
Peanut didn’t dress up… It was all I could do to get the other kids costumes together… But I couldn’t leave him out of the line up… This is a picture of him with his Great Auntie. She stopped by to see the kids! I love this picture!
This last picture is of the whole group! We had a TON of wonderful costumes this year… I’m sure the Saints were smiling!
Oh! And don’t forget to check out our “Saint-O-Lanterns” here and here!
We have a winner, or THREE!
The results are in on our pumpkin carving entires! Last year, Hubby and Captain entered a pumpkin they did “together,” and they won first place… This year they carved their own pumpkins and each came home with first place in their categories!! Rascal’s pumpkin came in second place in his category. (He was in the same category as Captain)
Honestly, I was quite surprised that hubby placed at all! He did make a few revisions to his pumpkin before the competition. (See the picture below.) I think the changes helped quite a bit. Our pastor walked over to the “Adult Carved” table, took one look at “Bernini Columns” and said, “Your husband carved that one didn’t he?” Who else would come up with Bernini’s Columns?
Carved by Hubby
Carved by Captain
Carved by Rascal
You can view a couple other pumpkins that placed over at Regina’s blog: Mary and First Communion. They were pretty cool as well! I really thought Tug should have won for his carving of Mother Teresa, but then again I thought mine was pretty good too 😉 Maybe next year!
Saint-O-Lanterns
In keeping with our family tradition, we carved “Saint”-O-Lanterns with the kids to take to our All Saints Party tomorrow night. This, however, was the first year that the boys were able to carve theirs by themselves!! (New categories for the contest prompted this.) I was actually really surprised at just how well they did. All I did to help them was to draw the lines on the pictures they drew to show them where to poke holes, and then helped them scrape the few areas that needed scraping!! There were a few times I needed to help them get their knives started as well… But they qualify for “mostly kid carved”. Here are a few pictures… I’ll let you know how they do!
The cleaning began — last year they refused to do this… 
This is Rascal outlining his design.
The actual carving of the pumpkins, hubby joined in once again with another interesting design.
Captain choose to carve the “Last Supper”
Rascal carved “The Birth of Christ”
I used Twinkle Toes pumpkin and carved a ship,or rather “The Bark of Peter”
(A ship was a symbol of the early Church)
Hubby carved “Bernini’s Colonnade” at St. Peter’s in Rome
It was quite fun and actually quite a bit easier this year with the boys carving their own!
And I think they turned out pretty good, don’t you?
Reminising
Later tonight I will try and post this years Saint-O-Lanterns!!
A trip to the Pumpkin Patch
Sunday, after Mass, we took the kids to the Pumpkin Patch.
Here is Daddy with Snuggles.
The boys, with a couple of their friends, going on a wagon ride.
The boys each got pony rides… We tried to get the girls to get on, but they refused. Chiquita did pet one of the ponies, but Twinkle Toes wouldn’t go anywhere near them. However, when it was time to leave she said, “But I haven’t ridden the pony yet!” So… Maybe next time.
ALL the kids loved climbing on the hay stack!
There was an area to feed some animals, a corn maze, a sunflower maze and many other things for the kids to do.
Then it was off to find our pumpkins!
The search began.
The deal is, they have to be able to carry their pumpkin…
Looks like Twinkle Toes found hers!
Over all we had a wonderful day!A Basket of Books!
Today, after months of being closed, our Library opened back up!! So, after school, I loaded the car up with four of the kids and we headed to town to pick up some books. Chiquita was napping, so she stayed home with Daddy. She was VERY excited to see the new books that she woke up to. And dove right in..
We also got Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic since the boys just learned about Acrostic poems. We have been thinking about making a state lapbook, so I thought we would start by reading B is for Beaver.
Now our library basket is full, and we can enjoy some new books during these cozy fall evenings!
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