Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday

Oh my , Oh my!!!

A week already since we started our season of Lent and here I am just typing this up.

Oh well such is my life these days.

Our preparations for lent usually start the day before Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday in what we call Madi Gras

This year we did not actually have any celebrations for Madi Gras that we participated in like we have in the past {last years post......still partially complete in drafts :) ,}  however we did get a list  prepared of what we needed to cover for Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.

First off is always the 'Hiding of the Allelua' and reminders to the children that we do not say this again in the Mass or at home until the Easter Vigil,
A little reminder about not tricking younger siblings  or other people into saying 'the forbidden word' is reiterated too.

Traditional food for us is pancakes and bacon and eggs.
This year we also added a Trim Healthy Mama desert for those of us who are eating this way too.
Yummy chocolate Strawberry Trifle.

Next up is the making of our Crown of Thorns for those sacrifices and extra prayers we do during Lent to draw us closer to Christ.

This is usually an activity for at least one of our little ones as they love putting in the 'thorns' just prior to baking.
Of course we tend to have a large number of 'thorn pulling' activities in the next few days as the excitement of this activity takes place.

Ash Wednesday begins with Fasting and Abstinence from meat as we start the Lenten season. It is especially poignant after the celebrations of the day before in which we indulge in lots of food and excitable celebrations.

 Each year we try to burn our Palm Crosses from previous years. This does not always happen but we managed to complete this again this year.
Of course the beautiful Ash Wednesday Mass is the highlight of this day in which the Priest makes the sign of The Cross on our foreheads  with the blessed Ashes of last year's palm crosses.

And thus began our Lenten journey this year!
I pray your own journey ma be truly blessed and fruitful.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

What we do!!

A major part of our lives is living our Faith on a daily basis, and while I don't record it here as much as I would like to we still live it within our family circle/.
Living this Liturgical Year in our home all year round means that a lot of the time we try to celebrate these events in a way that is not only meaningful but in a way that will also draw us into a closer relationship with our Lord.

One way of achieving this is by using signs and symbols, feasts and fasts, which are of course supported and used within  our Church, and so are helpful in assisting families to create their own domestic Church with which to pass on The Faith and to live it fully each and every day.

That we live our lives in a Liturgical cycle that repeats itself year after year allows us to develop and learn from the experience each time. Like reading a good book over and over again you always have the opportunity to grow and learn in ways you had not thought possible.

There are many ways to join in the celebration of these particular days within the Church Calender. In fact it can get a bit overwhelming if we try to do too many Feast Days.

So today we started our Lenten Journey with going to Mass and being marked on the forehead with an ash Cross.
A wonderful source of information on the history and reasons for doing this are here

We also prepared today the Crown of Thorns using saltdough and I finished making our Lenten calender. Now I just need to find the perfect place for us to hang it and to use daily for both the countdown but to also fill the pockets with love for Jesus inside too.

These little additions to our celebration can take  a while and so I need to remember not to try to organise too much but remember that next year will also present an opportunity to relive this celebration and so deepen the message for some or even begin to understand for younger children the joy to be found in these celebrations.

After all years come and go and we live so very abundantly if we choose to add these to our daily living, so to think we need to cram it all in one day is to perhaps miss the mystery that life has for us as we go about the living of our Faith and the sharing with others that we are called to do.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Salt Dough Crown (making)

 Each year we make a salt dough crown of thorns to help us with our journey through Lent. Backtracking on these posts...a theme this year it seems with my Christmas Catch ups and, because of our move and other events)

This crown of thorns  is a symbol of Christ's passion and is a reminder to us of how we can share in this suffering throughout Lent.
We do this by making little sacrifices and extra prayers and activities to help us draw close to Christ. A little like the Present for God Beads we made.

To make the crown we use basic ingredients~
4 cups of plain flour
1 cup of salt
warm water to mix it up with
toothpicks

Directions~
Mix the flour and salt. Add enough water to make a good firm dough.
Knead until smooth

Then divide into three 'ropes and plait together

Transfer onto a greased baking tray joining the ends together.

Then comes the fun part and where you will have all the volunteers ............adding the toothpicks

The best way is to push them in make the hole bigger and then pull them out and lightly put back in.

Mind you the children don;t always do this and some of the toothpicks get stuck when pulling them out.

When you have as many as you want in the crown bake in the oven for 350 degrees C for about an hour until light, golden and dried out.

Place in a prominent place so everyone can be reminded to make sacrifices and pull out the thorns ready for Easter Day.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Making Present for God Beads (Sacrifice Beads)

As we started our Lenten Season today one of the things we wanted to do was to make 'Present for God Beads' or 'Sacrifice Beads'.
What are'Present for God Beads' or 'Sacrifice Beads?'
"They are a string of ten beads, which can be pulled and remain in place. They are used to count the acts of love or sacrifices a person makes in a day for God. The string of beads helps a person to grow in virtue by challenging them to be faithful in making acts of love each day. Sacrifice Beads also have a fixed Our Father bead on the end of them and can double up as a rosary."

I don't know how many times we have read about St Therese in the Catholic Children's Treasure Box  books and her using these present for God Beads, but invariable it gets to Lent and we begin to look at having a set again.
"St Therese, the Little Flower, as a child, used a small string of beads in her pocket to help her count the gifts she did to offer to God. In this way she was able to advance in perfection daily."

As the story is a real help with the little ones they especially wanted to have these beads as soon as possible.
So what do you need and do you do this.
As I said we have made these before and even gifted them as a First Holy Communion gift as well.
Materials:
Pony beads (11)  in colours of your choice
medal (this time we used St Therese)
Crucifix or even a cross if you can't get one
Crochet cotton (this is what we have found best and you can get it verigated colours too)
Scissors
Oh, by the way I have a very quick, easier version for little children below that will take you less than two minutes to complete, so have a look at that too.

We have used various instructions in the past but this time I found these ones to be the easiest one to understand and use. Which I will explain below.

I started off making Arwen and Myffwyn  theirs together as I was in a hurry to go to Mass with some of the children. This was our second Mass trip  for the day with only the little car at home still.

Corbyn was desperate to have his make too before we went to Ash Wednesday Mass.

OK, you say they look really cute, nice and could be useful. But how do you make them?

1. Take a very long piece of crochet cotton and cut to a length of about 80cm. I like a longer length that you can cut back rather than a shorter version that needs redoing.
Fold in half and thread the medal on, making sure it is in the middle and the two lengths are equal.

2. I like to get my pattern laid out if using different colours first, so you know how you want it to look. Ten of the beads are together and the eleventh bead is the Our Father bead at the other end.

3. Take your first bead and pull the cord through the bead.

4. Take the other end of the cord and pull it through the same bead but from the other direction so the cord makes and X shape inside the bead.

5. Pull both pieces of cord together in opposite directions so the bead is tight against the medal.

6. Then pull the cords so that they are the same length when you place them beside each other.

7. Pick up your next bead and form the X pattern again through the bead. Pull tightly until the beads are tight against each other

8. Repeat until you have 10 beads in total on the string

9. Leave about 3 bed lengths and tie a double knot.............

 or a corded rosary knot

10. finished knot

11. Take your last bead and string both pieces of cord through the bead and tie an knot on the other side. Quite tightly and not allowing the bead to pass over it.

12. Take the crucifix or cross (or another medal if you like) and string both pieces of cord through the same side and tie a knot

13. Try to make it a double knot so it will not come undone

14. Trim the ends of and then ............

15. FINISHED PRODUCT all ready for use.

Here is are all the ones we made today!!!!!!!!!!!

Now for that quick and simple version.
Take a pipe cleaner and place the beads along it's length, including your 'Our Father Bead'

Turn it into a circle and run the end through the last of your 10 coloured beads.

then twist the pipe cleaner ends together and put the 'Our Father' bead over the twisted end piece.

Now you have something your littlest one can make for themselves and quite easy to repair or replace.

Next up our Salt Dough Crown of thorns we made today as well.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

Huge Week coming up Celebration Wise

Well I am looking at the coming week and trying not to panic at the thought and realising it is going to be a huge week of crafts, activities, food and preparations.

Not only are there the spiritual preparations for Lent with the days of Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday preparations but also we have Valentines Day coming after Ash Wednesday.

Of course we start of the week withe the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
So I have pulled out my favourite planning books, pulled down my big folder for February with all my printed out ideas ( pre blogging days) and am looking on line for ideas.

I do want to do all the traditions we normally do but am looking at a few ideas that are new and inspiring.

So we will look at our own pages to see what we have done before that we can use this year and a reminder to help me as well for planning :)

OUR LADY OF LOURDES~
Planning Page
Our celebrations in 2011

MADI GRAS~
Making Perfumed Eggs
Making Felt Madi Gras Masks and simpler version

SHROVE TUESDAY~
Celebrations from 2012 - lots of ideas in all three
Celebrations from 2011
Celebrations from 2010


ASH WEDNESDAY~
Burning the Ashes
Salt Dough Crown of Thorns
One Year's challenge

ST VALENTINE'S DAY~
Knitting and Stories
St Valentine Information and sentiments
Making a Valentine Walnut Shell Surprise
Making a Valentine Ribbon Banner
Making a Valentine Tree and a Giant Heart Pockets (for gift giving)
Celebrations in our home 2012
Celebrating in 2011

And of course we will be making and doing things out of books I got out!!!!
Have a great few days and I look forward to sharing what we ACTUALLY get done in our family celebrations.


Blessings to you and your homes,