p.s. on Michaelmas

I forgot to add: you might also want to check on this link of Renee's, for another idea of something to bake and stab. Isn't that awesome?

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

St. Michael and All Angels tomorrow!

Just a reminder that the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels is tomorrow; for ideas, may I recommend this excellent post by Amy over at Splendor in the Ordinary? I really like her idea of having a special tea with her kids on various high holy days throughout the year!

I'm thinking of making St. Michael's Day Bannock (from the book The Catholic Home) or angelfood cake, but next year, I just might make devil's food cake. There were a lot of ladies at this site who apparently discovered that letting little kids stab devil's food cake with little cocktail swords makes an excellent visual aid to remind them that they must always fight against sin!

From that same site, I also found this collect:

God our Father,
in a wonderful way you guide the work of angels and men.
May those who serve you constantly in heaven
keep our lives safe from all harm on earth.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Anyone else celebrating Michaelmas tomorrow? Having just finished reading Daniel, I'm in a good place to keep it properly I think. Good heavens, that's a scary book.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

finished object and links

Another FO! I can't believe I've had so many so recently . . . I've had several projects I've been slowly working on, and they kind of all got finished at once.

This is a hat to welcome Emily's new arrival; can you see his name on the hat band? I did it with intarsia crochet:

And here it is blurrily modeled on one of my twins, so you can see the fit:

It was inspired by a hat in this book. I thought the shape (and the ears!) was very cute, and I thought it'd be cuter yet in crochet, with blue and green stripes and a name.


And, for your viewing and reading pleasure, here are a couple of links:
-check out what Ranee and her kids did on St. Michael's day. I totally want to do this next year (assuming - ha! - that we haven't just had twins!). Who wouldn't want to bake an edible dragon and then stab it with bamboo skewers?
-read this funny and oh-so-true list of people not to marry, by Anthony Esolen.

And, though it's a little late: happy Michaelmas!

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

St. Michael and All Angels (plus All Saint's Day)

So . . . I missed Michaelmas. I've been so into this Ordinary Time thing that I've gotten out of the habit of looking for feasts. But I'm beginning to think about All Saint's Day, which is (I think) the next big feast day coming up. (Um, that is, not forgetting the feast days of St. Luke, St. James, St. Simon and St. Jude.)

I don't celebrate the weird American perversion that is Halloween, but I am very interested in finding out what the older, better traditions surrounding All Hallow's Day are, so that I can celebrate them with my children. I like the idea of having a day where we talk all about the people who really, really loved Jesus (this, I think, is the best way to define "saints" to a one year old and a three year old).

My best idea so far is to collect some good picture books about the saints (we already have a few), and to spend the week of All Saint's Day reading them daily. Also, there's a great children's hymn called "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God" that I'd love to teach my kids. Bess, at least, is good at picking up song lyrics, and I think if we sang it every day this next month, that she'd learn it. I especially like how the end of each verse says, "and I mean to be one too" (a saint, that is).

And I've heard that in some places in the world, it's traditional to make pretzels on All Saints' Day. I admit that I don't quite understand why.

So, does anyone else have any great ideas about how to celebrate All Saints' with kids?

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell