Christmas is Over, Feast Days and Lots of Lent Posts!

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Christmas is now officially over with the celebration of the Presentation of our Lord or Candlemas this past weekend.



Today, February 3, is the feast days of both Saint Blaise and Saint Ansgar.  This morning our family went to morning Mass and had our throats blessed in honor of Saint Blaise.







This week has been busy with the launching of the new Saint site, SaintNook, where the Saints are always online!  I 'm so excited about being part of the team that is working hard to bring the Saints online in a new, fun way by combining their resources into one corner, or "nook", of the world wide web!   Below are the beautiful graphics of the two Saints we celebrate today.  If you are on Facebook you might have seen these men floating around on the SaintNook Facebook page or maybe someone shared these on their own pages after "Liking" the SaintNook Facebook page.  
 

It's hard to believe that Lent is just around the corner, exactly 2 weeks away!  I can't believe it either!

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18, this year.  I thought I would gather all my Lent and Holy Week posts here in case you missed a few or are new to my little corner in blog land.  Just click on the title of each post to read further.  Enjoy!

King Cake for Fat Tuesday (Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday):  This is the feast before the fast and this post also includes a yummy King Cake recipe.

Ash Wednesday, Lenten Traditions, and Link-Up All in 7 Quick Takes: This is the post last year where I gathered most of our family's Lenten traditions into one post and it's a link up post too so if you scroll to the bottom of it you can see a TON more posts from several bloggers about their Lenten traditions.  Pictured is the salt dough crown of thorns we make each year that turns into a beautiful, golden crown of jewels at Easter.  Also included on the post is our bean jar tradition, Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure, books we read during Lent, child-friendly Stations of the Cross and a link to Stations of the Cross bags, homemade pretzel recipe, and a recipe for a meatless meal. 

Lenten Love Links:  Are you looking for an easy way to count day the 40 days in Lent until Easter morning and have the kids (and adults) in your family show love in Lent?  Be sure to check out this post about Lenten Love Links that I pulled together last year from a couple of resources. 

 

Magnetic Stations of the Cross:  I gave this cross as a gift to my husband's cousin when she came into the Catholic Church with my husband in 2006.  When she passed away in 2007, we inherited this unique magnetic Stations of the Cross.  This is a bit pricey, but I think well worth the money since my kids love to take turns (sometimes without arguing over whose turn it is!)  and place the stations on the cross as we say each Station in our home.  We have this cross hanging in our home and use it during Lent.  

Palm Sunday Videos, Easter Triduum, Holy Week Happenings 2014:  This post tells what we did last year during Holy Week which included making crosses with our blessed palms, planting real Easter grass, making our annual resurrection rolls, and other fun traditions! 

Holy Week Happenings: Tuesday: Water Color Crucifix & Growing Easter Grass {post 2 of 3} :  This was an easy, fun and meaningful art project we did for the first time last year that I first saw at Chris' blog at Campfires and Cleats.  We hope to make these paintings this year again during Holy Week. 

    

Holy Week Happenings: Wednesday: Spy Wednesday and Via Cruces {post 3 of 3}:  Last year we started a new tradition called "Spy Wednesday" and we visited a local couple's beautiful garden where you can pray the Stations of the Cross as you walk around the long path filled with statues, stations of the cross, benches, plaques, crucifixes and there's even an empty tomb with a stone rolled away at the end of the path.  Just beautiful!  I definitely plan on going back again during Holy Week this year! 

A Symbolic Lunch for Good Friday: This was a new tradition we started last year on Good Friday.  It was alot of fun with our family and my husband was able to come home from work for lunch last year, which made it even more special. I plan to do this again this year.  

I hope some of my links here will inspire you to continue your Lenten traditions or add a few new ones.  May you have a blessed Lent (starting in TWO weeks!!!!!) 

For more Lenten traditions and ideas, be sure to visit Bobbi's Pinterest Party and Link-Up at Revolution of Love Blog.  

I'm linking this post also to Walk with the Saints Lent Link-Up 

 

I'm also linking this post to 40 Days of Seeking Him Link-Up 

I linked this post to New Evangelists Monthly-March 2015, Issue #27.
Go check out all the great posts!