Tomorrow, March 25, is the feast of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she is to carry and give birth to God's son and name Him Jesus.  All this through the power of the Holy Spirit!  (Luke 1: 26-38)

Nine months from today, we will be celebrating the birth of our Savior!  Today's feast day is one of the Solemnities on our liturgical Church calendar so it's a big deal and another time to celebrate and feast!

In 2010, when my oldest daughter was 10, she painted this in her homeschool art class.  We have it displayed on our piano in our dining room.  The teacher asked the students to sketch and paint a scene from the Bible and my daughter decided to paint the Annunciation when the Angel Gabriel came to visit Mary to tell her she was chosen to become the mother of God's Son.  Here is the scripture verse that my daughter wrote on the top right corner of her painting:



In year's past we have done several different activities to remember this special day.  These activities are easy enough to prepare last minute!

In 2011, I printed out this coloring page from Lacy's blog at Catholic Icing and my children enjoyed coloring it.


Last year in 2014, my children did this coloring activity that was designed by Jennifer at Catholic Inspired.


This year, I thought of a way to "announce" the Annunciation with my children that is easy and I hope fun and memorable for all.  I taped one of these Annunciation images on a styrofoam cup and printed out the words..."The Angel of the Lord announced unto Mary..." and taped the strips of paper to the cup.
The words are the first part of the Angelus prayer that is a devotion prayed at 6:00 AM, noon, and 6:00 PM.  We usually say the noon time Angelus prayer before our lunch time grace (when I don't forget).


So I thought for the feast of the Annunciation we would use our megaphones to loudly (and reverently) say the Angelus prayer at lunch time tomorrow.  Our cups look a little plain so maybe my children will want to use markers to decorate them?  I'll find out tomorrow when they wake up.

When we think of the word "annunciation" we think of the word "announce" which is what this feast day is all about...the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she conceived Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is my hope that my children will remember March 25 a little better with this simple and fun activity and that as they announce the Angelus prayer they will remember what the Feast of the Annunciation is all about. 

So grab some cups and make a megaphone and say the Angelus a little differently tomorrow to remember such a special day!

And I hear that tomorrow is Waffle Day in Sweden and we are having (frozen) waffles for dinner and bacon and fruit because it is the Feast of the Annunciation and Kendra at Catholic All Year makes a compelling case of why eating waffles on the Feast of the Annunciation is a rather fun and cool idea.
BUT what does waffles have to do with the Feast of the Annunciation you ask?  Read all about that HERE.  Interesting information, don't ya think? 

And I'll conclude this post all about the Annunciation with this beautiful song and images about the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary.


 May you have a blessed Feast of the Annunciation!