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I realize the Christmas season is over, but I wanted to do a post on how we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany and the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord this year mainly so that I can remember how we celebrated these feast days and to add this post to my A Slice of Liturgical Life page. Maybe our liturgical celebrations will inspire others as well.

On Sunday, January 8, 2017, the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, but the traditional date for the Epiphany is January 6 so we celebrated Epiphany as a family on Jan. 6th.  Last year our family hosted our annual homeschool group's Epiphany party and this year another family graciously opened their home to host some of our homeschool families to celebrate the Epiphany on Sunday, January 8th.  On Monday, January 9, we celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord as a family.


On the morning of Friday, January 6, I set out an "Epiphany themed" table that included fun books about the Wise Men finding Jesus: This is the Star, Small Camel Follows the Star, The Last Straw. On the table were also the 3 Kings paper ornaments that we made a few years ago designed by Lacy at Catholic Icing. Part of our Little People Nativity set surrounded the King Cake that I made. And then a "Jesus is our King" crown was on the table that was brought to the homeschool Epiphany party on Sunday.


My family enjoyed the King Cake filled with cinnamon sugar, but they butchered it in order to find the Baby Jesus hidden inside. Hiding a Baby Jesus or a ring in the cake is a tradition and whoever finds it is supposed to have an especially blessed year.

Can you find the Baby Jesus in the photos below? :)


One of our daughters spotted the Baby Jesus first...


On Sunday, January 8 we attended the annual homeschool Epiphany party and an easy craft to do for this feast day is to ask your local Burger King for their paper crowns and then type out "Jesus is our" to cut and paste over the word "Burger" so the crowns read "Jesus is our King".  Then the children can decorate the crowns with glitter glue, stickers, jewels, etc.


Some of the kids at the Epiphany party having fun decorating their Burger Jesus is our King crowns.


At the party we also talked about the traditional Epiphany house blessing and chalking your front door and one child from each family wrote 20 + C + M + B + 17 on a black sheet of paper with blessed chalk so that the families could hang this on their door or remember to write it directly on their doors when they got home.

Our daughter on the left is wearing a crown that she made at our parish's Young Families group after church on Sunday and they made these crowns for the Epiphany.

We came home from the Epiphany party and as a family chalked our front door from the inside vs. the outside since it was cold outside and dark.  My husband and each of our children wrote a part of the 20 + C + M + B + 17 on the back of our front door.


Then on Monday, January 9, we celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. This feast is usually celebrated on the Sunday after January 6th, but since the Church moved Epiphany to Sunday, January 8th this year, that moved the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord to Monday, January 9th. The liturgical calendar can get confusing sometimes!

For this feast day, I made the easy and yummy dessert that I made last year for the first time. I got the idea of the Baptism of the Lord River Jordan Dessert on Catholic Cuisine.  I used shell candy molds and toffee candy molds for the shells. My kids devoured it, as well as my husband (or what was left of it after he got home from work :) )
The ingredients I used were: Vanilla ice cream, blueberries, blue food coloring, Wilton English Toffee Candy Melts, Shell candy mold, Reddi Wip and Graham Crackers. After following the directions on the Catholic Cuisine site the dessert turns out like this....

I printed and cut out an image from the computer of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and placed them in the "Jordan River".

On the table during the day I displayed each of our children's baptismal candle along with a photo from their special day.

Each candle holder has each of our children's first and middle name and baptism date engraved at the the base of the holder. The right photo below has "Leah Therese 8-31-13" engraved in it.  My parents bought the candle holders and then had them each engraved at an engraving business as my children were born.  Each child lit their baptismal candle and we discussed Jesus' baptism and what our baptisms mean.

My friend's son made this great craft about the Baptism of our Lord that I wanted to share so I can keep it for myself for future reference.  My friend said this was a craft suggestion in Seton's book.


It was another blessed Epiphany and Feast of the Baptism of our Lord!

In the spirit of the Wise Men bringing gifts to the Christ Child for the Epiphany, I thought I would share some fun gift ideas that I love and I think you will too!

12 Days of Christmas Chocolate Molds
I discovered these fun chocolate molds towards the end of the 12 days of Christmas this year.  Each circle represents a symbol from the traditional 12 days of Christmas song.  You can purchase Days 1-6 and then Days 7-12 separately.

 These are the molds Days 1-6 and Days 7-12
CheruBalm {SALVE-ation for sensitive skin} 

I was sent a sample pack of this baby balm and Oh My! This is my new favorite baby balm that is not just for baby's sensitive skin!  I have been wearing it on my chapped lips and two of my daughters have had extremely dry skin on their face and legs so we have rubbed CheruBalm on these areas as well and it has been clearing our dry skin overnight!  It moisturizes your skin and goes on very smoothly!

The ingredients are all natural and I love that the "Khrisma"-scented one smells just like the chrism oil that babies are blessed with at their baptism!  This product is great for anyone, especially those with sensitive skin.  These would make perfect baby shower or baptism gifts or stocking stuffers!

Besides loving the all natural ingredients and the 4 different scents: "Flowers from Heaven", "Unscented", "Silent Night", and "Khrisma" I love CheruBalm's Misson: Parenting is not easy, but we know the obstacles we face pale in comparison to those of some other families. This is why we have chosen to tithe a portion of all of CheruBalm's revenues to families in difficult situations. I also like that the owners have 5 children like me! :) Find out more about this amazing product including their ingredients list.  Be sure to follow CheruBalm on Facebook!



The discount code is good until Feb. 3rd. Enjoy! 


BritaBabyBoutique {Imagine the Possibilities}

 
Speaking of babies and baby shower gifts, my next gift recommendation is beautiful and unique and made with lots of tender loving care.  If you are looking for a fun baby shower gift or welcome baby gift be sure to check out a dear friend's Etsy shop called BritaBabyBoutique.

I purchased one of Brita's bouquets for a Catholic friend of mine who had a baby girl.  The bouquet was gorgeous and full and filled with beautiful artificial flowers, diapers, socks, baby mittens, hair bows and on the bottom Brita put in a cute yellow ducky with baby powder.  She also added a blessed rosary.  Brita will custom make any bouquet with any colors you choose.  She is a joy to work with and she ships anywhere in the United States!

Be sure to view her inventory at her Etsy shop at BritaBabyBoutique or visit her Facebook page. If you have any questions or would like a bouquet that you don't see in her shop, she would be more than happy to chat with you! {By the way, my friend LOVED her beautiful, unique bouquet and I loved it so much I wanted to keep it forever! :) )


My Catholic Magnets

I realize the Christmas season is over, but I wanted to do a post on this year's annual Epiphany party and the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, mainly so that I could remember how we celebrated these feast days and to add these posts to my A Slice of Liturgical Life page.

On Sunday, January 3, 2016, the Catholic Church celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, but the traditional date for the Epiphany is January 6.  Our family celebrated this year's Epiphany with some traditions and then this past weekend we hosted an annual Epiphany party.  A few homeschooling and non-homeschooling friends and their children came for a potluck dinner and a time to fellowship.

During the party we turned our Advent tree into an "Epiphany tree" where we hung the 3 Wisemen Ornaments we made last year  (ornaments were printed from Catholic Icing) and laminated star ornaments where I wrote each family's name in attendance on each star.  Each family chose a star on the tree and then this would be the family they would pray for in 2016.   At the base of the tree was The Christmas Star from Afar wooden nativity set that I did a review on at the beginning of Advent. 


Also at the base of the tree was real frankinsence and myrrh that I received as a gift from Anna-Marie several years ago at Life's Adventures.  I also made little Epiphany "goody bags."  In each ziplock bag, I put some Hershey kisses, chocolate gold coins (to represent the Wise Men bringing gifts of gold to Baby Jesus), a piece of white chalk and a copy of Chalking the Door: Blessing Your Home for Epiphany.  Each family could then go home and bless their home with the chalk and prayers that I printed out for them.

This was the first year we did a simple celebration for the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord.  The feast of the Baptism of our Lord is celebrated on the Sunday after January 6th (Epiphany).  So this year it was on Sunday, January10th.

After seeing the Baptism of the Lord River Jordan Dessert on Catholic Cuisine, I decided to give it a try.   Here's what I used for the dessert:


After lunch on Sunday, our family discussed the meaning of our own baptisms and each child lit their baptism candle that they each received at their baptism as infants.  We discussed how our baptisms remove original sin, so why did Jesus get baptized (since He is God)?  I then read out loud to my family The Baptism of our Lord and the Sacrament of Confirmation that answers this question and relates this feast day to the Sacrament of Confirmation.  It was a blessed time!

I found an image on Google of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and printed it out and laminated it before sticking them in the "River Jordan".

And the next post I'm planning on publishing relates to the fun and big New Year's goal I'm working on and the title of the post will be something like "More Jogging, Less Blogging..."  So that gives you a big hint what I'm doing for my goal ;-)

Stay tuned!

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Happy New Year! It's hard to believe Christmas 2015 is quickly coming to a close, but as I have mentioned before we are still celebrating the Christmas season.

When does Christmas really end?  It seems this is up for discussion as each Christmas rolls around each year.  If you want to find out more information about the real end of the Christmas season, Christmas to Candlemas: When is the Real End of the Christmas Season? by Jennifer Gregory Miller, is an informative and interesting post to read.


In the middle of the Christmas season is January 1st, the start of a new year and on January 1st, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. 

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Wait?  You may be thinking you have heard of the feast of the Epiphany as just a day and not a season, unlike Christmas, which is really a season and not a day.  Did ya get all that? 

Well, you are right!  The feast of the Epiphany is celebrated as a day, but in our house we extended the celebration into a 4 day "season".  More explanation below.

This past Sunday, January 4, the Epiphany was celebrated in the Catholic Church.  The traditional date of Epiphany is January 6, but in the United States it is celebrated on the Sunday between January 2 and January 8.  It's a little confusing and it's one reason why we had an Epiphany "season" at our house.

On Sunday we started celebrating Epiphany as the Wandering Wise Men finally found Baby Jesus!  I also made a King Cake for breakfast and you can find the recipe HERE.   A King Cake is similar to a Twelfth Night Cake as explained HERE. 

One tradition of the King Cake is to hide a ring/coin/Baby Jesus in the cake and the person who finds the piece with the trinket gets a big hug from Dad and Mom (I made that part up because our 7 year old found the piece with Baby Jesus and a hug was her reward :) )

We were also FINALLY able to attend Mass together on Epiphany Sunday as a family since our Christmas was filled with festivities and fevers which only allowed our healthy family members to attend Masses over the Christmas break.  


On Tuesday, January 6, the actual Epiphany feast day on the liturgical calendar, we spent some time during our homeschool day to make these 3 Kings Ornament craft that was part of the Printable Advent Saints pack from Lacy's blog at Catholic Icing.

Then today, Wednesday, January 7,  my husband was home for lunch and I forgot to do the blessing of the home and household Epiphany prayers yesterday, so we said the blessing today at lunch time.


We said the Blessing of the Home and Household on Epiphany and used chalk (I forgot to have our chalk blessed by our priest on Sunday) to write 20 + C + M + B + 15.  On the Epiphany it's traditional to ask God's blessing on our homes.  The current year and the initials C, M, B are marked above the main doorway.  However, we just mark a black piece of cardstock and tape it to the back of our door inside our home and leave it up all year.

There are two explanations for the three initials:  Christus Mansionem Benedicat, which means, "May Christ bless this home."  These are also the initails of the legendary Magi (Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar).  While placing this blessing above the doorway of our home we said:

"May all who come to our home this year rejoice to find Christ living among us; and may we seek and serve Christ in everyone we meet.  Amen."

We ended our Epiphany "season"  tonight by reading Small Camel Follows the Star and The Last Straw.   Our family really enjoyed these two books about the adventures of the camels that carried gifts for Baby Jesus.  (I refer to Epiphany this year as a season for our family since we spread out the celebration since Sunday)

We usually have an annual Epiphany party with our homeschool group like last year, but this year due to fevers and coughs for several of our families, we canceled our usual celebration.  But, hopefully next year we can pick up the tradition once again and celebrate the Epiphany with our homeschool group!

And finally to conclude our Epiphany 2015 for our family, I thought I would share this drawing by my 7 year old daughter of the Holy Family:  Jesus is in Mary's womb with Saint Joseph.  She drew this today during our homeschool lessons.  Her beautiful drawing blessed my day more than she knows.


I hope you are having a blessed week!

  

This post is linked to Catholic Inspired Wandering Wise Men Link-Up   

This post is also linked to Twelve Days of Christmas Instagram Recap @ Shower of Roses