Showing posts with label Lent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lent. Show all posts
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Mini King Cakes for Mardi Gras and Salt Dough Crown for Lent
It's been a little while since I posted because life is well, life. So I thought I'd catch up on some posts that I have been meaning to publish. I posted about our family's Lenten traditions and we aren't doing all the traditions this year, but many of them.
Just before Lent started, we celebrated Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, with a mini King Cake recipe that we did for the first time this year. I usually make one big King Cake, but the mini King Cakes were easy enough for my 3 youngest daughters to enjoy making and decorating with a few friends.
Using 2 cans of Cinnamon rolls (we bought ours from Trader Joe's), we unrolled them and braided the long dough strands and then shaped them into circles for a crown.
After baking the mini King Cakes and icing them with the can icing, my daughters and her friends used sugared sprinkles to decorate each one.
A family Lenten tradition we have done for years is the salt dough crown of "thorns" (toothpicks). Here are a few of this year's photos with my 2 youngest daughters making the dough before we braided it and baked it.
The crown looks like this after it is braided and baked and each sacrifice that our children make during Lent they pull out a "thorn" from Jesus' crown of thorns. During Holy Week close to Easter this crown is decorated with gold paint and jewels to symbolize all the sacrifices we made during Lent for Jesus as we celebrate the resurrection of the King of Kings at Easter!
I hope you are having a blessed Lent so far!
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Thursday, March 9, 2017
My Latest EpicPew Post: 40 Facts You Wished Everyone Knew About Lent
Lent 2017 is in full swing so I thought I'd share my latest EpicPew post...
It’s that time of year again when ashes in the shape of crosses are found on foreheads throughout the world to make it the official
To make this season a bit more bearable, don’t you wish everyone knew these things about Lent?
Read more at 40 Facts You Wished Everyone Knew About Lent. Which facts are new to you? :)
Speaking of EpicPew posts, below are the posts I have written so far for EpicPew that have been published in case you missed them....Enjoy!
May the rest of your Lent be blessed!
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Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Ash Wednesday and Our Family's Lenten Traditions
This post contains affiliate links.
It's hard to believe that Lent will be here next week with the first day of Lent starting with Ash Wednesday on March 1, 2017.
Before I explain some of our family's favorite Lenten traditions, I wanted to share about our Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday traditions.
King Cake for Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)
The day before Ash Wednesday is also known as Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras and I usually try to make our traditional King Cake and hide a plastic baby somewhere in the cake. My children like to see who will find the baby and whoever finds it has to provide the King Cake for next year's Mardi Gras. :) This King Cake tradition is also celebrated on Epiphany.
And if you don't want to make a homemade king cake or buy one at the store, you could try Mini King Cakes out of cinnamon rolls, icing and sprinkles. I'll be doing this for the first time this year!
Pancakes for Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday
For breakfast or lunch or dinner we will have pancakes, bacon, fruit. Fat Tuesday is also known as "Shrove Tuesday" and a traditional meal for Shrove Tuesday is pancakes. Why pancakes? Great question! Here's the interesting answer! Did you know one day could have so many different names? :)
So what is Shrove Tuesday all about? As stated at About Religion: "Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Roman Catholic Church. "Shrove" is the past tense of the word "shrive," which means to hear a confession, assign penance, and absolve from sin. Shrove Tuesday is a reminder that we are entering a season of penance."
Now onto Ash Wednesday....
What is the significance of putting ashes on one's forehead to start the Lenten season? Below is a quote from an article on About.com
King Cake for Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)
The day before Ash Wednesday is also known as Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras and I usually try to make our traditional King Cake and hide a plastic baby somewhere in the cake. My children like to see who will find the baby and whoever finds it has to provide the King Cake for next year's Mardi Gras. :) This King Cake tradition is also celebrated on Epiphany.
And if you don't want to make a homemade king cake or buy one at the store, you could try Mini King Cakes out of cinnamon rolls, icing and sprinkles. I'll be doing this for the first time this year!
For breakfast or lunch or dinner we will have pancakes, bacon, fruit. Fat Tuesday is also known as "Shrove Tuesday" and a traditional meal for Shrove Tuesday is pancakes. Why pancakes? Great question! Here's the interesting answer! Did you know one day could have so many different names? :)
So what is Shrove Tuesday all about? As stated at About Religion: "Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Roman Catholic Church. "Shrove" is the past tense of the word "shrive," which means to hear a confession, assign penance, and absolve from sin. Shrove Tuesday is a reminder that we are entering a season of penance."
Now onto Ash Wednesday....
What is the significance of putting ashes on one's forehead to start the Lenten season? Below is a quote from an article on About.com
A Day of Repentance:
The
distribution of ashes reminds us of our own mortality and calls us to
repentance. In the early Church, Ash Wednesday was the day on which
those who had sinned, and who wished to be readmitted to the Church,
would begin their public penance. The ashes that we receive are a
reminder of our own sinfulness, and many Catholics leave them on their foreheads all day as a sign of humility.
In this article, Ash Wednesday Our Shifting Understanding of Lent, it states the following:
When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we remember who we are. We remember that we are creatures of the earth ("Remember that you are dust"). We remember that we are mortal beings ("and to dust you will return"). We remember that we are baptized. We remember that we are people on a journey of conversion ("Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"). We remember that we are members of the body of Christ (and that smudge on our foreheads will proclaim that identity to others, too).
Here is a great 2 minute video about Ash Wednesday and Lent:
In this article, Ash Wednesday Our Shifting Understanding of Lent, it states the following:
When we receive ashes on our foreheads, we remember who we are. We remember that we are creatures of the earth ("Remember that you are dust"). We remember that we are mortal beings ("and to dust you will return"). We remember that we are baptized. We remember that we are people on a journey of conversion ("Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"). We remember that we are members of the body of Christ (and that smudge on our foreheads will proclaim that identity to others, too).
Here is a great 2 minute video about Ash Wednesday and Lent:
Now onto Lenten traditions our family has enjoyed through the years. I hope there is an idea that will be new to you and you will want to try it with your family....
Lenten Love Links
My Lenten Love Links idea all started with my 6 year old asking me several years ago, "When is Easter Mom?" and then I came across the 40 Acts of Lenten Love for Children from Homeschool with Love that I pinned to my Lent Pinterest board. I loved the ideas on how children (and adults) can show love in Lent for the 40 days (the Lent "count" does not include Sundays) in Lent and I wanted a way for my children to count down until Easter Sunday. So I combined the two ideas into one. Read more...
Salt Dough Crown of Thorns
Next week we will be making our annual crown of thorns out of salt dough and you can find the link for the recipe at Catholics United for the Faith (CUF).
Here is a picture I took several year's ago while my kids' hands mixed the salt dough ingredients
Each time our children and my husband and I make little or big sacrifices during Lent, we will pull out a toothpick to remove Jesus' thorns from his crown.
So many opportunities to think beyond ourselves, hence the many, many, many "thorns.
Then just before Easter, our children will paint the thorn-less crown gold and glue jewels on the crown to represent that Jesus our King has risen! The decorated crown looks lovely on the Easter table. Here is a picture of a crown we did a few years ago.
Lenten Love Links
My Lenten Love Links idea all started with my 6 year old asking me several years ago, "When is Easter Mom?" and then I came across the 40 Acts of Lenten Love for Children from Homeschool with Love that I pinned to my Lent Pinterest board. I loved the ideas on how children (and adults) can show love in Lent for the 40 days (the Lent "count" does not include Sundays) in Lent and I wanted a way for my children to count down until Easter Sunday. So I combined the two ideas into one. Read more...
Salt Dough Crown of Thorns
Next week we will be making our annual crown of thorns out of salt dough and you can find the link for the recipe at Catholics United for the Faith (CUF).
Here is a picture I took several year's ago while my kids' hands mixed the salt dough ingredients
Each time our children and my husband and I make little or big sacrifices during Lent, we will pull out a toothpick to remove Jesus' thorns from his crown.
Then just before Easter, our children will paint the thorn-less crown gold and glue jewels on the crown to represent that Jesus our King has risen! The decorated crown looks lovely on the Easter table. Here is a picture of a crown we did a few years ago.
Bean Jar
Speaking of sacrifices,
another Lenten tradition our family does is the "bean jar". We have a
bowl filled with dried kidney beans, then when a family member makes a
sacrifice, they put a bean in the jar. Then on Easter morning the
children will find that the beans that have accumulated in the jar
during Lent will be changed into colorful and yummy jelly beans! I told the kids that on Ash Wednesday and every Friday in Lent they
could get a "2 for 1" deal on their sacrifices, meaning if they do
something on Fridays they can pull a toothpick and put a bean in the jar
vs. choosing one or the other like on the other Lenten days. :-)
A few years ago we added these beautiful printables from Catholic Icing to our crown of thorns and bean jar.
A few years ago we added these beautiful printables from Catholic Icing to our crown of thorns and bean jar.
Holy Heroes-Lenten Adventure
I
got the bean jar idea from Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure several years ago and
we decided to try it in our home during Lent. Our family loves Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure
(and Advent Adventure) and you can register your email for free to
receive weekly links all about Lent. I have learned so much along with
my children!
Family Devotional Books
Throughout Lent our family will be reading once again, A Family Journey with Jesus through Lent by Angela M. Burrin.
We really enjoy this book as it is written to promote family prayer and
the characters in each story for each day of Lent are children and
families that live in Jesus' time. Then after each story that is based
on scripture there is a "Jesus, Speak to Me" section where it is written
as if Jesus is speaking to us. This is a wonderful book that has been
great to read as a family each day during Lent!
Or we might try to read Amon's Adventure: A Family Story for Easter. We have really enjoyed the Advent versions of these family read alouds!
Stations of the Cross
Many
years ago, when my older two children were little I had them color
printable stations of the cross. I then glued them onto construction
paper and each Lent we tape them up in order on our dining room wall.
Each Friday as a family we pray through the stations of the cross with
these if we don't attend our parish's Lenten soup suppers and Stations of the Cross. I like the simplicity of these Stations of the Cross and maybe this year I can have my younger children color some to update these.
I can't remember where I got these particular coloring pages, but here are some other great printable stations of the cross that children can color from Kristen at Drawn 2B Catholic.
Several years ago, I found a simple presentation of the Stations of the Cross for kids 10 and under and this is what we use to say the stations during Lent. It was in The Word Among Us Lenten Family Edition, Lent 2006 and HERE is a link to part of the article if you would like to review it. Only subscribers to The Word Among Us can view this kid's version of Stations of the Cross in its entirety, however.
Speaking of Stations of the Cross this is one of my favorite crosses, which is a magnetic Stations of the Cross. I gave this cross as a gift to my husband's cousin who entered into
full communion with the Catholic Church with my husband on Easter 2006.
When she passed away, our family inherited this beautiful cross. I was able to track down where I bought this cross several years ago. St. Andrew's Church Supply carries them.
You can find out How We Say the Stations of the Cross at Home using the coloring photos and the magnetic cross below.
Bury the Alleluia
Another Lenten tradition we started doing just last year was to "bury the Alleluia". Last year I wrote a post on 7 Ways to bury the Alleluia at the beginning of Lent.
Make Homemade Pretzels
Some years we get around to making homemade pretzels like in the book Walter the Baker that tells some history about the pretzel also. Did you know that the pretzel can be a good reminder that we can turn to the Lord in prayer and is an especially popular food during Lent? It's a fun book to read and the pretzels are easy and fun to do!
Meatless Meals
I'm always on the look out for meatless dishes during Lent and this Seafood Spaghetti dish is easy and delicious. You can find the recipe at my blog post from the archives.
On Ash Wednesday and during all Fridays during Lent, Catholics abstain from eating meat as a form of fasting and penance. For more information about the history of Lent, I would encourage you to read What are the origins of Lent? Did the Church always have this time before Easter?
Brittany also has a great summary of Lenten practices at What Can I Eat During Lent? (Complete Lent Fasting Rules Made Easy). Although Brittany has not entered into full communion with the Catholic Church (yet :) ), I'm in awe of the amount of research and time she has invested to blog about various teachings of the Catholic Church. May God continue to bless Brittany's journey of continually seeking Truth and understanding!
In the article I learned something new when it stated, "The word Lent itself is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words lencten, meaning "Spring," and lenctentid, which literally means not only "Springtide" but also was the word for "March," the month in which the majority of Lent falls."
Be sure to visit my A Slice of Liturgical Life page for more of my Lent posts from the archives, as well as browse other liturgical seasons and feast days that our family has celebrated in the past.
This post is linked to the CWBN Blog Hop with #HowWeLent theme! Be sure to visit how other readers are spending their Lent this year.
This post is also linked to New Evangelists Monthly - March 2017, Issue #51
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Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Making Pretzels During Lent
This post contains affiliate links.
For the past few years now we have tried to make pretzels during Lent. This past Saturday on the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19th, instead of making bread that we have done in the past for a St. Joseph's altar, we decided to shape dough into pretzels. Did you know that the pretzel can be a good reminder that we can turn to the Lord in prayer? But how? ( Read on to the last photo on this post where it tells the history of the pretzel.)
I first read Walter the Baker, which is a great fictional story about the pretzel, but at the end of the story it gives historical information about where the word "pretzel" came from. Then we made some homemade pretzels. Here is a photo of my silly husband acting like a pretzel with his arms crossed and a pretzel on his head. My younger daughters enjoyed mixing the ingredients.
And here are the ingredients ( I hope you can read them in the bottom right photo) to make pretzels...
Pretzel making has been a fun and simple tradition each Lent!
Thursday, March 10, 2016
How We Say the Stations of the Cross at Home and a Soccer Sunrise
Back in March 2011, I wrote about how we say (or better yet, pray) the Stations of the Cross at home when we can't make it to our parish's community Stations of the Cross each Friday during Lent. This post will be similar, but with updated photos that include our current youngest child enjoying this church and family tradition.
It is a Lenten tradition in the Catholic Church to meditate on the passion and death of our Lord by participating in the Stations of the Cross. What are the Stations of the Cross? You can go HERE for more information and read the history behind the devotion.
"For Roman
Catholics throughout the world, the Stations of the Cross are synonymous with
Lent, Holy Week and, especially, Good Friday. This devotion is also known as the
"Way of the Cross", the "Via Crucis", and the "Via Dolorosa." It commemorates 14
key events on day of Christ's crucifixion. The majority concern His final walk
through the streets of Jerusalem, carrying the Cross." (quote credit)
Many years ago my two oldest children each colored free printables of each of the 14 stations so we hang these up around our dining room. One day I would like to "update" these and use Kristen's Stations of the Cross printables at Drawn 2B Creative and have all my children participate in the coloring.
While we stand and kneel at each station hanging on our wall we use a children's version of the Stations of the Cross from a magazine I found several years ago. Here is another great children's version that can be read and printed out.
While we are reading through each station we use this Magnetic Stations of the Cross 18" Plaque that is hanging next to our front door year round in our home. I gave this cross as a gift to my husband's cousin who entered into full communion with the Catholic Church with my husband on Easter 2006. When she passed away, our family inherited this beautiful cross.
It is magnetic so before we start reading through the prayers for each station, we take all the magnets off the cross. Then each child takes a turn putting the next numbered station on the cross to fill the cross back in as my older children and my husband and I take turns reading the prayers that go with each numbered station. (And sometimes there is even some bickering and arguing with my younger kids of who goes next! Grrr....) Each magnet is numbered with a Roman numeral in the corner, it's just hard to see this in the photos. My 8 year old likes to walk around the dining room with the cross and stand in front of each station as we read and pray.
Here is our 2 year old playing with the magnets and counting them before we ask her to hand us the next Station. This keeps her busy and is a great way to get her involved!
Do you meditate on the Stations of the Cross with your parish and/or family? I would love to hear your traditions in the comments!
Before I sign off I thought I would share this beautiful sunrise I took a photo of with my Android phone this past weekend when our family traveled to Myrtle Beach, SC for a soccer tournament that 2 of my children played in. It was a beautiful "soccer" sunrise before an early 8:00 game and a great tournament for both of my children!
I linked this post to 40 Days of Seeking Him During the Season of Lent
I also linked this post to link up spot #79 at New Evangelists Monthly - April 2016, Issue #40
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I'm Tracy. I love my faith, family and on most days, homeschooling my 5 blessings. When I'm not busy baking cakes for my family or making memories in real life or dreaming I had a housekeeper or professional chef, I enjoy documenting a slice of Smith life in blog land.
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