In the Catholic Church, January 1st is the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.  Many are not comfortable calling Jesus' mother, the Mother of God.  Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosi has an interesting article titled, Mary, Mother of God?, which discusses how this title of our Blessed Mother came to be and the history behind it. 

I always enjoy attending Mass on New Years Day as a family to set the new year off right.  This year we will be spending New Years Eve at a rehearsal dinner for a young couple getting married.  On New Years Day we will attend their wedding Mass and we are looking forward to this joyous occasion!  Our oldest daughter and my husband and I have a small part in the wedding ceremony.  I introduced this couple to each other so we are excited to see them exchange their wedding vows on such a special day!
I remember when I got married, a good friend gave us something similar to this:

 I decided to give the same gift for our friend's wedding because when I use my dish I always reflect back to our wedding and the friends who gave us the creative gift.

On the lid you can see I added the phrase "Marriage for a Lifetime!" so that it will read "Servette Serves and Stores Marriages for a Lifetime!"
Then I typed out "Look Inside for the Recipe for a Successful Marriage"

 This is what I have inside:
I color copied the vegetables from the front of the lid. In the middle I typed out the couple's names, then "May your love and marriage be filled with... "



This Servette is a part of their wedding gift and it's a fun way to wish the happy couple a long and successful marriage!


This weekend our homeschool group will have our annual Epiphany party.  We have a get together after the Christmas rush and it's nice to come together in fun and fellowship just before the second half of our school year begins.  I'll be bringing the frankincense and myrrh that Anna-Marie at Life's Adventures posted about and then she sent me some in the mail.  I look forward to bringing these nativity gifts to our Epiphany party!  Thank you Anna-Marie for your thoughtfulness!  For a great article about the Epiphany feast day be sure to read The Epiphany Revealed!


To start off the new year, Angela at Blog Mommas is starting over and collecting submissions to her directory for blog mommas and blogging dads too.  If you would like Angela to include your blog,  go here and submit your information.  She also has a directory for businesses too!  Angela does a wonderful job highlighting all the great blogs out there!  Be sure to spread the word about Blog Mommas to all your blogging friends!

Happy New Year to all my family and friends!  May you have a happy and blessed Twenty Eleven!