A Slice of Smith Life: November 2017

Our 2017 All Saints Day Party

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This year we celebrated our annual All Saints Day party the weekend after All Saints Day on November 5th and another homeschool family hosted it on a Sunday afternoon so that Dads could attend vs. on a weekday when many Dads may be working.

Here are some highlights from our special celebration to honor the Saints that pray for us and support us in our life's journey.

In the morning of All Saints Day on November 1, I had our Feast of All Saints banner hung up.

I made this banner a few years ago from Jessica's blog at Shower of Roses.

HAPPY FEAST OF ALL SAINTS

The centerpiece on our kitchen table were all the peg dolls that I received a few years ago at a Saint peg doll exchange and the various Shining Light dolls we have collected through the years.

At the party we had some Saint themed food...

And speaking of food, we had many Saint themed jars and this year instead of guessing how many treats were in each jar, we just learned about why that particular treat represented the Saint.

We had a few new Saint themed jars this year that our hostess thought of with her children. For some more details about most of these jars, be sure to visit my last year's All Saints Day post with more information.

This year my two youngest daughters dressed up as Mary, Queen of Heaven, and St. Rafqa, which is a new Saint we learned about last year. My daughter, whose name is Rebekah, wanted to be Saint Rebekah, but I didn't know if there was a Saint Rebekah. When we did some research, we found out that there was a St. Rafqa, who was born in Lebanon on June 29, 1832. St. Rafqa means "Rebecca", so my Rebekah has been intrigued by her story. My children definitely remember the part of the story where St. Rafqa went in for eye surgery due to headaches and eye pain. On the operating table, she refused anesthesia and her eye fell onto the floor. "Sister Rafqa, instead of panicking, blessed the doctor, saying "For Christ's passion, god bless your hands and may God repay you." Read more about this fascinating Saint!

It was another beautiful All Saints Day and it's always a blessing to celebrate these holy heroes with family and friends!

All the angels and Saints, pray for us!

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Celebrating the Feast of Saint John Paul II on Oct. 22 with Pizza!

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On October 22, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of Saint John Paul II, who was canonized as a Saint on April 27, 2014. We enjoyed celebrating his first feast day on October 22, 2014 with lapbooks and videos of this great successor of St. Peter singing "Ave Maria" in 1976 and "Dynamite"!

A few years ago I posted 7 ways to celebrate the feast day of Saint John Paul II.

This year, I set up our kitchen table honoring Saint John Paul II using various resources that I have of him and we had some Papa Johns Pizza!

I recently bought the book Pope John Paul II: A Tribute from our parish's small Catholic store for a great price. It is a beautiful book filled with photos of his childhood through adulthood with interesting captions and information about his life. It was a great way to learn more about this Saint with my children.

We also own a copy of LIFE Pope John Paul II also filled with beautiful photos.

A new book we read this year was A Boy Who Became Pope.

The painted peg doll of Saint JPII that I displayed is from the peg doll exchange that I participated last year in November 2015.

We also love to display and admire this pencil drawing (Yes! A PENCIL drawing) of Saint JPII that Cameron Smith drew {did I mention drew with a PENCIL!?!} (no relation to me, but he and his wife are our 5th child's Godparents) This "Portrait of a Saint", pencil on paper, was completed in 2001 by Cameron Smith. Be sure to visit Smith Catholic Art! What talent!

Portrait of a Saint

In our home we also have a certificate that we received as a wedding gift on July 12, 1997 that states that "The Holy Father John Paul II paternally imparts his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of divine graces to Tracy and Anthony Smith on the occasion of their wedding" with the location of our wedding and our wedding date. It is a treasured gift and blessing!

We can learn so many lessons from Saint John Paul II ! I enjoyed this post 7 Lessons from Pope John Paul II from Saints365.

Enjoy this beautiful short video titled "The Gift of Pope John Paul II" that I found on YouTube from Theology of the Body Institute.

Enjoy this animated GIF from EpicPew:

via GIPHY