A garland of souls to remember...

I wanted to create a way for my family to remember to pray for those who have gone before us for the month of November. I thought that leaves falling from the trees would help us to think of souls falling into purgatory and be a good meditation point for the older children...

I found a bag of leaves at the dollar store that worked out perfectly. Then, when we all gathered for our nightly Rosary, we made a list of all of our friends and relatives who have passed away; remembering them and telling stories about them. We ended up with about 25 names, some of them even famous people.

With our list of names, I gathered the leaves, a marker, and about two yards of 1/4 inch ribbon. I wrote the names on the leaves with the marker.

Then I punched holes in the top corners of the leaves with a hole punch being careful not to get to close to the edge of (most of) the leaves.

Here the leaves are getting strung onto the ribbon.

And here is the completed garland hanging in our living room/dining room archway. I just used scotch tape to fasten it to the wall as it is very lightweight.

I thought that a little something else was needed, so I wrote the beginning of the Eternal rest prayer on a 2 foot piece of inch-and-a-half wide ribbon (on the wrong side so it wasn't shiny) and taped it above the garland of souls.

This was a very simple and inexpensive way to help the kids to honor the souls of the faithful departed and to remember to pray for them to be freed from purgatory. And it only took me about 20 minutes to make :)

God Bless,

All Hallows Eve/Day

I've been busy this week. I don't think this will be a good post, I never get to the computer when I'm in the mood to write, and I don't write well when I'm not in the mood. But I'll try.

Anyway, For All Hallows Eve, we went around our neighborhood in the car this year. There aren't many in our area that give out candy, but since we are the only family in the 2 blocks that make up our loop, and the fact that Allen has known some of them since high school, we feel a little obligated to make the rounds here first. I do try to make sure that they pick a costume that has some significance to at least the battle between good and evil if not directly to a certain saint. Allen did a great job on Peter's face. a very convincing Darth Maul! Daniel chose to be the spanish version of Robin Hood...Zorro! (making his hat on the treadle machine was tricky!) Benjamin had a hard time picking a costume this year (that happens when you get older). He decided to be a mailman, which was a challenge for me to find a saintly connection to. But we made up some little cards with Jack 'o' the lantern on them and wrote Happy Hallows' Eve on one side and on the other, wrote

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord;
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace.
Amen
I told him that he could be Saint Anthony's Messanger :) It was a big hit with lots of people commenting on the originality of his costume. He gave every one who gave him candy, a card. There was one house that had 2 guys in the garage giving the candy out. One of them commented on him being a mailman and said "Well, you should have some mail for me!" And Bejamin said "I Do!" as he gave him one of the cards that we made. He tossed Benjamin an extra piece of candy for that one! Peter want's to be a mailman next year :)

Charlie likes to be a cowboy. I just realized that it's like a western version of a shepherd. We'll have to touch on that one. I couldn't resist letting Holly be Snow White, seeing that we recieved such a nice costume from a cousin, plus, there are lots of princesses that have made it to heaven. And it gives me oppertunity to teach them about the virtue of poverty even if you are rich. And Thomas was a hobbit, easy big brother hand me down :)

For All Saints Day we had a tea party with 12 apostle cupcakes and an eternity (bundt) cake with land of milk and honey frosting on them for lunch (oh, we had ham sandwiches too :)

This is our Holy Souls tea party that Peter set up for us. Isn't he thoughtful! I made persimmon muffins for breakfast and because of the sad state of my muffin tins, (the coating is flaking off of one of them) I baked them as a cake and cookies. Now what kind of mom gives cake and cookies for breakfast?!