4th Annual Saintly Celebration

What a fun and saintly celebration we had last night! Four of our dearest Catholic families came to celebrate with us, and Paul started the evening leading us all in a Litany of the Saints prayer, followed by the meal blessing. We all enjoyed a "heavenly" feast of food and then Joseph and Michael led the group at the piano in singing a few songs of praise to God and the saints. We then played a few saint games so that the children could win some treats, and then we finished the night with our pinata grand finale. This year's pinata event was truly a marathon because the boys and I put a few too many layers on our pinata, making it nearly impossible to crack the darn thing open. After quite a few rounds of all the kids taking a swing, Paul eventually cut a hole in the pinata and dumped all the goodies on the eagerly awaiting little saints (thankfully, they didn't mind a bit how the candy came out in the end!) :) I think an edifying and fun time was had by all, and I was so thankful our baby in the womb cooperated (as in, "stayed put") so that we could host the party! Here are some pictures of the festivities.

P.S. For those interested in where I got many of the ideas for our All Saints Day traditions, most of them came from this fabulous Catholic resource: "A Year With God: Celebrating the Liturgical Year" from Catholic Heritage Curricula.

This year Paul dressed as St. John Vianney, Maria as St. Gianna Mola, Joseph as St. Martin de Tours, Michael as St. Francis Xavier, and Dominic as St. George.

Here is Michael dressed as St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of foreign missionaries, who traveled all over the globe setting the world on fire with the gospel.

Here is Joseph dressed as St. Martin de Tours, the patron saint of soldiers, who once shared his cloak with a beggar. God revealed to him in a dream that he had really shared his cloak with Christ which led to his conversion to Christianity.

Here is Dominic, the mighty St. George, who legend says slayed a dragon or perhaps more accurately defeated some evil heresy of his time. I'm not sure St. George had the assistance of hand grenades like Dominic is donning, but Dominic insisted on having them as part of his costume :)

Michael (St. Francis Xavier), Agnes (St. Bernadette), and Dominic (St. George) were our saintly greeters, waiting for the other guests to arrive.

Here is Michael leading us in a couple of songs: "Oh How I Love Jesus," and "I've Got That Joy, Joy, Joy."

Joseph led us in singing "Immaculate Mary," and "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In." If you look closely you may be able to see the littlest children at the party dancing in the background as we sang...so cute!

Here is Greg (St. Peregrine) and his son Benedict (a Lion, the symbol of St. Mark) taking a mighty swing at the pinata. Little Benedict was our youngest contestant but loved participating just like the big kids :) Oh, and in case you were wondering, no, our pinata is NOT a colorful pineapple. Rather, it supposed to look like a beautiful globe that is ablaze to remind us that saints are called to set the world on fire with Christ's love! :)


And here is the biggest kid, Joseph (St. Martin) winding up like a true slugger. Despite his great swing and strong muscles, not even he could break open our flaming globe...

However, "all things are possible with God"... :) so Paul (St. Vianney) came to the rescue to keep our little saints happy. There were plenty of treats and toys for all the kids to fill their goody-bags so that not a one of them missed the idea trick-or-treating. This was way more fun than knocking on people's doors in the frigid 40 degree Montana weather anyway! :)

Happy All Saints Day!!!