A blessed feast of All Hallow's Eve to you! (ha! I'm a bit late!)
We are looking forward to a quiet, simple Halloween this year. I have only 2 trick-or-treaters, and no costumes to make. Pippo is wearing a pumpkin t-shirt that we got at Target with a green hat for a stem.
Meg is wearing a flamenco dancer dress that magically appeared in our costume box a couple of years ago. I have no idea where it came from, but she's wearing it (with black leggings and a long sleeved black shirt underneath), and happy. Really, any excuse to have a fancy hairdo and makeup works for her!
And I guess I won't be going with her for the first time. I'll get to see what it's like from inside the house, and this is a good year for that since it is still windy and COLD from Sandy.
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Alrighty, then....
I guess I started to do some blogging Wednesday, but I didn't get very far! The week of Halloween/All Saints Day can be pretty nutty for Crazy Catholic Moms who let their kids go trick-or-treating AND then dress as Saints for All Saints. That's 2 costumes for each child! Fortunately, we're passed the hardest part of that with only 2 kids to outfit these days, and at 13, Pip is past the whole elaborate costume phase.
Halloween costumes were pretty simple, and so were All Saints. Pippo wore regular clothes and Meg wore her medieval gown and went as St. Elizabeth of the Hungry. ;-) Dh and I were discussing how easy it is for kids to make that mistake since Elizabeth of Hungary spent so much time feeding the hungry.
Our homeschool group celebrated the feast of All Saints and All Souls on Friday. We started with an outdoor picnic on the river at my old parish, and then we prayed the Stations of the Cross with special prayers for the souls in purgatory. This was the book we used: The Way of the Cross for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. It was very beautiful and moving.
After that, we went inside for games for the young ones, followed by a challenging game of Catholic Jeopardy. It was a very nice evening to visit with friends while the children were having fun.
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One of the things making it so busy this week is dealing with the aftermath of that car accident. Two chiropractor appointments per week for 3 of us take up too much time. It makes us behind on schoolwork, so then we're scrambling to keep up. It gets to be too much, especially during a holy day week.
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Now it's Saturday and we're not very busy, except with household chores. As I was cleaning and dusting earlier, I just wanted to get rid of practically everything. I feel so badly for those who have lost absolutely everything in the wake of Hurricane Sandy that I don't want to have anything that I might be attached to and unwilling to part with. I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that none of it has any value beyond this earth and I can actually live without all of it. And that's all well and good as far as material possessions go, but there are some people who have lost their families, too. If I lost everything, home, family, livelihood...would I have the courage to start over?
I'm afraid I wouldn't, but I know that God gives grace when we need it, not before. Right now, I'm extremely grateful for my home with electricity and running water, and family, and I'm praying for all those who are suffering.
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What have you been up to this week?
I guess I started to do some blogging Wednesday, but I didn't get very far! The week of Halloween/All Saints Day can be pretty nutty for Crazy Catholic Moms who let their kids go trick-or-treating AND then dress as Saints for All Saints. That's 2 costumes for each child! Fortunately, we're passed the hardest part of that with only 2 kids to outfit these days, and at 13, Pip is past the whole elaborate costume phase.
Halloween costumes were pretty simple, and so were All Saints. Pippo wore regular clothes and Meg wore her medieval gown and went as St. Elizabeth of the Hungry. ;-) Dh and I were discussing how easy it is for kids to make that mistake since Elizabeth of Hungary spent so much time feeding the hungry.
Our homeschool group celebrated the feast of All Saints and All Souls on Friday. We started with an outdoor picnic on the river at my old parish, and then we prayed the Stations of the Cross with special prayers for the souls in purgatory. This was the book we used: The Way of the Cross for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. It was very beautiful and moving.
After that, we went inside for games for the young ones, followed by a challenging game of Catholic Jeopardy. It was a very nice evening to visit with friends while the children were having fun.
~~~~~~
One of the things making it so busy this week is dealing with the aftermath of that car accident. Two chiropractor appointments per week for 3 of us take up too much time. It makes us behind on schoolwork, so then we're scrambling to keep up. It gets to be too much, especially during a holy day week.
~~~~~~
Now it's Saturday and we're not very busy, except with household chores. As I was cleaning and dusting earlier, I just wanted to get rid of practically everything. I feel so badly for those who have lost absolutely everything in the wake of Hurricane Sandy that I don't want to have anything that I might be attached to and unwilling to part with. I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that none of it has any value beyond this earth and I can actually live without all of it. And that's all well and good as far as material possessions go, but there are some people who have lost their families, too. If I lost everything, home, family, livelihood...would I have the courage to start over?
I'm afraid I wouldn't, but I know that God gives grace when we need it, not before. Right now, I'm extremely grateful for my home with electricity and running water, and family, and I'm praying for all those who are suffering.
~~~~
What have you been up to this week?
I bought the flamenco dancer dress at a yardsale when I was about 12! It's been in the basement the whole time.
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