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SarahCD
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Hi. This is a two-part question that I hope I articulate well. I am going to try not to be too wordy 
1) For whatever reason, we simply do not have a lot of religious images and symbols (statues, pictures, etc.) in our home. I know that it takes time (and money) to build up a beautiful collection, one that is special to my family. And often, whenever I have a bit extra to purchase something, some other need comes up, and the money is transferred to that more-immediate need. With that being said, it is starting to bother me a bit more that my home doesn't "look" like a Catholic home. I know that I shouldn't compare my home to others' homes, but I do admire those homes that when I walk in, I can "see" their faith through how they decorate, it is just woven throughout, and I think it is beautiful!
So, I am wondering, if you have any tips for how I can grow my collection of religious images in a cost-effective way. What should I start with? In your opinion, what images should be in each room (i.e., a crucifix in everyone's bedroom, etc.)? In other words, what are the "must-haves" of every Catholic home?
2) Part of our Christmas tradition is giving one gift to each child that will draw them closer to Jesus. We have given statues, books, MagifiKid subscriptions, Cat-Chat CDs—things like that.
In the past I have used this gift as a way of growing our family's collection of religious images. So, for example, my daughter was given a St. Anne statue that she keeps in her room, but we may bring it out for St. Anne's feast day in July. Sometimes, though, I feel like getting a statue for Christmas isn't the most exciting thing on earth, even though she'll probably have it for the rest of her life!
So, I am looking for ideas of what to give this year. I have six children, and statues can add up! Do you have any ideas for thoughtful gifts that will help grow my children's faith. It doesn't have to be a decoration, but it could be. I really am up for ANYTHING! 
Thank you!
Blessings,
Sarah
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JennGM
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Great question, Sarah! I'm about to carve pumpkins and get ready for trick or treating, but I'll be pondering and come back to share my thoughts! I love to think about this area!
I just found out about this site, Catholicprayercards.org which really has inspired me, because they are using fine works of art and real pictures for the holy cards...and they are arranged by liturgical feasts of the year.
Be back with more.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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SeaStar
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Sarah-
Just quickly- I have found beautiful religious statues for under ten dollars at TJ Maxx and Marshalls.
Also, If you are a member of Costco (or know someone who is), their on-line art and image gallery has some beautiful religious pictures. You can get any size print. 8x10's, which I use for display, are only $1.50 each. You can browse and order on line, then pick up at the store.
This time of year many churches have yard sales or craft festivals, which are good places to hunt. I have picked up some neat pictures and statues that way.
Retablo art by Ann Burt is beautiful. I bought each one of my dc a special saint picture last year. Not exactly cheap, though.
One other thing you could do is put a notice in your church bulletin that you are interested in religious statues or pictures that are no longer wanted. Many people are ready to pass things on but don't know who to give them to.
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Betsy
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As for religious art I have two comments.
1. Check out your local thrift stores. When I use to live in a more Catholic area this was easier, however, even in the Bible Belt where I live now I found a beautiful Icon that I have in my Kitchen for $7 at my local thrift store!
2. Be creative with how your express your faith. One of my favorite ways to "decorate" with my faith is by being very subtle. My favorite in my house right now is two pictures I have framed of a rose and a lily (I got the prints off of ebay and framed them). I got the idea from an apparition that St. Gertrude had of Mary, giving her the follow promise:
"...St. Gertrude noted that the Holy Trinity was depicted under the form of a white lily with three petals. The Blessed Mother made a white lily with three pedals. The Blessed Mother made it know that she would exert her influence with the Holy Trinity on behalf of those who saluted her as the White Lily of the Trinity and the Vermilion Rose of Heaven. She then added: "I will appear at the hour of death to those who salute me thus, in such glory that they will anticipate the very joys of Heaven."
I also use the Fleur Di Lys to decorate with (it symbolized the Trinity) and Metal Keys (symbolizes St. Peter)
Some ideas that I have given my kids for Christmas are book, rosaries to sleep with under their pillow, pillow cases with Jesus embroidered on the edge and Miraculous Medals sewn on the sides. This year everyone is receiving a Miraculous Medal necklace to wear.
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JodieLyn
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Let others know of your interest.. watch for things that are pretty without being expensive.. like I found a pretty "sign" that says "believe" and it's been the center of a high shelf I have for the past year.. and I have one that says "love" for the next year.. but they only cost a few dollars.. I'm gonna be looking for one that says "faith" for the year Church year that Mary posted about starting in fall of 2012.
It can be seasonal things that are not in and of themselves religious but when you have pink and purple paper chains festooning your living room.. it's hard to ignore that Advent is happening in this house. We count down to Christmas by removing one link off the chain each day until we take the last link down on Christmas Eve when we're putting up the Christmas decor.
We decorated for spring by printing out coloring pages and cutting out flowers that the kids colored and then hanging them on the wall. But you can do that with religious images.
Put up family pictures.. do you have pictures from each baptism? have one from each baptism arragned in small frames on a shelf.. or a collage frame on a wall.
A book can be a centerpiece.. get one of those holders like for cookbooks.. it could be an adult book or a children's picture book.
And on that note.. definately love getting books for the kids.. picture books can be so expensive that if you can get them for two reasons so much the better.
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JennGM
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I think the religious art makes a stronger statement if it is not overdone. I prefer simple or minimal but beautiful that make strong statements.
For bedrooms I aim for a crucifix and an image of Our Lady. For the rest of the house I have a crucifix in every room, or at least visually seen in every room, and images of Our Lady in a few places. I do have some statues placed here and there, but we don't have ideal horizontal space for statues.
For my children I try to aim for a statue of Mary and one of their patron saint. My favorite crucifix is the San Damiano Cross, so that is also one I try to get for each of my boys. (This is also the one that Sofia Cavelletti, founder of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, encourages to have hanging in all atriums.) (Also as an aside, Maria Montessori encouraged The Madonna of the Chair by Rafael to be hung in all Montessori classrooms.)
I really think the key here is find beautiful art that isn't kitschy or schmaltzy or trite. Don't forget that there are beautiful works of art that are religious, but speak volumes of reverence and beauty. And many are easy to be had -- I found a beautifully framed Madonna of the Book by Botticelli for a dollar at a local garage sale.
There are also great ways of finding old art books that have beautiful prints that could be framed for minimal cost. Or create photo albums or images of postcards and holycards.
As far as religious objects for the children, I think that comes gradually. We have the communal rosaries we use when we pray together, and we have our mysteries of the rosary pictures and Stations of the Cross pictures to flip through while praying. We always have a Liturgical Year calendar from Liturgical Training Publications in our kitchen dining area.
And like Jodie said, books and more books. Start early with saint stories. These should be our heroes, and our children should know their stories and want to imitate them. Have books with saint pictures to page through, then add good saint reading materials, picture books to collected lives to chapter books.
Little gifts for the children -- rosary tenners that are sturdy to put in pockets (there are a few members here that make beautiful ones) or rosary bracelets for the girls. Small New Testaments pocket size, medals, etc.
The years the children receive the sacraments (baptism, confirmation, First Communion, Penance) are when we try to give something that should stay with them as they grow up and leave the nest.
Little holycards and prayercards are common, stuck in cards and books, for St. Nicholas day and other feast days. I consider these like the photos we have our family members -- we like to have them around to think and remember.
Anyway, I am going on and on, but just wanted to share some thoughts.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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One more thought. If you have a nearby religious goods store, check out their sale and damaged section. I have found a very nice St. Michael statue with a little chip, and a beautiful large crucifix that had a small crack, but it's not noticeable. Everyone raves about how nice it is. Crucifixes are expensive, so this one was such a nice buy!
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JodieLyn
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And the little photo albums.. one photo per page.. are great for holy cards too.. even though the holy cards don't fill the pockets.. it keeps them together and makes them a "book" to look through and the kids love that.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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rcarter
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Ditto what Jodie and Jenn said, especially about the religious art. A few years ago, I was in the same boat. I spoke about it to my Mom, who I knew was constantly getting religious items from people who didn't know what to do with them. She kept her eyes open for some of the nicer things, and now we have a few statues, a few more crucifixes, and beautiful pictures also. I found a beautiful Sacred Heart picture, framed, at a garage sale for $1.50 a few years back. Does your church give out the religious art calendars at New Year's? My Mom used to take some of the more beautiful pictures and put them in frames.
HTH!
God bless!
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Erin
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SarahCD wrote:
2) Part of our Christmas tradition is giving one gift to each child that will draw them closer to Jesus. We have given statues, books, MagifiKid subscriptions, Cat-Chat CDs—things like that.
In the past I have used this gift as a way of growing our family's collection of religious images. So, for example, my daughter was given a St. Anne statue that she keeps in her room, but we may bring it out for St. Anne's feast day in July. Sometimes, though, I feel like getting a statue for Christmas isn't the most exciting thing on earth, even though she'll probably have it for the rest of her life!
So, I am looking for ideas of what to give this year. I have six children, and statues can add up! Do you have any ideas for thoughtful gifts that will help grow my children's faith. |
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Books, and well books
Saints books, Catholic picture books, books to deepen their faith and bring them closer to God.
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Erin
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SarahCD
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Thank you all so much for your suggestions! This is exactly what I was looking for!
I completely agree with the idea of "less is more." A few images, true works of art, that are beautiful. We just have so little, and the options out there are endless. It's kind of overwhelming, so I was just looking for a place to start. And you gave me one ... thank you!
My desire is to create a home where my faith is woven throughout. In little corners, here and there. Nothing crazy, of course, but noticeable, in a subtle way 
For the children, I do want them to have a little corner, or space on the wall, or something that is their little prayer/faith spot. A focal point. A crucifix in each room, a Marian image and their patron saint—this is a great starting point! I didn't realize the San Damiano Cross is the one in the Atrium. All of my children have been in or are in Good Shepherd, so this is a great idea! Plus, I have always loved that cross, but we don't have one ... yet!
I never thought to look at non-religious stores (or even yard sales!) I will certainly keep my eyes open wherever I go from now on! LOL!!
Thank you also for the Christmas gift ideas! Books are a favorite standby. And I like the new suggestions, too. It is just so important to provide them with things that will help to make the Faith come alive for them! But I don't want to give the same type of thing every year, you know?!
Many blessings!
And Happy All Saints Day!
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CrunchyMom
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I did a blog post a couple of years ago on Recycled Religious Art
With Christmas coming up, it is a perfect opportunity to collect some of the prettiest cards you get and find frames for them. Also, with the new year, many Churches are giving away calendars. If you have some frames around to repurpose or buy (I like the sets that Costco often carries for a group of coordinating prints), you can make a display rather inexpensively.
We also inherited some crucifixes and statues from an elderly neighbor several years ago. I imagine that if you wanted some nicer things for a good price, you might find a good amount at estate sales.
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SallyT
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We have several San Damiano crucifixes (I love them, too!), most of which I either picked up very cheaply (little ones, $1.99) at a religious-goods store or received tied onto wrapped gifts at Christmas. We bought a large one for our kitchen, where we spend most of our time, for around $25, from a friend who runs a religious-goods shop out of our parish.
My taste also runs to icons, which can also be quite inexpensive yet look nice, not cheap or schmaltzy, because of the timeless nature of the stylized images. I have a montage of icons -- Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Immaculate Heart, Sacred Heart, Christ Pantocrator, etc -- on and above our mantel.
Otherwise, I'm pretty low-key. One thing I do try to do is to match tablecloth colors to the liturgical season/feast, so that at dinner, at least, the significance of the day is suggested to us. I have a couple of red cloths I use for martyrs' days, a gold cloth for feasts, a blue cloth for Mary, and -- this was a serious coup last year -- I found in a thrift shop a beautiful purple damask cloth for $4. It was obviously brand-new, and I couldn't figure out why it was in the thrift shop until I got it home and shook it out and realized that it was a shower curtain, marked "Dry Clean Only." Well, I wash it, and it's fine, and it fits my table beautifully, so now we have Advent and Lent covered (literally). Somebody's bathroom's loss is my table's gain, though I still shake my head at the very idea of a "Dry Clean Only" shower curtain.
I found a plaque with the head of a Raphael Madonna at the dollar store -- she lives on the back of my stove.
My kids have mostly made their own little devotional areas in their rooms, using things they got for their First Communions and Confirmations and/or have just collected over time -- holy cards, statues, little crucifixes and so on. I'm not even entirely sure where a lot of it came from. My son who turns 14 tomorrow has specifically asked for a St. Benedict crucifix from my friend with the shop, so that will be another item for his room. Again, that will probably be about a $25 purchase -- not super-cheap, but not super-expensive, either.
Re gifts: last year I bought vintage medals on Ebay, which were pretty cool. There are several people who make little saint peg dolls on Etsy, too -- Saint Anne's something is one of them (I actually bought a felt fairy doll from her last year, not a saint, but her saint dolls are very sweet and look durable). I like to do "concept" gifts as well, like flower seeds in an Easter basket to suggest death and resurrection. Those aren't keepsakes, but we have fun every year planting the Easter flowers (and hoping they really do come up).
And finally, re art: consider framing notecards, postcards, or Christmas cards (as well as calendar pages) with images you like. That's a fairly cheap, if not free, way to acquire some small art which can be grouped for a nice effect, especially if the frames match or at least harmonize with each other.
Happy All Saints to you!
Sally
eta: I think the peg-doll Etsy business is called Saint Anne's Saints (?). Terrible memory here! But a lovely person to buy things from.
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JennGM
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I think the main point is to keep your eyes open to all the possibilities. We stopped in a nearby Trappist monastery the other weekend, which had a little bookstore. I was pleasantly surprised at the icons and San Damiano crucifixes which were from Italy all priced *very* reasonably! It would be worth the drive to go back for gifts, the cost was so good. Local religous stores and online can't compare.
Also, someone came back from Italy and bought 10 extra Good Shepherd statues, really nice quality, and sold them for $10. It was such a nice deal! So if you have friends who are going overseas, perhaps you can request a nice icon or religious statue....
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Jennifer G. Miller
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SarahCD
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JodieLyn wrote:
watch for things that are pretty without being expensive.. like I found a pretty "sign" that says "believe" and it's been the center of a high shelf I have for the past year.. and I have one that says "love" for the next year.. but they only cost a few dollars.. I'm gonna be looking for one that says "faith" for the year Church year that Mary posted about starting in fall of 2012.
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I just have to share that just this afternoon I found a little plaque (that stands, not hangs) on clearance at Target ... In a lovely, simple script, it says, Hope. I plan on putting it out for Advent. I was so excited, I just had to share!
Thanks again for your continued good ideas, ladies! You have truly inspired me!
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Sarah
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JennGM
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Just saw that Playmobil is carrying a St. Nicholas.
a new little Nativity Scene
Nativity Manger with Stable
Nativity Manger with Stable
Three Wise Kings
This is a way we give "Catholic" gifts around the year. We have an older Nativity Manger which is well-loved.
Stephanie (St. Ann) had one year helped me buy a St. Martin from Germany, because it wasn't for US. But now a St. Nicholas -- I'm in heaven.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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SarahCD
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Thanks for the links, Jenn. I have been thinking about Playmobil for awhile now. We don't own any yet. Perhaps this would be a good place to start. Do you think a 4yo boy would like it? I suppose the Nativity sets could be for boys and girls!
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Sarah
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JennGM
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SarahCD wrote:
| Thanks for the links, Jenn. I have been thinking about Playmobil for awhile now. We don't own any yet. Perhaps this would be a good place to start. Do you think a 4yo boy would like it? I suppose the Nativity sets could be for boys and girls! |
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MY 4 year old boys love(d) Playmobil, any shape and size.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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ShannonJ
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 You just helped me out with filling our shoes this year!
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CrunchyMom
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JennGM wrote:
SarahCD wrote:
| Thanks for the links, Jenn. I have been thinking about Playmobil for awhile now. We don't own any yet. Perhaps this would be a good place to start. Do you think a 4yo boy would like it? I suppose the Nativity sets could be for boys and girls! |
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MY 4 year old boys love(d) Playmobil, any shape and size. |
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Most popular toys we own except Duplo (which unexpectedly pushes regular Lego to third).
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Religious Decor + Faith-Filled Gifts
