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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 06 2011 at 2:39pm | IP Logged
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I know some of you ladies are so good at celebrating the special days on the liturgical calender.
HOW??? I was going over the special treats we make during the Christmas and Advent seasons and was thinking.. HOW do I manage something like the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.. it's mid-week and most years it's all I can manage to get us to Mass.. and dinner ends up being something like corn dogs or boxed mac and cheese between trying to juggle our regular busy schedule and getting Mass in (with dh's work schedule we usually need to go to the evening Mass to go as a family)..
I even have a hard time getting a bit in for St. Nicholas and all we do is some little things for the kids in their boots (instead of stockings) and cookies.
Now you would think since we need to make dinner anyway that we could at least manage something for that.. but it can be so late or crammed inbetween other things that  we barely get dinner at times.
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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
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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jawgee
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| Posted: Oct 06 2011 at 3:18pm | IP Logged
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Would some of your older kids be willing to plan something for one of the holy days or feast days? After our St. Francis party we had this week my oldest (DS9) decided he wants to plan a special day for St. Nicholas' feast day this year.
I'll be watching this thread, too, because I would definitely like to do more.
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Monica
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 06 2011 at 4:14pm | IP Logged
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Well I'm sure some of them would love to plan.. but it doesn't make the time crunch go away. Which is where we run into problems. How to make it a "feast" when either you're short on time to eat and it's so early no one is really wanting dinner anyway.. or you're in a time crunch to get dinner made before bedtime.
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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
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Michaela
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| Posted: Oct 06 2011 at 7:53pm | IP Logged
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Can you fit something in the afternoon instead of dinner? Themed lunch or afternoon snack?
Keep it simple -- for example, blue jello for Mary. That can be made the day before or the day of by one of your children. Yes, I know it's hard to even find blue jello   but that's just an example.
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Michaela
Momma to Nicholas 16, Nathan 13, Olivia 13, Teresa 6, & Anthony 3
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DominaCaeli
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| Posted: Oct 06 2011 at 11:56pm | IP Logged
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I was going to suggest the same as Michaela: perhaps something special for breakfast or lunch instead? That's what I usually do since after dinner we only have enough time for rosary, a little play with Daddy, and then the bedtime routine. I do any readings/crafts/coloring pages with the children after breakfast, and then if we have a special food, it's usually at lunchtime, since my husband comes home for lunch.
Another idea is to choose a day of the week that is less busy for your family as your celebration day for whatever feast (or feasts) you choose for the week. For example, if Mondays are the slowest day for your family, then Monday could be the day you celebrate the feast(s) of your choice from that week. Or you could even do something monthly if weekly is just too much for your schedule.
On the same note, I usually try to make a treat or special meal to enjoy on Sundays--if you do the same, perhaps you could get into the habit of making your Sunday treat/meal relevant to that week's feast(s).
To be honest, I very rarely make our daily dinner relevant to the liturgical calendar. There are so many good recipes out there, but doing special cooking mid-week just doesn't work with my lifestyle-with-littles. So if we do something food-related, it's usually a simple snack. Even then, I have to admit that I'm hesitant to spend extra money to create some of the very cute saint-related snacks out there that so often require ingredients I don't have on hand. Mass is, of course, the first and best way to celebrate the liturgical calendar, so if you're doing that, I wouldn't worry about the rest of it!  My next priority would be to read about the saint/feast so the children know what we are celebrating, and to say related prayers. Snacks, crafts, and all the rest of it are definitely *extras* around here! 
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Oct 07 2011 at 12:44am | IP Logged
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thanks Ladies..
I've been doing some looking around and found that gingerbread/gingerbread cookies seem to associated with this feast.. and those are one of the cookies we try and make for the season already. sooo
I'm thinking I'm going to have to go on a hunt for some cookie cutters with this feast in mind.. the first that came to mind is a rose.. but I'm sure there's others I might be able to find. Though I need to figure out why the gingerbread is associated with this feast.
and keeping in mind your ideas of simple.. and others I found about using white ingredients.. and then of course blue for Our Lady... simple.. even something we might be able to pick up on our way home from Mass.. and came up with..
vanilla ice cream with blueberry syrup 
Could even serve a gingerbread cookie with it if we manage to pull off making cookies.
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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
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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JennGM
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| Posted: Oct 08 2011 at 8:53pm | IP Logged
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Some thoughts, Jodie. While I have the knowledge, we just don't do all the crafts and baking and special dinners. We travel frequently, our food allergies don't allow much room, and there are other factors that prevent me to spend extra time in the kitchen for prep.
::First, getting the kids to Mass is huge, and the BEST way to celebrate a feast day. This is something I try to keep in mind. Everything else is gravy -- this is the pinnacle.
::If there are multiple feasts in a week, I really like the idea of featuring one feast, or picking one day to have the celebration. Don't overwhelm yourself.
::While there are certain foods or treats that are appropriate for certain feasts, it might work to have a standard treat for feasts. For example, go to Mass for the feast and then have donuts (I think Maryan does this). Our family usually goes to Mass and then out to breakfast with extended family.
Or have a special tea or dinner dessert only on the feast days with a cake or cookies or brownies that is a favorite recipe and easy to make by the older ones.
The features that change according to the feast day is a centerpiece display, a holycard display, the book or story read. If you make a cake or brownies or chocolate chip giant cookie or pan cookies, a simple icing decoration with the saint's invocation (St. Francis of Assisi, Pray for Us) and a symbol.
::My mother handed the reins over to me when I was about 14-15. She was too busy, we were learning our way in the kitchen. She pointed out the liturgical year books and that's where my interest began.
::I also think that practicing some of the activities and foods come in cycles. The reasons I would incorporate them is to plant seeds to be familiar with the Church's Liturgy and calendar and to know the members of our Family, the saints, and most of all, to incite a personal spiritual life in our child, and help deepen it.
There are times when we don't need (or can't do) all the extra activities and externals...adding elements in our prayers, discussions, readings give food for thought and my sons are pondering and making connections on their own.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Oct 08 2011 at 9:22pm | IP Logged
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We would love to do more of the festive menu planning, but with a dancing daughter and a son in college, it's all I can do to get us all to the dinner table at the same time. (6 out of 7 days, we manage to pull it off, which I think is cause for rejoicing.)
For us, pulling out the beloved picture books for Advent and Christmas is a trip down memory lane and we still enjoy doing this. Our Tomie dePaola books and the titles we own from Catholic Mosaic have been part of our Advent season no matter where we've lived, and it's so much fun to look at the richly-colored illustrations and remember all those other places.
Since this is dd's Confirmation year, we'll be talking about saints a great deal, although I can't see us finding time to do more than talk/read about them. Our diocese is encouraging Confirmands to use their baptismal names for Confirmation, but dd's patron saint is an obscure early Christian martyr about whom very little is known - certainly not enough to flesh out the 2-minute presentation on her saint that she has to give in order to be confirmed. So, she'll be looking for her own Confirmation patron saint and take that name when she received this wonderful sacrament. I'm secretly glad, because this gives me another chance to get out all our saint books and enjoy them with her again!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: A Feast Day and a Busy Schedule
