Archive | Handmade Holidays and Celebrations RSS feed for this section

Martinmas

By on November 12, 2012 in Handmade Holidays and Celebrations, Knits and Crochet

Once again Martinmas is upon us.  I had not planned to do much but as the morning went on I felt more and more guilty that we would miss it.

I told the kids that Momma was tired and we might not do anything special and just have a nice walk since our beloved lantern that we usually use for walks was broken this summer.  They took it well but I could see that they still felt badly about breaking my lantern so without telling them I got working on some new lanterns.  These crocheted up really fast and to make our walk fun, I pulled out an old wool coat I have been saving for something and sewed up a cloak for one of the little ones to wear as Saint Martin did.

For those of you who are not familiar with Martinmas, it is the day we celebrate the Feast of Saint Martin de Tours.  He was a Roman soldier who was riding down a road on his horse when he came up to a poor begger, shivering in the cold and asking for help.  No one stopped to help him but Saint Martin.  He drew his sword and ripped his own cloak in half and put half of it on the beggar to keep him warm.  That night he had a dream where Christ appeared to him wearing the half cloak and said ” Martin, That which you have done for the least of your brothers, you have done unto me.”  This is our favorite quote which we keep in our laundry room next to our chart of chores and our schedule.

and I found a new lantern for our walks that is easy to replace if it should break : )  I love easy fixes and the kids feel so much better now.  Click here to see last years celebration.

The night was wonderfully cool and as we took our walk we seemed to be accompanied by an owl which we could hear every couple of minutes.  Unfortunately helicopter sized mosquitos decided to walk with us also and we had to cut our walk in half to get the baby back without him getting bit through the baby wrap he was in.

We ended the night with our lanterns on the table for a candlelit dinner and tomorrow we will take some warm coats to donate for the homeless downtown.

So sorry about the pictures.  The lack of light made for very blurry pictures but they are all I have to remember this year and I would not want to forget today.

Wishing you all the love warmth and light of Christ.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Comments { 0 }

Hallowed

By on November 2, 2012 in Handmade Holidays and Celebrations

I have been sewing, painting and gluing since Monday night and honestly, I don’t want to make another costume for a very long time.  This year I made 5 halloween costumes and 4 All Saints Day ones.

We had an All Saints Day celebration at church followed by trick or treating that night.  There was a costume contest where each child had to say who he or she was.

Olivia as Saint Margaret of Scotland.  All she remembered was that she was married to King Malcolm

Olivia’s Saint Margaret of Scotland costume was recycled from lots of other saint costumes worn other years by her siblings.  The only thing I had to make was the crown which I cut out of a aluminum roasting pan not used at the wedding and spray painted gold.
All the costumes were made from my stash.   I did not buy one thing but I did have to really get thinking.  For Ronnies chainmail shirt and hood I found some black netting fabric that my Godmother had given me and after it was sewn up I painted it silver with some spray paint leftover from the wedding.  For the skirt fabric, I stenciled fleur de lis on it to match the ones I put on her armor and flag.  The flag pole is a broom stick. The armor covering her shoulders was left over from the aluminum roasting pan that I used for Livie’s crown.

JohnPaul as Saint Andrew.  He had so much fun being carried around by his brothers, hence the koolaid smile.  The x was built by little Eddie.

Christopher (Saint Lawrence) saying his speech “I am Saint Lawrence.  I took care of the poor and the ill and brought them to the faith.  I was burned on this grate but before I died I said a funny joke.  It is done…turn me over.”  It was a pretty funny speach and I think it got him the win.  You can’t see it in the pictures but we burned the hem of his sleeves and tunic and painted his feet to look charred.

  
Christopher is our first win of the day.
she was so excited to win and that night she thanked me for making the costume… that makes all the work worth it doesn’t it?
my friends super cute pumpkin which won first place in the pumpkin contest

 baby Matthew dressed as a Black Eyed Pea…do ya get it?

 two thrifted costumes and one home made ninja
 it was definitely too cold for little beans to go trick or treating so I stayed at a friends house with the baby while Poppa took all the kids to get candy
 hope you had a great time too and today we pray for all the souls that have passed on for All Souls Day.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Comments { 0 }