Easter Basket Giveaway

Are you, like me, looking for the perfect little treasures to tuck inside Easter baskets?Then, are you looking ahead to First Communion and Confirmation gifts? Ah, springtime in a Catholic home--our gift and devotional needs are just as predictable in the Easter season as they are in December. And that's a good thing! The liturgical calendar blesses us with an awareness of the sacred year 'round.

Usually, I wander around my local Catholic gift and book shop the week before Holy Week. Sadly, that shop is gone this year. So, my wandering will probably be of the digital kind. We are  blessed by shops like Catholic Child, where we can readily find just what we're looking for. Please allow me to introduce you:

Greetings, from our Catholic family to yours! We invite you to visit us at catholicchild.com and browse our collections of books, games, movies & audios, toys, music and Sacramental gifts. We hope you’ll stop by to see all the wonderful resources we offer to help your Catholic child learn about, live and love his or her faith. There’s something for everyone, from board-book toting tots, to college-bound young adults! 

Clicking around, I see some great ideas for Easter baskets.

This pretty, smooth comfort cross will be a tactile pleasure for a young child, but will also be a lovely gift for a student away from home. 

My children are all very adept at taping scapulars and medals before competitions in order to be able to continue to wear them while they play. A medal or scapular tucked inside a taped wrist makes it past referree inspection every time! These medals are particularly well suited to young athletes.

Brazilian saints bracelets are all the rage and have been for a few years now. They don't last forever, though. I'm looking to replenish a few and some of my children will love bright ones like these. 

I spent some happy moments this morning looking around the "bookstore" and discovered my favorite big books of saints' stories: The Kids' Book of Saints and The Kids' Book of Heroes. Those books are used weekly Along the Alphabet Path.

With an eye towards Marian consecration, I made note of a beautiful girl's Miraculous Medal and this lovely 4-way medal.

My favorite First Communion gift, particularly for May celebrations is a two volume set of pictures books, tied with a big, white tulle bow. The books of choice are delightful picture books written by Josephine Nobisso.

The Weight of a Mass was inspired by a true story that took place in Luxemborg. An old woman enters a bakery and begs a crust of stale bread. The baker refuses and she asks if she can offer Mass for him. He jeeringly writes "One Mass" on a scrap of paper and then tries--and fails-- to counterblalance it on his scale with an assortment of baked goods. No matter how many times we read this book, my children love it.

Take it to the Queen is a stunning tapestry of allegory, original fable, and lush illustration which honors the Blessed Mother. In the story, once favored villagers transgress against their king, then seek the intercession of the queen, who is a native of their own village. The book has won multiple awards and thrilled fans of Nobisso's earlier works. It is quite possibly her finest work. The book is a joy to share with others and truly meets the qualifications of a fine picture book: it is a story loved by every generation.

~Giveaway~

What about you? What are your favorite gifts to give during this time of year? Have a few minutes to poke around at Catholic Child? If you tell me what you'd give, you'll be entered to win a $30 gift certificate to use towards whatever gift you'd like.

The winner is Katherine who said...

Katherine said...

I'd love to buy the smooth comfort cross for my three daughters... Two have been complaining of nightmares and the third still wishes we could lay down with her to get her asleep but we are usually busy with her two younger sisters. How wonderfully comforting it would be if they could hold onto the cross when we can't suffice! Thanks for the chance!

Fast. Pray. Give.

Fast

You are the world to your family. Beyour best world for them and only them today.

Pray

Be still and know that God is with you. Right here, right now, in the mess and under the noise.

Please pray today for our family's special intention?

Give

When you face a motherhood crisis, remember that, way back on your wedding day, God gave you all the graces you need to handle it. Claim them.

Fast. Pray. Give.

Fast

Let go of despair and know that God gives you sufficient grace. "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible" (St. Francis of Assisi).

Pray

Pray to know how God wants you to spend your time today.

Give

Make sure that everyone in your family gets at least one of your hugs today.

Papal Notebook: The rest of the story

{no needle & thREAD today. I'll be updating here throughout the day. If you have links to add to our list as we teach our children about Pope Francis, please, please share in the comments! Scroll to the bottom for new links and ideas to celebrate Pope Francis)

.

As the next few weeks unfold, my children will create a notebook to honor Pope Benedict XVI and to document the election of a new pope. Here is a rough outline of that notebook, based upon the ones we did eight years ago. I am absolutely certain that this outline will change as I become more aware of new resources. Please, please, feel free to leave your ideas and resources in the comments and I'll update the post as we go.

First, some reading is in order:

Joseph and Chico 

Max and Benedict

Be Saints

Friendship with Jesus

We Have a Pope (Be sure to check the other buying options at Amazon. You can still get this one pretty quickly.)

For the teenagers:

Come Meet Jesus (reviewed a bit here)

God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI

Beautiful Papal Lapbook

What will we call the pope when he resigns? End of pontificate details

Notebook ideas:

::A narration from each child who remembers when Benedict XVI was elected. We have our notebooks from last time to remind us of that day. For children to young to remember, we'll type a dictation of what they've learned in their reading and from brothers and sisters.

Coloring page of Benedict XVI

::A timeline of the life of Benedict XVI

Biography of Pope Benedict XVI

::Copywork:

*Pope Benedict XVI's statement after the election. Since my children included this in the notebooks they made when he was elected, it will be fun to see how they've grown in their ability to capture the same message on paper now.

“Dear Brothers and Sisters: After the great Pope John Paul II, the Lord Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord.  

I am consoled by the fact that the Lord knows how to act, even with inadequate instruments and above all I entrust myself to your prayers. 

In the joy of the Risen Lord, trusting in His permanent help, as we go forward the Lord will help us, and His Mother, Mary Most Holy, is on our side Thank you”.

*Prayer for Benedict XVI:

Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to Your shepherd, the Pope, a spirit of courage and right judgement, a spirit of knowledge and love.

By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care may he, as successor to the apostle Peter and vicar of Christ, build Your church into a sacrament of unity, love, and peace for all the world.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

*Copywork for big kids:

Dear Brothers, 
I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. 

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. 

I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. 

However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. 

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is. 

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. 

And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. 

With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer. 

From the Vatican 
10 February 2013 

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

*Additional copywork will be taken extensively from these two books:

Be Saints

Friendship with Jesus

::Pope Benedict's Coat of Arms:

Pope Benedict XVI Coat of Arms (primary)

Symbolism in the Coat of Arms (upper elementary)

 Fr. Michael Gaitley on Pope Benedict and Lent

::Copywork

*Prayer for the conclave:< <to be added later>>

::The Election Process:

Electing a New Pope 3 page PDF for children, suitable to print and put in notebooks. alternatively, children who are old enough can narrate this process to be keyboarded by mom. If they are able, they can write it themselves.

Who Are These People? 1 page PDF on roles of specific cardinals in the conclave.

Conclave facts. Here, too. Design notebook pages to highlight some of the facts that most interest each child. 

Make black and white smoke.

Conclave resource for middle school students. 

Excellent resource on the Papal Election for older students.

Pope Francis

First on the agenda: Daily Mass. Won't it be wonderful to hear "Francis, our Pope..."? Can't wait!

Some copywork for the day: First address from St. Peter's (English translation)

Tim Gray on the significance of Francis' name

Cardinal Dolan on the "gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit" in the conclave.

 Dr. Alan Schreck on the Election of Pope Francis (note: he says "Francis the First." There has never been a Pope Francis, but we won't call him Francis I until there is a Francis II.)

On the night of the election, we had empanadas for dinner (and Malbec for the grownups). I didn't make them from scratch. Mike picked them up from his favorite hole-in-wall empanada place in DC. But here are several recipes and thoughts on freezing. Might be nice on March 19, the date of the installation.

So many want to know: "Will Pope Francis be a traditionalist or a reformer; will he focus on orthodoxy or social justice; will he emphasize the truths of the faith or the necessity of serving the poor? But these are the wrong questions. The fact is that Pope Francis will remind the world that Catholicism rejects those dichotomies as false and proposes a both/and approach. Anything less is simply not Catholic. "

Teenage reading: Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church 

Some Pope Francis Printables

More notebooking pages, printables.

Fast. Pray. Give.

Fast.

Let go of self-recrimination. "There is still time for endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change. Have you slipped. Rise up. Have you sinned: Cease. Do not stand among sinners, but leap aside" (St. Basil the Great).

Pray

For a few minutes tonight, after your children are sleeping, kneel beside their beds. Let your breath rise and fall with theirs. Entrust them to the Father and thank Him for lending them to you.

Give

Do not say, "In a minute" or "When I finish this" at all today. Instead, put aside your agenda and meet their needs (and even some wants) immediately and cheerfully.