What we're doing for Advent

Happy Liturgical New Year! Seriously, it is so fun being a Catholic. I love the season of Advent. Here is how we are preparing for Christmas. Jesse Tree: During Advent we walk our kids through salvation history, or the story of how God saves His people. We do this by reading one story a night from the Old Testament, beginning with creation and...

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Thanksgiving Decorations

The turkey is in the oven, the table is set and the kids are napping, which makes for a perfect time to post some pictures of our Thanksgiving decor. After many crafting hours from Bean our table is set with all of it's homemade decor. Name plates with matching pilgrim look-a-likes. Our turkey napkin ring holders in action.  Pilgrim...

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Catholic Christmas Gifts - Family Board Game Pieces

Honey, I shrunk the kids... Admit it, these are cute. Family board game pieces are simple to make and they are super fun. Pair them with a new board game to play them on and you have a great gift. While they are not really a Catholic gift, they do promote family fun, so I'm including them in the list of Catholic Christmas gifts. Step 1: Cut out...

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Verbum Domini: A Summary

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Pilgrim and Indian "Hats"

Last night around 9:00 pm I was feeling crafty, so I made some pilgrim and indian hats for the FOCUS Thanksgiving potluck today! I of course forgot my camera, so just imagine adults and kids wearing these while eating turkey and mashed potatoes. When I was a hall director at Benedictine we made hundreds of these for the school cafeteria's Thanksgiving...

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Catholic Christmas Gifts - Holy Medal Wine Charms

Thanksgiving is approaching and we all know what that means... it's time to start thinking about Christmas presents! Over the years I have been gathering ideas for fun Catholic Christmas gifts. My plan is to post a few of them over the next few weeks, so be on the lookout! Gift idea #1: Holy Medal Wine Charms Ever been at a party with wine, put down...

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Living Liturgically Audio Talk

Earlier this year I gave a talk on living liturgically in your home at my Church's MOPS group (Mother's of Preschoolers, love the program, but the name makes me think of cleaning my kitchen floor). "Living liturgically" is a fancy way of saying modeling your home life with the seasons of the Church. The talk gives my 3 reasons for why we live liturgically and then walks through a year of the Church's calendar. I give explanations for what we teach...

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First Snow Chili

Today marks the first snow fall of the year for the Cotters, not bad considering it is November 9th. In honor of the first snow fall I am posting my secret (well, not really, but it is completely my own) chili recipe. I will be making it for the Augustine Institute Alumni chili cook off this weekend, so if you're going to be there, just don't...

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Living Gospel Bible Study

For the past few months, I (Kevin) have been writing a new Bible study for FOCUS called Living Gospel: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Catholics. The study has two simple aims. First, the purpose of the study is to establish believers, new and old, into the main activities of the Church that enable them live out the faith. We chose seven essential...

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Turkey Napkin Ring Holders

This is my band of wild turkeys. I will attempt to tame them by Thanksgiving and then slide a napkin through them and turn them into adorable table decor. They should just be glad they won't be eaten. If you would like to build your own rafter of wild turkeys (Did I sound like a nature buff knowing what to call a group of turkeys? I wikied it.), instructions...

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