On the 12th Day of Christmas

Um, Merry Christmas!

I'm squeezing in the Christmas post at the last minute. Technically it is still Christmas season for a few more days, so I'm good.

This year we headed to KC for a very Cotter Christmas, followed by the flu and then a very Augustyn Christmas in Denver.

Kansas City brought train rides...

A visit with Nana...

Look at that joy on her face, I just love it.

Bean's 1st piano debute... 

She played We Three Kings; it was a proud mom moment.

Lots of cousin time...

These are their "Leave us alone, we are eating" faces.

Stockings...

and lost teeth! Here's the connection. She lost her first tooth while going through her stocking. Then we found it...in her stocking. It was fun.

Then there was Denver, with presents...

Of course we had gifts in KC too.

A birthday cake for Jesus...

Girls only High Tea...

I've always wanted to wear a hat with a birdcage veil (I looked that one up). 

The girls tried on about 8 combinations of hats and boas. Surprisingly I only got pictures of us dressing up. There was tea and finger foods and they were very good.

The girls also got matching pajamas...

Finally, we hit Red Rocks...

My buddy was so proud that he could fit in this little hole.

We are looking forward to our Epiphany party tomorrow and wrapping up the Christmas Season!

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St. Lucy's Day

We had a most exciting morning in the Cotter home. Bean and I woke up early to prepare traditional treats for the Feast of St. Lucy, including Saffron Buns (above) and St. Lucia's Braided Bread (below).

I just use Pillsbury cans for both of them, you can get the details and history of this Feast from my post last year.

 After breakfast was ready we woke up the boys with our surprise!

Happy Feast Day!

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Hot Chocolate Cones

Last week I was in charge of the craft for our Little Flowers Girls' Club meeting (think Catholic Girl Scouts). In the club the girls learn about a virtue and a saint at each meeting. This month was orderliness and St. Zita, who was a servant.

With Christmas around the corner I wanted to do something that could be a gift, and since St. Zita often worked in the kitchen, we made an edible one! The girls were given the instructions which they needed to follow in order (orderliness, check) for the craft to turn out right.

Introducing...

Hot Chocolate Cones.

We made a bunch of these and are giving them out this week to Bean's various extra-curricular teachers. They are simple enough that she was almost able to make them entirely on her own, which made her very proud. BTW, I didn't invent them, familyfun.go.com did, maybe. But, they don't have pictures and I like pictures when doing a project, so I took some for you.

Here is what you will need:

• Hot Chocolate mix (I bought the individual packets because they were on sale)
• Marshmallows
• Chocolate chips
• Cone bags (Hobby Lobby has them)
• Clear rubberbands (we used the little clear hairbands)
• Scissors
• Items for tags (ribbon, glue, hole punch, card stock, directions)

Step 1: Empty 4 packets of cocoa mix into a cone bag

Step 2: Trim the bag down, rubberband it shut and put it into another cone bag.

Step 3: Layer in 1/4 c. chocolate chips and 3/4 c. marshmallows.

Step 4: Rubberband and trim again.

Looking good!

Step 5: Add a tag!

Here are the directions off the tag so you can copy and paste:

Heat 5 cups of milk and chocolate chips over medium heat until the chocolate chips have melted. Reduce heat to low and stir in the cocoa mix until the drink is smooth. Serve with marshmallows. Makes 4-6 servings.

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DIY Catholic Christmas Gifts

Last year I posted some ideas for homemade Christmas gifts. I thought I'd put them into one post for you. Aren't I thoughtful.

So roll up your selves, get out your glue gun (wait, I don't think any of these crafts require a glue gun, but you get the idea) and start crafting!

Holy Medal Wine Charmers

It doesn't get much easier than this...

Saints Matching Game

You can do this one with family members too...

Christmas Coasters

A simple way to reuse those Christmas cards...

Family Board Game Pieces

Pair this with a fun Catholic board game and you are in...

Felt Bags

Throw in a few books on the Saints, virtues or the faith and it's all in the bag...

okay that was bad...

Flower Headbands

Yea, they aren't really Catholic themed, but they are so cute, cheap and fun...

I'm still recovering from making 2,400 chocolate covered pretzels, so I have nothing new to show for this year. Yet.

I hope.

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Jesse Tree Ornaments

Does your family do a Jesse Tree? I love the tradition so much that when Bean was 16 months old I handmade a set of ornaments for our family. Apparently I thought she was old enough to start comprehending the Bible. The next year some of my friends did a swap, but I'm still glad I have my own special set that is wholly unique.

I pulled out the ornaments today and did some replacing and repairs, as they tend to get beaten up each season. Our ornaments have evolved over the years and they don't follow the strict tradition. For us, it's turned into a time to walk through Salvation History in a chronological order, so our kids can understand the story of our family. 

When I was making mine it was helpful to have some examples to get ideas flowing, so I'm posting what we do, in hopes that it can helps those who are taking on the adventure... which I highly recommend you do! For the order we pulled out some main events from the Bible Timeline. The scripture verses for where you will find each section is listed, but please don't think we read all of what is included!

Creation - World (Genesis 1-2:3)

The Fall - Apple (Genesis 3)

Noah’s Ark - Rainbow (Genesis 6:9-9:17)

Tower of Babel - Tower (Genesis 11:1-9)

Blessing to Abraham - Stars and Sand (Genesis 12:1-3 and 15:4-5)

Sacrifice of Issac - Wood Bundle (Genesis 22:1-18)

Jacob Steals Esau’s Blessing - Lamb (Genesis 27:1-29)

Joseph and his Brothers - Coat of Many Colors (Genesis 37-45)

The Plagues and 1st Passover - Door with Blood (Exodus 6-13)

God Provides Manna - Bread (Exodus 16)

Ten Commandments - Tablet (Exodus 20)

The Promise Land - Grapes (Numbers 13)

Aaron becomes High Priest - Stick with Flower (Numbers 17)

Bronze Serpent Heals the Israelites - Serpent on Stick (Numbers 21:4-8)

Fall of Jericho - Crumbled Wall (Joshua 6)

Samson’s Strength - Pillar (Judges 14-16)

Samuel and Saul - Crown (1 Samuel 15)
David and Goliath - Sling Shot (1 Samuel 17 and 2 Samuel 7)

Solomon and the Division - Torn Kingdom (1 Kings 12)

Elijah and Elisha - Mantel (1 Kings 18-19 and 2 Kings 1-2)

Jonah - Whale (Jonah)

Exile and Persecution - Furnace (2 Kings 17)

Zerubbable is allowed to Lead the Jews - Scroll (Ezra 3)

Nehemiah Rebuilds Jerusalem - Wall (Nehemiah 2: 11-20)

Ezra Reads the Law to the Jews - Heart (Nehemiah 8)

Esther - Crown (Esther)

Maccabees Revolt - Shield (1 Maccabees 1-3)

Purification of the Temple - Candle (1 Maccabees 4)

The Annunciation - Mary (Luke 1:26-38)

Birth of Christ - Star (Matthew 2)

Let me know if you have any specific questions about materials or how I made a particular ornament! Happy Advent!

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All Saints Day/Halloween Saints Costumes

Last week I received an Oriental Trading Company catalogue and flipped through it expecting to see the same crafts and cheap toys that I steal ideas from and re-create myself, but then something caught my eye.

$6.00 robes and $3.00 veils in any color in the Christmas pageant section.

You're shocked too right? I about called my husband I was so excited.

Let me explain. For the past several years I've been making my kids saints costumes. While I have (mostly) enjoyed doing that, this year, it's just not happening and I don't want a repeat of last year when I scrambled to make a costume for my 2 year old. My original plan was to not dress him up, then guilt set in.

Look at my adorable St. Anne. She's wearing a black robe and red veil. Humm, I could buy that costume for my 5 year old for $9.00.

Mixing and matching robe and veil colors lead to endless saint possibilities. If you order all black your child can be Benedictines like Sts. Benedict and Scholastica. Brown for Carmelites like Sts. Francis of Assisi and Therese of Lisieux. White for your son to be a Dominican like Sts. Dominic and Thomas Aquinas and the next year you can add some wings and a halo so your daughter can be an angel. OR you can add an over the arm sash to a brown robe and become almost any biblical character.

Unfortunately, they don't have toddler sizes, and you'll need to attach the veils on as hoods for some of these, but I don't think that would be too difficult... think tucking it in behind the kids neck and using safety pins. Still if you think outside the box, you could come up will all kinds of cheap ideas!

They also had some other options.

For $10.50 my now 3 year old will be St. George the dragon slayer. And for $6.00 my 5 year old daughter will be Queen Esther in a purple robe. I'll need to make her a gold sash and crown, but that will be nothing compared to years past.

They have plenty of beautiful Mary costumes for as little as $13.00 and of course St. Joseph! The robe is so colorful I think you could be either biblical Joseph.

And thanks to the Easter pageant, your child can even be Jesus for $10.00. I love the beard, but it's $6.50 more.

They actually sell monk costumes so you can have a Franciscan for as little as $7.99!

I'll be sure to post some pics of the kids when we put these cheap and easy costumes on for our up-coming All Saints events!

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The Rosary and Kids

Last year I posted a few times on integrating the rosary into family life. Since October is dedicated to the rosary, and today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, I thought it would be appropriate to pull them out of the archives!

Part 1 consist of making an edible rosary. I've seen people make these with mini-cupcakes too, so cute!

Part 2 is all about how to make praying the rosary a pleasant experience with hands on activities.

Part 3 shows how we have used art to help make the rosary come to life.

Part 4 features some our favorite rosary products.

For DOZENS of ideas on how to teach your kids about the rosary check out this link from The Catholic Toolbox. Also, we love Holy Heroes, check out their Rosary CD set!

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Flowers for Therese

"My mission - to make God loved - will begin after my death. I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will send a shower of roses." St. Therese

I love embellished headbands. I'm not really sure where this obsession came from, but it's becoming rare to see me without one. For the past few weeks I have been wanting to find the time to make some headbandable felt flowers to add to my collection and today, on the feast of St. Therese, seemed to be the perfect time to do it.

We always celebrate the Feast of St. Therese because she is FOCUS' patroness and we love her. Why is a cloistered nun the patroness of a missionary organization? Glad you asked. Head over to the FOCUS equip blog to find out, my husband posted on it yesterday.

After eating our traditional rose colored and shaped pancakes Bean and I got to crafting.

The instructions on how to make them are almost identical to the instructions I posted on how to make headbands using scrapbook flowers. The only differences are replacing the scrapbook flowers with flet flowers (I printed off some patterns from Danielle's Place and used them as my guide) and sewing on buttons instead of using craft brads.

The back of a felt flower, I used ribbion with this one.

I took my inspiration from Running with Scissors who showcased some beautiful bouquets, although mine are not nearly as ornate!

Bean was a perfect model and is very excited about her new headbands...

and clips.

I think St. Therese would approve.

Later today we'll pull out the kid's books on St. Therese that we picked up in Lisieux last year, as well as our Treasure Box books that I posted on last year. I'm stilling trying to figure out a fun flower dessert, so we'll see if that happens.

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