We made fresh butter on the feast of St. Brigid (Feb 1) and the kids LOVED it! They eagerly took turns shaking the jar full of cream, listening and waiting for the sloshing to cease. What does St. Brigid have to do with cows and cream you might ask? Well, along with being one of Ireland's most famous saints, she is patron of midwives, dairy maids, and newborn babies. I read the story of Brigid and the Butter to the kids while they enjoyed their slices of the freshly buttered bread. St. Brigid was born into slavery around the year 451. She was taken from her mother at birth, but at the age of ten, rejoined her on the farm working for their master. St. Brigid gave generously. She offered milk and butter to the poor and hungry, even when that meant she and her mother would go without food. Tradition holds that she knew St. Patrick and that he may have baptized her. When she grew up she became a consecrated sister, spreading Christ's love to all in Ireland. She later bec
Hello blog! It's been awhile since my last post. I took a break from blogging in November-January to get through the whirlwind of holidays. But I'm back now, and wanted to post about the day we celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. As with every feast day, I found a coloring page for the kids to embellish while I read a short story of St. Francis from our Book of Saints. After coloring, I read them "St. Francis and the Wolf". In the story, St. Francis comes to the aid of the villagers who are terrorized by a terrible wolf. St. Francis teaches the valuable lesson of friendship and to love all God's creatures that walk on the earth, fly in the sky and swim in the sea. Our snack in honor of St. Francis was "wolf paw" cookies. They were delicious and turned out more wolf-like then I imagined. We used package Iced Almonette cookies for the base. Then added sliced almonds and white baking chips for claws using melted chocolate for glue. I ga