Enjoy a St. Joseph Table with Friends

Some years life is busy, but a St. Joseph feast day celebration with friends comes together anyway. 

That's just what happened for us last year. 

Life was a bit crazy for me and mine, but through the grace of God and a collective effort from friends, we were able to enjoy a lovely St. Joseph table and celebration at a friend's home.

Our Feast Table

Our table was not set in the traditional 3-tier style, but plenty of tradition and symbolism were displayed upon it.

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We used a white tablecloth, a statue of Joseph, candles, and flowers, as are traditional.  We also included images of Joseph from two favorite inexpensive books - Prayers to My Favorite Saints and Prayers to the Saints - and some prayers cards. 

Wine (and grape juice) helped us remember the Miracle at Cana, while olives, dried figs, and olive oil brought to mind the vineyards of Sicily.

White lilies were a symbol of Joseph.  Gluten-free bread rolls were going to be made into symbolic shapes, but ended up being just "as is".  Pasta Milanese with Mudrica "sawdust" for Joseph was also served.

Gluten-Free pasta and bread was use for traditional pasta with honey.  Greens and vegetables were served as was fruit, which is also traditionally on a Joseph's table or altar.

A St. Joseph peg doll from a saint peg doll swap we had done earlier in the year also adorned the table, along with the book Good Saint Joseph, which we read during craft time.  Almonds were strewn on the table, too, since the almond tree is characteristic among the flora of the Mediterranean, where the tradition of the St. Joseph table originated.

GFCF tortillas were cut into symbolic shapes by the children. 

A simplified version of traditional  pupa cu l'ova, or bread baked with Easter eggs, reminded us that Easter neared.

My family's traditional "flowering staff of Joseph" was laid out, surrounded by images cut from the FREE printable Joseph memory Match playing cards Jessica shared at Shower of Roses.

Fava beans  -a sustaining food fir families of Sicily which is now considered "lucky" were also served, as were fish (in place of the 12 whole fish that are meant to represent the apostles or the miracle of the loaves and fishes) and grapes (to remind us of Sicily).

There were other dishes on the table that our children enjoy eating, too.  Truly, for a rather last-minute celebration, our potluck style created quite a feast!
 
A Little Learning

We kicked off our evening with a quick, opening prayer and chat about St. Joseph.  I drew the children's attention to the images of St. Joseph in the books on the table -  Prayers to My Favorite Saints and Prayers to the Saints - and asked if they could find any symbolism in them.  I also asked them to tell me what they knew, in general, about St. Joseph, and used a FREE printable about St. Joseph, Husband of Mary from the Institute for Christian Formation to teach the children more about St. Joseph and the tradition of St. Joseph tables. 

Some Prayer

Before eating, we asked the father of our host family to lead us all in blessing our St. Joseph table ...

...and praying the Litany of St. Joseph using a free printable from St. Joseph's Church.

We also, of course, prayed grace, and I read the St. Joseph prayer from Prayers to My Favorite Saints and Prayers to the Saints.

Then, it was time to "finally" eat.  The children were so eager to dig in!

A Bit of Crafting and Storytelling

After food, the children enjoyed playing inside and out while the grown ups cleared the table...

Then, the children created "stained glass" crafts...

To do so, children chose images of St. Joseph to color and cut out.  Then, they cut out holes on another paper and put metallic paper or tissue paper behind holes before gluing the St. Joseph images on to make the "stained glass" windows.

While the children crafted, I read portions of Good Saint Joseph to the children and summarized other parts, occasionally drawing the children's attention to images in the book or asking them to narrate to me what they knew about parts of St. Joseph's life.

A Few Gifts 

The night wound down with little gifts for the children.  A friend had brought St. Joseph stained glass sticker suncatchers for each family as well as St. Joseph prayer cards and medals for each child.

Our Inspiration

We drew inspiration for our celebration from:

• Traci's gorgeous St. Joseph Altar and Feast Day Celebration: 2015
• Laci's easy St. Joseph's Altar Ideas
• Catholic Cuisine's symbolic Foods for a St. Joseph's Altar
• The Cotter Family's helpful and do-able ideas with St. Joseph's Altar Symbols and Their Meanings
• St. Anne's Helper Prayer to St. Joseph

Plus, our own past celebrations and ideas, including:

Celebrating St. Joseph: A Look Back as We Look Forward

Host a St. Joseph Tea and Playdate

However you observe St. Joseph's day, may your day be blessed and beautiful.

 
St. Joseph, pray for us.

This post was shared at the 40 Days of Seeking Him Link up

Enjoy a St. Patrick's Day with Art, Music, and a Poet-Tea

Would you like to add a little art, music, poetry, food and fun to your St. Patrick's Day this year? 

Then, you may wish to take a peak at how we enjoyed a St. Patrick's Day Poet-Tea with friends last year.:
 
"AMP"ing Up the Liturgical Year

First, for those who are unfamiliar with our A.M.P. It Up Club endeavors, a quick synopsis:

Since 2015, some friends and I have been getting out children together for a once-to-twice a month club to "amp up" our focus on art, music, and poetry in our lives.  Typically, at our meetings we:

• recite (and sometimes write verses of) poetry.
• briefly study composers, compositions, music styles, or instruments.
• experiment with different styles of artwork, sometimes after completing quick picture studies.

We also tie our meetings to the liturgical year at times, since all of us are Catholic and enjoy celebrating together. That's exactly what we did for St. Patrick's feast day!
 
The Setting

We kept our setting fairly simple:

• an off-white tablecloth (because the lacy, white tablecloth I wanted to use, reminiscent of Irish lace needed to be laundered after a just-us celebration earlier in the day)

• green and blue candles (because the color green is now associated with St. Patrick's day, but St. Patrick was often depicted in blue in earlier art)

• several Irish-themed knick knacks (just for fun since we had them out already)

• a shamrock candle holder that my niece had welded and given us as a gift (to remind us of the legend that St. Patrick used shamrocks to teach about the Trinity)

• Prayers to My Favorite Saints (so we could view the illustration of St. Patrick in in and read the prayer) 

• a print out about Celtic crosses (so we could explain them to the children)

A St. Patrick's Day Poet-Tea

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To begin our Poet-Tea, we prayed grace and chatted about what we knew about St. Patrick the Saint and other St. Patrick's day traditions and lore using the food on our table as a starting point.  The fare included:

 Green Matcha Donuts (going with the Irish green theme)

 Potato Hashbrowns (because Ireland is known for its potatoes)

 A Potato-and-More Frittata with "Shamrock" Garnish (because we all need a little protein!)

 An "Irish Flag" Veggie Tray

 Traditional Irish Stew

 A Fruit Rainbow (for the leprechaun legends)

 Green Smoothies(for Ireland's green)  "Liquid Gold" Juice (for the leprechaun legends again), Chocolate Silk (just because we like it) and Irish tea

 More Potato Hash (for Ireland's potatoes)

Leprechaun Gold Juice Wigglers (because my children love juice wigglers)

Oatmeal (because some of mine loves "Irish" oatmeal)

I also drew the children's attention to the illustration and text about St. Patrick in Prayers to My Favorite Saints and led them in further prayer. 

As the children began to eat, for the poetry portion of our Poet-Tea, I read them St. Patrick's Breastplate and some Irish Blessings, (but only a few, so we could all enjoy just eating and chatting together.)  

Then, while we cleaned up the tea, those who wished to took turns playing with our green bodysock (which my children always ask me to pull out at this time of year!)

After that, I offered the children their choice of copywork of Irish blessings or St. Patrick's Breastplate (found FREE at Proverbs 22:6 Academy!) to do for a brief time and encouraged those who wished to pen their own Irish-style blessings.

Music Appreciation and Games

After a short period for copywork, we knew the children were ready to move and groove, so I played some traditional Irish music while the kids danced.  

We talked a bit about what types of instruments we heard in the music and played a bit of "dance freeze".

Then, I asked if anyone could tell me about St. Patrick and the bells and shared a bit from one of our favorite seasonal picture books, St. Patrick and the Three Brave Mice, before taking everyone outside to play our old favorite Snake Freeze,which is always a hit. 

The children so enjoyed playing sneaky snakes.

Running up to steal the bell..

Trying not to be heard...

 

And catching one another...

The Mamas did, too!  So many laughs were had by all.

Imaginative Landscapes Artwork

Once we everyone had had turns at our game, we gathered together to do a picture study about landscapes in my ARTistic Pursuits Elementary Book One.  

Then, we browsed some of the beautiful landscapes illustrations in Ann Tompert's Saint Patrick and other seasonal picture books I had in our book basket before setting to work using pencils, Cray-Pas and Crayola Oil Pastels to create our own imagined landscapes. 

Some of the children went with the Saint Patrick's Ireland theme for their artwork and others did not.  See:

 

All enjoyed our time together observing Saint Patrick's Day with art, music, poetry and more.  In fact, once the children completed their artwork, they were not quite ready to stop celebrating...

Indeed, they decided it was time for a parade.

 
Some Final Fun

In years past, my children have enjoyed many Irish and St. Patrick's day themed picture books, including:

Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland

St. Patrick's Day in the Morning

The Last Snake in Ireland

Thus, little family traditions of having our bells and drums out around St. Patrick's day and parading around with them have sprung up.  This year, these traditions were shared with friends in our own little noisy parade.

More St. Patrick's Day Ideas

If you'd like other ideas for celebrating St. Patrick's Day, you may wish to click on through to some of these:

• Feast, Learn, and Enjoy Sensory Activities for Saint Patrick's Feast Day

   

• Planning a Sense-able St. Patrick’s Day Tea and Playdate

• A Sensory-Friendly St. Patrick’s Day Story and Play Time 

• Throw the Snakes Out of Ireland (get your FREE Printable challenge sheet)
  
  he Kennedy Adventures Shamrock Sandwiches How-To 

• The Kennedy Adventures Irish Frosties recipe

• The Kennedy Adventures collection of St. Patrick's Day Snacks

• Life, Love and Sacred Art's adorable FREE printable St. Patrick Coloring Page

• Fun ideas at A Slice of Smith Life

 I'd love to hear about how YOU celebrate St. Patrick's Day or approach art, music, and poetry. 

St. Patrick, pray for us!

This post was shared at the 40 Days of Seeking Him Link up