When the SAINTS go marching in!

This past week we celebrated All Saint’s Day and I wanted to share with you some of our traditions for this wonderful time.

In the past, the children and I have attended an All Saint’s Day festival sponsored by our Catholic co-op. Each family is responsible for creating a game related to a particular saint, and handing out a small prize for each participant. One year, my kiddos ended up recovering from the stomach flu and we were unable to go. So, we decided to have our own celebration at home.

The kids had rehearsed 3 facts about their saints. They had worked so hard on their costumes and facts that I didn’t want them to be discouraged and we decided to hold our own event.

Enjoying cinnamon rolls and vanilla tea.

(Mini Me was just happy to be included.) The tea was a great opportunity for them to review their facts and enjoy a little morning snack.

This year’s All Saint’s Day happened to fall on a regular co-op day so the co-op decided to hold an All Saint’s Day parade during lunch. The kids worked quickly to create costumes for their saints and memorize their lines.

Mini Me was St. Gianna. She is a modern day saint. She was a prolife doctor and mother.

The fashionista was St. Ann which is her patron saint. She was the mother of Our Lady and married to Joachim.

St. James. DDD’s patron saint. He was an apostle of Jesus’s and was present in the garden of Gethsamene. He was a former fisherman and is the patron saint of labourers.

Sweet Pea was St. Theresa of Avila. She did such a wonderful presentation. She reminded everyone that St. Theresa said, ” Let nothing trouble you. All things fade away. God alone is enough.”

The children paraded around the cafeteria to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In” and then played “Guess who” with their facts about their saints, letting the rest of the co-op guess who they were. It was so rewarding to hear the children “chime in” with their guesses and to see how much information they could recall from their knowledge of the year thus far.

The saints are true heroes and heroines for our children to imitate and look up to. The challenge for us, as parents, is for our children to see holiness and sainthood as obtainable and praiseworthy.

God Bless,

Tammi