Tea and Crafts on the Nativity of Mary

It is an absolutely gorgeous September day - golden and warm, with a soft breeze blowing. A perfect day for celebrating this beautiful feast day, honoring the birth of Our Lady.

Only, this morning we got off to quite a rocky start (see my earlier post for details). Bookworm's tooth extraction was a bit more, um, taxing than we anticipated - he's fine, he'll heal - but yikes, what an ordeal. So, with all of us home again by late morning - some of us in better shape than others - we decided to lay low. I put away the lessons along with most of my plans for today. But as lunchtime approached the boys started asking ...

Weren't we going to make cupcakes?

Weren't we going to paint something?

Weren't we going to have tea?

Well, yes boys, by golly, we were! By now, Bookworm was feeling much better - hungry even - and so we swung into action, beginning our special plans to honor our Blessed Mother today.

We began the birthday celebration, naturally, by baking cupcakes:

True confessions - this batter was a box mix. (Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge if you must know; it's Feingold-friendly for Earlybird and convenient to boot.) I thought I had blue cupcake liners on hand, but when I couldn't find them, these starry shaped baking cups caught my eye. They were meant to be used on the 4th of July, but we thought they were a fun way to celebrate Our Heavenly Queen!

With the cupcakes baking in the oven, the boys and I sat on the couch to read from a couple of our Catholic Children's Treasure Box issues that tell the lovely story "About Mary, God's Mother." These sweet simple books are a true treasure in our home. We have the first volume only, but find much inspiration and enjoyment in these little books' pages - if only they were still published today!

A bit more busy-ness in the kitchen produced a delicious midday tea ... Lunch? Who needs lunch? :)

Above you see our statue of Mary, surrounded by all our festive treats:

... a gathering of bright autumn blossoms

... blue jello with whipped cream and sprinkles - on doctor's orders, I promise!

... steaming mugs of chamomile-mint tea. I like to keep several varieties of child-friendly teas on hand for occasions such as these, as well as for the cold winter months. Generally, we sweeten our tea with honey and lighten it with a good dose of milk. :)

... and taking center stage are our heavenly cupcakes:

It's hard to tell from the picture, but I tried to tint the homemade buttercream frosting a nice shade of blue - blue being Our Lady's special color - but the natural food dye set I own only had a blue-violet shade. (A quick digression - this link shows both the food dyes as well as the natural sprinkles we use - plus it looks like a great site!) In the end, we decided lavender frosting makes for a nice fallish touch!

After we - ahem, I - cleaned up all the baking preparations and tea party remainders (cupcake crumbs and blue jello smudges), we started in on a special Marian craft. I adapted this project from one described in The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions for Children's Faith Formation (which is a very nice book, by the way; even though it is meant for classroom teachers, I get a lot of use out of my copy).

Below are the simple materials we used - a votive candle, some thin ribbon, acrylic paint, a small terra cotta planter pot (just a bit bigger than the candle), craft glue, black Sharpies (one thick, one fine) and a Zig Opaque Writer in lavender. Again with the purple - it really is a very September shade. :)

First we made sure the planter pot was clean. Then, the boys dipped their thumbs in the red acrylic paint and made thumbprints all over the outside of the pot. Once the prints were dry, I used the black Sharpies to make them look like little ladybugs (which are special to Our Lady since the Middle Ages, when they were so named). Next I used the opaque paint pen to write across the rim: "Hail Mary, Full of Grace ... Pray for Us!" Once that was all dry, I glued a thin yellow ribbon - no special plan there, we were out of blue! - just under the rim and tied it into a bow. The final results ...

A pretty little Marian votive candle pot - to light on special feast days or anytime we'd like to think about our Blessed Mother Mary.

I have found it so satisfying to find these little ways to celebrate our Catholic faith with my children - through craft making, excellent books, afternoon tea and special goodies shared together. I will be forever grateful to my friend, Alice, for pointing me in this delightful direction. Happily, she has just returned to blogging after a blessed babymoon break. I can hardly wait to catch back up! :)

Before I go, I'd like to wish you all a very happy weekend, and leave you with a passage I found most touching in the Treasure Box story we read today. It has given me much to think about as I head into my own weekend ...

"Mary was doing what God wanted when she loved Jesus and took care of Him. Mary was doing what God wanted when she was kind to other children and loved them, too. Mary was doing what God wanted when she made the bread, and swept the house, and sewed for Jesus and Saint Joseph. She was saying over and over in her heart, "I will do what God wants." God wants all of us to be like Mary, the Blessed Mother of Jesus. If we want to be like her, we will always have the right answer: "I will do what God wants."