Orthodox Book Giveaway!

Do you love children's books? Would you like to win a copy of The Woman and the Wheat by Jane Meyer? If so, head on over to her blog to enter her giveaway!!!

Name Day Celebrations

Nameday celebrations are quite fun for us. We try to make them unique to keep it distinctive from a birthday celebration. We also view them (as my husband likes to call it) as 'hobbit' parties in that the idea is to 'give' rather than 'recieve'. To encourage you to creatively come up with ideas for your own family, please read my ideas for our family's saints and our godchildren. If there are any saints you would like me to post about, please just ask!

Sunday of our Forefathers, Jesse and King David (Whatever Sunday falls between December 11-17 of each year. Note that Kind David is also celebrated on December 30th)

On this Sunday we celebrate my husband and godson's nameday. For our own family, this is the day we get our Christmas tree. We then pray a special blessing of the tree and sprinkle the tree with holy water. We then decorate the tree and enjoy fast appropriate treats for the celebration. In the past, I've bought tiny Christmas trees at Trader Joe's to give as gifts to our guests.

St Lucy (December 13)

I have blogged about this before. Look here for how we celebrate this at home! For a gift, we give our guests white candles wrapped in red ribbons.

St Mary of Bethany (June 4th)

It is Mary of Bethany who anoints Christ's feet with ointment and wiped them with her hair. We do not require our daughter to do anything of this kind! However, within that theme, we have Mary give a special 'ointment' to our guests (lotion or a perfume of sort). I do struggle with this one a bit (maybe you can help). Ideas are to 'act out' the story either in costume or with homemade puppets.

St Catherine of Alexandria (November 25)

For this feast day, there are lots of fun food themes. I like the ideas at Catholic Cuisine, which include eating pasta (using the special wheel pasta you can find at the store) and making heart shape cakes (an old french custom on St Catherine's Day. Read the above link for more info). For a fun activity, bake St Catherine's Wigs together or have a cake decorating contest. For a gift for your guests, send home a small lace doily or something else of that sort, as St Catherine is the patron of lacemakers and spinners. Her anniversary is still celebrated as the lacemakers feast in England!!!

St Edmund (November 20)

When we were in England last year, we had a grand time celebrating our son's name day. We visited Bury St Edmunds where this great saint was martyed and enjoyed pints of St Edmund's Ale. The kids and I painted our very own St Edmund flags on construction paper and hung it in our living room. While there, we had the foresight to buy our very own St Edmund's flag from Bury St Edmund's and hang it on his feast day. We unfortunately can't buy St Edmund's Ale here in the US. However, we can still honor his British (or, really, Anglo Saxon) heritage with a fish and chip supper. In England, there' s a silly custom (I think new though they claim it is old) of handing out sticky buns in remembrance of his 'sticky' end. Quite the breakfast story, no? A fun activity for the little ones would be to 'crown' the king. Decorate crowns and read the story of his martyrdom together. For gifts, make bookmarks with a Psalm on it (St Edmund was known for having memorized the Psalms). Simply type a Psalm in columns on your word processor and print unto cardstock. Cut it into bookmarks and give to your guests.

Christmas is coming!

We are going crazy in our house finishing up the graduate school term and preparing for an extensive road trip over the holidays (3 1/2 weeks!). However, if you haven't already, be sure to check out the compilations of crafts and activities for the Nativity Fast to do with your little ones.

Besides those listed, here are some other activities to do together this year:

1. Assemble together on Xmas eve and sing Advent songs. The next evening, gather together and drink Mulled Wine and sing Christmas carols together. We use a hymnal we have, but you can easily find music and lyrics on the internet.

2. Get a small gift for your children for each of the 12 days of Christmas. Or another idea (for older children) is to give your child a new clue each day that will lead to a hiding spot on the 12th day of Christmas and have a special gift hidden.

3. Wait until Christmas Day to put baby Jesus in the manger. On Christmas Eve, say special prayers and bless the crib with Holy Water.

4. Bake a cake for your Christmas dessert and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before opening presents.

I hope you all have a wonderful Advent and Christmas season! Please share any ideas you have!

Trick or Treating?

In not too long, Americans will be celebrating the ghoouulisshhh feast of Halloween. What will you be doing?

I am well aware that most Orthodox are told not to celebrate Halloween because of its pagan roots. I know many Orthodox who don't. But I also know many that do.

In the past we have not celebrated Halloween, but this year we are. My reasoning: I see nothing counter-cultural through simply abstaining from celebrations. I think true counter-culture actions are ones that seek to transform. What better thing can we do then to do our best to transform Halloween into something holy?

I'm not sure yet what that will entail in the years to come. Western Christians have the advantage of celebrating All Saint's Eve on Halloween in anticipation of their feast day. We Orthodox do not. However, there is always a time and place to celebrate Christ's victory over death and what better time than Halloween to do just that.

For those of you looking for wholesome ways to celebrate Halloween, below are some ideas. If you are not celebrating Halloween, feel free to talk more about why in the comments.

• An appropriate opening to any celebration of this holiday will be to sing a triumphant song. Although it is NOT pascha, I do think the paschal song is appropriate. "Christ is risen from the dead and by his death he has trampled death and unto those in the tombs, he has granted life."
• Carve pumpkins. I have always loved this activity as a kid. We will be having a 'silly face' competition. Whoever carves the silliest pumpkin face wins a prize! For the little ones, simply let them go crazy with markers and glitter and glue.
• Play doughnuts on a string or apples and flour for some great laughs.
• Watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown for some old fashioned American fun.
• End the evening fun with vespers and light candles for your departed loved ones.

Do you have any ideas to contribute?

Mommy Brain Strikes Again!

I nearly made a major mistake...I almost forgot the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos!!! That comes prior to the Elevation of the Cross.  It is next week on September 8th!!! Dear me, when will my brain ever start functioning properly again? Is it the multi-tasking involved with motherhood that makes you overlook the fairly obvious or do you really lose brain cells when those babies are baking in the oven?

So do, please, check out this for an idea on how to celebrate the feast with your little ones.

For a great summary of the feast and its significance, read what Fr. Hopko says here.   

And, as always, please share any ideas you have for celebrating this feast with your children.

The Year's Beginning

Part of raising your children in the church is teaching them and helping them to have ownership of their faith.  It is not just the faith of the family or the faith of the church but their own personal relationships with Christ.   Without individual faith, there would be no community of believers.

It sometimes seems silly doing these little crafts with our children.  However, these things are important in that they help make faith tangible for our children.  It is the living of our faith that makes it real and engaging our children in such things helps them to see this:  The liturgy in the every day.  

This upcoming month of September not only marks the beginning of the secular school year but the beginning of the church year.  It is all kicked off with the feast of The Elevation of the Cross on September 14th.   With all the busyness of the beginning of the school year, do not forget to celebrate this feast in your home and at church.  Along with these various activities you can do on the feast day itself, don't forget to talk with your children about what calendar our lives revolve around as Orthodox Christians, and it is NOT the school calendar!!!! (o:

One activity you can do to help facilitate this is to make a festal timeline.  Get a long strip of butcher paper (or tape together several regular sheets of paper).  Draw a line along the middle and mark the various major feasts and fasts, beginning with the Elevation of the Cross on September 14th.  Then, have your children color pictures to represent these events.  Glue them onto the strip of butcher paper and you have a Church Year Timeline!!!  

To mark the progression of the year, you can cut out a cross out of colored construction paper. Simply pin it on the appropriate time of year with a push pin or use putty.

Happy Schooling!!!

scrap stock

I've just discovered another incredibly easy, incredibly fun, and incredibly free kitchen trick.  

Scrap Stock.  

Collect those onion skins, potato skins, eggplant skins, etc.  Keep those ends of veggies like carrots and zucchini.  And don't throw away those limp carrots that you never got around to using up.  Just throw them in a pot.  Add water to cover them and a lil' bit of salt.  Bring it all to a boil, simmer for an hour & half and then strain.  The result:  

Yummy veggie broth.

Vegan Recipe Swap

My husband is a missionary kid, and this year's 2 international moves have given me a whole new respect for my mother in law. We've been back in the U.S. since July 1st and in our new home since the 6th, and I still feel dazed and confused from the transition. Thankfully the kitchen is now settled in and the cooking can begin!!!

The last theme for our Vegan Recipe Swap was Grains. Thank you for all your contributions! For some great recipes, go visit these blogs:

• Michelle M. at Our Little Monkeys for Spanakorizo
• Monica at Orthodox Mother's Digest for Crockpot Vegan Grains
  
• Katie at Making Room for Curried Lentils and Rice

Now for this weeks theme....Beans.

Please excuse yet another Mexican themed recipe, but I've been deprived this last year and am currently obsessed.

Tacos with Garlicky Black Beans
(feeds 6-8)

3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups water or vegetable broth
salt to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Mince garlic and saute with pepper in 1 tsp oil till fragrant. Add black beans plus 1 1/2 cups water or broth. Simmer for 10-15 minutes till thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste.

Drain liquid at this point or serve with a slotted spoon (if planning on leftovers, I recommend using a slotted spoon as the liquid helps the beans to reheat easier). Spoon into tortillas and add your favorite taco toppings. During fasting periods, we like to throw on grilled or broiled veggies (zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and onions) for a nice smoky, fajita flavor and top it with Tomatillo Salsa.

Leave a link to your blog in the comments with your favorite Vegan Beans recipe!

Vegan Recipe Swap

Well, the tofu didn't generate much (or anything, for that matter). It may be simply because this blog is still busy trying to resurrect from its hiatus...so here's another go. This week's theme: Grains (rice, barley, couscous, etc.) Please share your recipe in the comments section...just type it in or leave a link to your blog and I'll feature it in the next recipe swap!

Paella (serves about 8)

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 can artichoke hearts or 1 bag frozen
  
• 1 large bell pepper (green or red), diced
  
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 can diced tomatoes, (14.5 ounces)
• 2 cans vegetable broth, (14.5 ounces each)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

1. In a heavy 12-inch saute; pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and rice; cook, stirring to coat, until rice is translucent, 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Stir in paprika, turmeric, tomatoes, artichokes and broth, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover, and cook until rice is tender and has absorbed almost all liquid, 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in peas; cook 1 minute; serve immediately.

This dish is delish, but lacks protein. I usually serve a chickpea salad on the side, but a can could also very easily be added to the Paella itself.

Saints Peter and Paul

Troparian
O Leaders of the Apostles and teachers of the world, Peter and Paul, pray to the Lord of all to grant peace to the world and abundant mercy to our souls.

Monday, June 29th, is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. It also marks the end of a fasting period called the Apostle's Fast (which begins every year after All Saint's Sunday). On this day, focus on talking with your children about how even great sinners can become great saints through repentance.

Activities:

• Make Mandryky (meaning 'to wander')! It is a Ukranian custom to eat this on the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul due to a legend that the Saints were sustained by these rolls while traveling for missions. Here is a recipe for the dish. If you lack the time, energy or skill to make it, go ahead and buy the pre-made rolls (or bread dough from the freezer section) and add the topping yourself.
  

• While the kids enjoy the rolls, talk about the lives of these great Saints and read some of the scripture stories. Suggestions include: Peter walking on water, Peter' denial and restoral, Paul's conversion, Peter's escape from prison, etc.

• Make some sidewalk paint and help your children depict stories of the lives of Saints Peter and Paul in color!

• Talk about missions with your children. Does your church support a missionary? If not, why not support one as a family? You can find one at the Orthodox Christian Mission Center. Talk about a missionary family with your children and pray the prayer for missions. Decorate a jar/small box/can with your children to collect money for the missionary. For some decoration ideas, look here or here or here!
  

Happy Feasting!

Vegan Recipe Swap

We normally eat vegetarian, but going vegan is still a bit of a challenge for me. So, I am going to start hosting a recipe swap on this blog. Each exchange will have a theme and the more who participate the merrier! Simply post a link in the comments to your blog post or type out your recipe in the comments section. This week's theme: Tofu.

Green and Easy Enchiladas
1 jar green enchilada sauce (32 oz)
1 block extra firm tofu
2 zucchinis, quartered and diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn, drained
salt and pepper
12 corn or flour tortilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Stir fry zucchini, garlic and onion until soft. Meanwhile, cut tofu into small cubes and place in a bowl. Add corn and zucchini mixture and salt and pepper to taste. Toss gently.

Pour 1/4 cup enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Either microwave tortillas until soft or fry briefly in oil. Divide mixture amongst tortillas. Roll tortillas and place, seam down, in the prepared pan. Pour remaining enchilada sauce on top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until sauce is bubbly. Let cool 5 minutes and enjoy!

Pentecost

I hope you all have a glorious Ascension Day feast today!

I am putting up a Pentecost post a bit early in order to participate in an Anglican friend's liturgical blog carnival over at Homemaking Through the Church Year. Be sure to participate too!

This year, Pentecost falls on Sunday, June 7th for the Orthodox Church. It is celebrated every year 50 days after Pascha. On this day we commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. This event occurred on a Jewish feast called Pentecost and is seen as fulfilling the revelation of the Trinity.

We will be throwing a birthday party for the church this year, complete with special festal decorations and gifts 'of the Holy Spirit'.

For the decorations:

• Greenery: The Eastern Rite Orthodox Liturgical colors for Pentecost are green, the symbolic color of the Holy Spirit, life and the wood of the cross(Western churches wear red on Pentecost). It is an old custom to decorate the churches (and homes) with lots and lots of greenery.

• Dove Mobile: In some Catholic churches, a dove (real or a model) would literally be lowered down as trumpets sounded or choirs mimicked the sound of rustling wind, and as the dove descended, red rose petals would be strewn to symbolize the tongues of flame. So make a Dove Mobile with kids! We will be making one and I will document the event with instructions, but for now, why not look here and here or here for some inspiration.

Party Time-complete with cake and presents!

• Fruits of the Holy Spirit Cake....: Don't forget the birthday cake!!! Use fruit filling or bake a fruit pie to represent the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Read the story of Pentecost in Acts prior to cutting the cake and sing "God grant you many years" to the church.

• ....and presents: Finally, no birthday party is complete without presents. But these presents have a special twist. Give your children tiny gifts to symbolize the fruits of the Holy Spirit. I would suggest picking one fruit (or two) each year to focus on. For example, you might pick 'Generosity' and give your children little packets with things to give to a homeless person (like a hygiene kit). Or you might, for older children, choose self-control. Give them a favorite candy and if they can manage not to eat it for a week, then tell them they will get another candy. The gifts can be more light-hearted and fun too! You might give your child a gift and explain that it is for a kindness they performed earlier in the week, or for their patience during a certain event. Regardless, use this as an opportunity to explain some of the virtues/fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Happy Feasting!

Holy Ascension

Thou hast ascended in glory O Christ our God, granting joy to Thy disciples by the promise of the Holy Spirit. Through the blessing they were assured that Thou art the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world! (Troparion).

When Thou didst fulfill the dispensation for our sake, and didst unite earth to heaven, Thou didst ascend in glory, 0 Christ our God, not being parted from those who love Thee, but remaining with them and crying: I am with you and no one will be against you! (Kontakion).

The 40 day Paschal celebration will come to a close this next Thursday with the feast of the Holy Ascension. This feast marks Christ's ascent into heaven after the 40 days he spent with the disciples demonstrating his Resurrection. Here are several ideas to help you celebrate the day with your children:

• In Western Christendom, it is common to eat some sort of bird on this day since Christ "flew" into heaven.

• Another popular custom to take a hike up hills or Mountains on Ascension Day to commemorate Christ and the Disciples climbing up Mt. Olives. The Swedes have a tradition of getting up very early in the morning and going to a forest glen to hear birds singing at sunrise. Dependent on when the sun rises in your city, you might want to try some variation of this. Maybe start a morning hike at sunrise and end on top of a hill with a picnic breakfast?

• In the Catholic Church, there is recorded an English custom of a processional involving a banner bearing a lion at the head and a dragon at the rear to symbolize Christ's triumph in his ascension over the evil one. So, the project for Ascension Day is to make a Banner of Triumph. Here are two links for paper plate lion and dragon crafts. You can draw the faces and let your toddlers color them in before attaching them to a banner. Then, at the end of the day before extinguishing the Paschal candle, make a processional around the house during prayer time singing the hymn "Christ is Risen from the dead" one last time. Then, hang the banner on the wall until Pentecost (remove the Christ is Risen banner) and extinguish the Paschal candle together before bedtime.

• One last idea is a little 'puppet' show. Help your children to make Toilet Paper Tube Dolls. Make disciple dolls and a Christ doll. Attach a long string to the Christ doll. Make a stage with a large cardboard box. Decorate the box and set the dolls in it. Run the string through the top/back of the box, with a hole cut out large enough for the doll to be pulled through. Read the story of the Ascencion from a Children's Bible, and pull on the string as Christ ascends into heaven.

St. Thomas Sunday: The Antipascha

Apolytikion in the Grave Tone

Christ our God, You are the Life that dawned from the grave, though the tomb was sealed. Through closed doors You came to the Apostles. You are the Resurrection of all. And, You renewed us through them with an upright spirit, according to Your great mercy.

Tomorrow is St. Thomas Sunday. In Orthodoxy, Thomas is seen not as Thomas the 'doubter' but Thomas the 'believer', who laid aside his disbelief when he touched the living Christ!

Always held the Sunday after Pascha, the 8th day after the resurrection when Thomas first saw Jesus (John 20:26-29), it is custom for some cultures and parishes to travel to the cemetery with their pashcal candles lit and cry out "Christ is risen!" and leave a Paschal egg on the grave.

Other activities for the day:

• Saint Thomas the Believer Cookies: Make your favorite sugar cookie dough. Roll out the dough and cut out in the shape of hands. To do this, trace a child's hand on a piece of thick cardstock paper and cut out. Place this over the dough and cut around with a knife. Have your child press his thumb into each hand and fill the hole with red jam. Then bake according to your recipe. The hands are representative of Christ's hands which St. Thomas touched.

• Make Koliva and discuss with your children why we make it. Goarch provides a good discussion outline here.

• If you will not be visiting graves, have a special service at home. Remember the names of loved ones departed and cry out, "Christ is risen!" after each name.

Saint George the Great

Troparion for St. George
Liberator of captives, defender of the poor, physician of the sick, and champion of kings, O trophy-bearer, Great Martyr George, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Today marks the feast of St. George, the dragon slayer. My apologies for not posting on this earlier, but I have been debating about which saints to include apart from the great feasts and fast periods and finally decided that this one is too good to pass up.

Activity suggestions for the day:

• Read/tell the story about St. George and read the Troparion with children (or sing it if you know how!)

• Read Margaret Hodges children's version of the story. It is very beautifully illustrated and is a favorite with our children.

• Make a dragon mask

• Make a St. George costume out of household items. Simply cut out a sword and shield out of cardboard and cover in foil. Paint a red cross on the foil covered shield. The kids will love it. Painting on foil is quite the novelty.

• Finally, put those costumes on and put on a play!
  

Fun facts: St. George was a relatively minor saint until 8th century England when his story was translated into English (or Anglo-Saxon to be more proper). He was later adopted as patron saint of soldiers and became, known as the patron saint of England in the 14th century. In honor of England, why not have a good ol' English pub dinner. Bangers and mash. Steak and kidney pie. Whatever sounds good. And don't forget a pint of Ale (well, for you, that is)!

Happy Bright Week!

I love Bright Week! Who doesn't!?

Need some ideas to celebrate? Check out my original post on Bright Week. Here are a few extra ideas to add:

• Collect large rocks with your children and paint them in memory of the stone that was rolled away from Christ's tomb. Use them as door stoppers and let in the lovely spring air.

• Spruce up your house and bring out the spring colors in your home decorations! If you don't have the materials to do so, buy some cheap streamers and balloons to decorate with for the week.
  

• Print out copies of the Resurrection Icon from this great online Icon coloring book (page 25). Have the kids color the icons and decorate each room with a copy. You can even turn them into homemade icons (see instructions here).

• Lastly, if you haven't already used your Lenten savings to do some charity work, use it now. Help out with your local homeless shelter or bring a nice meal to a family in need.

I wish a joyous Bright week to you all! Don't forget to light your Paschal candle the next 40 days and sing the Resurrection Hymn!

"Christ is risen from the dead and by his death has trampled death and to those in the tombs he has granted life."

Holy Week Activities

Here are some photos to illustrate some of the Holy Week activities.

Our Simple but Purposeful Holy Week Clock
A bit pitiful, I know, but I had a lot less art supplies on hand than I had thought!
The kids thought is was great, though.

A plate of homemade Hot Cross Buns w/cards

Pa washing Mary's feet during our Last Supper

Coloring Easter eggs on Good Friday

A photo of the kids after their Easter Egg hunt on Pascha

Pascha Greetings!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

egg dyeing tip

Sick of your Pascha Eggs turning out pink? Well, here's a simple tip: use brown eggs.

I made up my normal coloring potion (1 bottle red food coloring, 2 tsp red vinegar and 1/2 cup hot water) and dumped my brown egg in the cup and voila! a RED egg!

Farewell, pink wannabes!

Resurrection Cookies

Because you won't be busy enough on Holy Saturday, here is a great recipe for Resurrection Cookies with scripture readings included! Head on over to Orthodox Mom and check it out!

On Scheduling

I have fought it, fought it, fought it and now must finally give in. I hate schedules. Detest them. I like plans but when it comes to actually nailing down a schedule for every day, I cannot stand it. However, I am finally facing reality. I need a schedule.

I first tried doing a pie graph with basic activities that should be done everyday. But the reality of not having a time frame set aside meant that activities were often missed or they were all crunched together in a random, spastic time. It was not going well. I was struggling with slothfulness and depression and feeling overwhelmed all the time.

My Lenten resolution for this year has been to try to integrate prayer throughout the day. Trying to accomplish this led me to realizing that I was unable to do this consistently because my day had no set routine. I fought the routine hard. However, the Lord has humbled me this lent and I have realized that the so called freedom and control I tried to grab at through NOT having a schedule was not freedom at all.

So we are on a schedule now and it is great. It is refreshing. It is hard. But struggle is good. Struggling for self discipline over the body and desires is healthy and needful for our salvation.

Our new schedule revolves around the Hours. I wake up and jog (focusing on praying while I do so. If I am unable to focus on intercessory prayers, I simply say the Lord's Prayer over and over and the Jesus Prayer). Then I come home and read Matins. Our time is now blocked into 3 hour allotments around prayer times. Each time block involves chores, education (reading, math, art), read aloud time and free play. At the beginning of each time block we read aloud one prayer from that section of the Hours. We end the day as a family with Vespers, reading Scripture and talking about it and a hymn for the week.

It is strange to me having such a disciplined schedule now. But oddly, I feel much free-er. Who would have thought?

I highly encourage every stay at home mom to try to schedule your day this way. Centering each day around prayer is beneficial not only for the souls of us mothers, but also for the souls of our children.

Blessings.

Holy Week Activities and Crafts

Welcome back! After a short stint at Icon New Media Network, I've decided to return to the simplicity and flexibility of my own old fashioned blog. So, without further ado.....

Holy Week Crafts and Activities:

• For a list of various crafts and activities for Holy Week, look no further than here!

• In addition to the compilation above, make some paper lanterns for the Bridegroom services. This activity is centered around the parable of the 10 virgins. Read the scripture aloud and act it out together.

Memory Verse of the Week:

Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."