Martinmas Lantern Walk

In A Book of Feasts and Seasons author Joanna Bogle shares that “the main festivity on St. Martin's Day especially in France and Germany is that of making paper lanterns and carrying them in procession.” Our family decorated glass jars years ago for our annual Lantern Walk on Martinmas.

Sometimes I really miss our old home, especially on special feast days. We lived there for over 18 years and left with countless wonderful memories. Lately I've been missing all the beautiful trees on our old property. As much as I love our new home, we only have a handful of very young trees... Even though we aren't riverfront, we DO have river access, so for this year's Martinmas Lantern Walk we headed down to the river to enjoy the trees, the gorgeous sunset, and create some new memories!

 

 

 

 

Martinmas Lanterns 🍂🍁🕯✨

"Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to go on my journey to the Lord." - St. Martin of Tours

November Book Cart

We are blessed to have two of these lovely portable libraries! We keep one upstairs in the "school room" which we update seasonally or with books featuring specific subjects we are studying... and this one, kept downstairs in our dining room, is updated monthly with picture books for upcoming feast days. Here is a peek at this month's book cart: 

Can you find Saints? • The Pied Piper of Peru • Martin de Porres

The Spirit of Tio Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story • Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Snow on Martinmas • Roses in the Snow: A Tale of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

The All Saints' Day Party • The Mantle of Charity • St. Martin of Tours 

St. Martin Comic Book • St. Elizabeth Comic Book

Saint Martin de Porres and the Mice • A Story of Saint Catherine of Alexandria 

Margaret • The Adventures of Sister Regina Marie

The Saints Are Watching Over Me • Prayer for a Child • Grimms Casa Sole

Fir Tree Stacking Set • St. Elizabeth from Naturally Catholic

Various Ostheimer Toys including St. Martin and the Beggar

Wooden Story Stacking Toy (Natural) from The Wooden Wagon

You can check out the complete list (or at least complete as of a few years ago) 

of the books in our November Book Basket here!

Saints Around the World :: St. Martin de Porres

My kiddos got so excited when another blue box showed up in the mail. Here is a peek at what was included in this month's Saints Around the World subscription box. 

Praying "please let it be another boy saint!" Silly boy.

St. Martin de Porres by Little Drops of Water • Saint Martin de Porres and the Mice
(We already owned a copy of the book so we'll probably pass this extra copy along as a gift or a future giveaway prize!) 

Some books from our November Book Basket

Searching for Peru... Found it!

 

In addition to all the goodies for St. Martin de Porres, the box also included an Advent Calendar and Our Lady of Guadalupe Ornament Craft that we'll save for next month! 

Note: Saints Around the World is offering a special edition box for the upcoming feast of St. Nicholas! Check out all the details here.

St. Martin de Porres, ora pro nobis!

Veteran's Day Wreaths Across America Fundraiser

Two of our nieces are American Heritage Girls and they are currently raising funds for their troop and Wreaths Across America! Please consider sponsoring a wreath.

 

From my sister-in-law: 

"On December 14, 2019, Christmas wreaths will be laid on the gravestones of fallen U.S. veterans across the nation.

By sponsoring one (or more!) of these wreaths for $15, you can support our Troop MD0134, which will receive $5 for every wreath sponsored. When joined to prayer for the deceased veterans in Purgatory, you are fulfilling the spiritual work of mercy, 'to pray for the living and dead,' and the corporal work of mercy, 'to bury the dead.'

November is the month of the Poor Souls, so it is a perfect time to pray for these deceased American heroes, who put their lives in harm's way, to liberate the oppressed and to defend the freedoms - especially religious freedom - that we enjoy in abundance here in America.

See our troop's Wreaths Across America fundraising webpage here. Please forward to family and friends to raise even more donations for our troop and to honor veterans!"

Happy Veteran's Day!

Where's Waldo?

The boys sent me some pictures from Christendom's Halloween Dance and said that I could share them with you all! They ended up dressing up (with a couple friends) as "Waldo and Wenda" from Where's Waldo? and "Westley and Buttercup" from The Princess Bride. We had so much fun coming up with costumes while they were home over fall break.  Just six more weeks and they'll be home again for Christmas!

 

 

I love that I can spot Waldo (and Wenda!) so easily in the crowd! 

 I heard that Westley and Buttercup ended up with Honorable Mention (or was it 3rd place?) for their costumes in the costume competition. 

 And from Christendom Today.... "Where's Waldo?"

Where's Waldo? Costume • Westley Boots and Mask