Tuesday, March 3, 2015

"No you may NOT drink the holy water!" - An evening with my Catholic children...

I was home with Anne yesterday, and sometime in the late morning I saw her setting up a station of some kind in the dining room. There were wooden cupcakes and pieces from her Melissa & Doug pizza set, a small box, an (unlit) tealight candle, and a few prayer books. When I asked her what it was, she said:

"A stable. Baby Jesus is in here, sshhhhhh Mommy! YOU DON'T WANT TO WAKE HIM UP."

*serious face*

Ah. Baby Jesus was sleeping, and apparently, like toddlers everywhere, he wishes to eat nothing but frosted cupcakes and pepperoni. She begged me for an actual baby Jesus to put "into the fresh straw" (the straw being the small box, she explained) so I allowed her to raid her packed away nativity set for baby Jesus. She was quite happy after that, and placed him adoringly atop her small purple box.

And I think all of this stemmed from our newly embarked upon venture into the Bible storybook that she received from her Godmother (my older sister) back at her baptism. I had tucked it away because it's not a board book, and I didn't want her to destroy the pages when she was smaller. But I came across it the other day and popped it onto her book shelf, since she is now very good with taking care of books. She discovered it literally minutes later ("Look Mommy, a new book!!") and we've been reading it before naps and bed. I have to say, I love this particular Bible storybook. If you're wondering, it is Catholic Bible Stories for Children, put out by Our Sunday Visitor press:


We've owned Bible story books that skip *the Crucifixion* and I'm certain it's because the publisher didn't want the material to be upsetting for children, but really. This book tells the whole story, tough parts in the Old and New Testaments alike, but does it in a gentle and understandable way for children. I give it a thumbs up.

At any rate, Anne really took to the story of the nativity, and hence the stable that now exists in our dining room. Later in the day, I had a spark of inspiration, and asked Anne if she wanted to wear a veil, like Mary. Well, as you can imagine, that went over pretty big:


I mean, did you ever? SO PRECIOUS. I figured all of this pious reenacting would make it a good night to do the house blessing that I keep forgetting to do. At first, Anne was more interested in her Frozen puzzle than in participating, but once she saw Henry wielding the holy water bottle, she quickly took notice:

"Ok, let's move into the living room. Henry, do you have...no! You are not supposed to DRINK the holy water!"

*Henry looks sheepish*

"Holy water?! I WANT TO SQUIRT THE HOLY WATER!"

So now we have little Mary on the scene, demanding to be a part of things, and I will say that she did not attempt to drink the water. She did, however, squirt out enough in small puddles in each room that our socks were wet for the rest of the night. You can't have everything, I suppose. :0 

How are you today, dear reader? :)

2 comments:

  1. OH that Anne! I can't stand it. She is such a beautiful, little girl!

    ReplyDelete
  2. No, I never! What an adorable little Mary! This post really made me :).

    ReplyDelete

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