Henry's confirmation weekend, and some summer socks...

Hello everybody, and what a spectacular June day it is! 😎 I have had such a splendid June over here, and I hope you have as well! Since June is somehow nearly over, I'll be putting up a page soon with the July novenas that I'm planning to pray in case you'd like to join along! 

So we had a big sacramental weekend over here in the home of the Catholic Librarian. One of my babies made his confirmation. 🔥😭I can hardly believe how the time has flown. It was an absolutely beautiful confirmation Mass, and Henry chose my dad as his sponsor (and the confirmation was on Father's Day!) so it was all quite special. 💗

I felt so grateful that things went so smoothly, and that the ceremony was so beautiful. Henry chose St. Maximillian Kolbe as his confirmation saint, and can you even believe these absolutely perfect socks I got for him from Sock Religious?!

They were the sock of the month for June, I mean, obviously this was divine intervention. ;-) I highly recommend their comfy and delightful socks! I just got my reminder email that the July socks will be shipping soon, and I can hardly wait to see who it is!

My sister got Henry this gorgeous St. Joseph themed home altar for his desk, and Henry's Godfather gifted him this beautiful wood rosary blessed by the pope:

He also received some St. Maximillian books. 😍 And he got the exact cake that he wanted, and we're all still enjoying it nearly one week later, hee hee!

It's so precious to have these memories. Last year was much more difficult with Anne's First Communion because of the pandemic, and I'm relieved that things are going so much better now.

In crafty news, I've been working steadily on a pair of summer lemonade themed socks:

Currently on the heel flap. They're going a bit slow, but they're the perfect project for upcoming family summer movie nights, and so I'm glad to have them by my side! This week I also received a small order that I placed with Bumblebee Acres, a skein of robin's egg blue sock yarn that I've been admiring for ages, and an outstanding plaid project bag!

Summer is good. The kids are both finished with school for the academic year, and it just feels nice to relax and have things move slower for a bit. :)

OK, that's what has been happening with me! How is your summer going so far? Any sacraments or crafts happening in your part of the world this early summer? I would love to hear about it in the comments! Also, don't forget that we'll be discussing Part 2 of our Summer Book Club novel on the life of St. Francis Xavier right here next Friday! :-0

Of First Communions & belly dancing at weddings...

It was a quirky weekend, to be sure. You don't often see the two things I mention in the title of this post paired together, do you now? That's why you come HERE, right?! Never boring my friends, at least I hope not. And it fits with the overall theme of my life, I think, such as what we have here:

This is what happens when you have no idea that there is a spring picture session. Your let your child wear a baseball style tee shirt with a scissors print on it, and pineapple leggings.

Who came up with those background choices anyway?! At any rate, daily life in my house, right there. Things get forgotten, things get paired up in strange and interesting ways, odd handprints and random bursts of light show up everywhere. The struggle is real.

At any rate, I had wedding #2 of 2 this weekend, the one my troupe was slated to perform at, and we also had a soccer game for Henry, plus the usual weekend stuff like Mass and housework.

Saturday was the wedding. For the ceremony, I was the official "dress fluffer" for the bride, smoothing out her dress and veil before she walked down the aisle, and I felt very important. ;-) Hey, I take such responsibilities very seriously! That was in the early afternoon, and then Mike and I attended the reception in the evening.

So here was the quandary: I had to dance about an hour and a half to two hours hence. Wine with dinner or no? I really wanted to abstain, because drinking and dancing is never really a good idea, but to be honest, I was a bit nervous. :0 So I had wine with dinner. OK, *and* a few sips of a second glass right before we danced, because like I said, I WAS NERVOUS!

The issue was that most of the people there had no idea that belly dancing was going to be imposed upon them. I was hoping they were going to take it well, but one never knows.

So, the DJ clears the dance floor for us, and introduces us, and our entire troupe processes out in our formal dresses and heels, including the bride, to dance our long-standing Middle Eastern pop number.

When I took my place after our entrance, I looked anxiously out into the crowd. This was their face:

Shocked, But Not Unpleasantly Surprised, Face

Everybody was very curious and wanted to watch, to be sure. Which is good. And to be fair, that is usually the reaction we get. But just to give you a little insight into my belly dancing world, here are the other options:

Ambivalent, Perhaps Even Bored, Face (aka Why Are You Making Me Look Up From My Phone Face), of which I am very familiar from restaurant dancing.

And:

Concerned, And Just Looking To Be Offended, Face, which I sometimes see at festivals and other public events.

It's a dancing road of many reactions, let me tell you. But back to the wedding. It went great! Different from any dancing experience I've had thus far, and that's part of the charm of Middle Eastern dancing to me. Always something new! Mike was our spy out in the crowd, on his way back from the bar, who reported in that the word on the street was very positive and complimentary. ;-)

I loved it. A great time was had by all. A beautiful couple whose marriage we celebrated, I couldn't be more pleased for both of them.

Sunday, I was a little late in getting out of bed ;-) and we had Mass and a soccer game to navigate. And let me tell you, the addition of First Communion to our regular 11 am Mass nearly made us late for soccer, but so it goes. It also made us park what felt like a mile away, but who's counting?

The Communicants processed down the aisle with Fr. Joe, and Anne was very interested to see all of their outfits and what each was carrying. At Henry's school parish, the First Communion Mass is on a late Saturday morning, removed from the regular Sunday liturgies. So to have it be a part of our regular Mass was an unusual thing for my kids. It definitely made an impression. I explained to Anne what was happening, and she seemed quite interested. It seemed early to me for First Communion, since it was only May 1st, but then I realized that Mother's Day is next Sunday (doesn't that seem early too?!) so that must be why they placed it so.

When is First Communion at your parish? What are your plans for Mother's Day?