November 11th

 

 

 

Having day off from school on November 11th, we had a chance accomplish almost everything that I have planned.

 

In addition to remembering all the men and women in service and praying for them, I had to make sure that my kids will always remember that it is also Polish Independence Day.

 

There was a concise lesson in Polish history, which Kateri declared that she knows, and few geography points.

 

However most of the time that we spend together, was celebrating Martinmas.

I find it fun, and rewarding to introduce my children to different traditions and customs from all over the world.

 

We decided to reuse our lanterns from the last year and just add a handle and go for a small procession on our street. I wish we could gather children from the neighborhood and go all around, like on Halloween, just without the scary stuff and candy.

 

As for snack, which goes well as a breakfast, we made St Martin's day croissants. After a weekend of baking cinnamon rolls and bread, I have yet decided to make another batch of yeast dough. The good thing is that they are yummy, the bad that I could not resist eating them. So much for my gluten free diet, which was going well...

 

  St. Martin, pray for us!

 

 

Kinga:)

 







{this moment}

Linking up with Amanda at SouleMama .

 



 

Kinga:)



Fun with leaves

 

 

 

 



On Saturday Kubus requested jumping into a pile of leaves. He got his wish; older sister joined the fun later. Oh, the playful, worry free childhood, don't you ever leave!

Kinga:)
 

In November

 

Every November we, as Catholics, are obligated to visit the cemeteries and pray for the departed.

In Poland we visited the graves of family members, friends and acquaintances .

There were crowds of people there, freshly cut flowers and multitude of candles. The sky at night was bright above...

 

Here, we continue making the yearly visits to pray for all those who went to meet the Lord already.

We are doing it, because it is a Christian obligation, and we are doing it because of the tradition. We are trying to teach our children the importance of prayer for the dead ones and teach them that death is a big part of every person's life, however terrifying that thought might be at their young age.

 

We took the kids today to pray at the grave sites; day after the All Souls. It felt right, to do it on Sunday, after the mass. It was cold and windy. The place was empty, nostalgic and quiet. Except for the bells from the nearby church.

The children have quieted for a moment too...

 

Kinga.



All Saints Day {phfr} edition

There are days in a year when I really miss Poland. I miss Poland and her beautiful traditions and customs. I miss richly living the Catholic faith. The faith that nobody talks about but lives it. It is the feasts days and Holy days that fill churches and homes with people and gatherings of the families.
All saints day is one of them. It is a day free of work, full of prayers for the dead loved ones and full of people in churches and family gatherings at gravesite of the loved ones that departed. Very sad and nostalgic yet uplifting at the same time.

We don't have it here. I try to explain the different culture that I and Andrzej grew up in, but you have to live it to believe it. It is hard for my kids to grasp it. But different country means new traditions that we try to implement in our lives.
The kids still go to school, Andrzej goes to work and nobody visits the cemeteries. Yet there is time for prayer and All Saints Mass celebration.

The new thing that I came to like, are the All Saints parties for kids. No, we had never did that growing up. For the past few years we have been attending those. I love them and my kids too. I owe big thanks to my wonderful friends who make sure that those little celebration take place.

I have to say that this year it was last minute ideas for the costumes.
They are not very sophisticated, nevertheless we accomplished being dressed up as saints for the party.
Here are my saints as I join Like Mother, Like Daughter for the weekly edition of {phfr}.

{pretty, happy}

 

 

 

 Beardless St. Joseph.

 

 

 

Saint Hedwig, "King" of Poland.

 

 

Very serious Saint Lucia:)

 

{funny}

 

 

Trying to take a picture of my little saints. St. Joseph insisted on using flashlight and later fixing St. Lucia's head wreath:)

 

{real}

 

 

"Saints" of modern times! One listening to the Ipod; another reading Pokémon book and the last one without his tools for a moment. He wasn't kind to St. Hedwig next to him!

 

Wishing all my Catholic friends a very solemn and full of prayers and memories, All Souls Day,

Kinga.

 



Theme Thursday: Halloween

Joining Cari, for this must have edition! And while I did not make it scary, it was fun, warm and very sweet! I apologize for the quality of the pictures. The kids did not want to be still; and I needed that for the nightly photos:(

 

The Dragon

 

 

Pokémon theme: Kiki as a Misty and her friend - Pikachu

 

 

The fire truck!

 

 

All the trick and treat - ers:)

 

So much for today; happy, funny, different. And all of it with too much candy. I hope for no tummy aches tomorrow; but tomorrow is All Saints day and I need to really think hard how to change Misty, the Dragon and the fire truck into saintly people.

 

Don't sneak the candy at night,

Kinga:)

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

 

 

Kinga:)