Christmas Season - Jesus' Birthday Cake and more

It's a really good thing the liturgical season of Christmas lasts so long because we finally ran low enough on cookies and candies to make a birthday cake for Jesus. It's actually pretty typical for our family birthday celebrations to turn into week long extravaganzas by the time we celebrate with extended family and friends, so really this is par for the course.

Inspired by Ace of Cakes (I've never really watched that show... we don't have cable, I just hear it's really cool) I designed this super fancy stable cake. Don't laugh...

What I really dreamed of making was this...

but fondant creeps me out.

Instead I went to my typical baking buddy...

That's right, all you'll need it a box of cake mix, chocolate and white frosting and yellow dye.

The pattern for the cake looks like this. On the left is how the cake would look if it was in one piece and on the right is how you assemble the star.

I often use the sheets as a stencil for cutting out the cake.

When working with smaller pieces I use toothpicks to hold them together. Just don't forget to take them out when serving.

Do the white and yellow frosting first.

Then add your chocolate including the manger. After I finished the manger I was frosted out, so I just put a plastic Jesus in it and skipped writing Happy Birthday above, I think we all knew who the cake was for. I'm also know to spray my finger with non-stick spray to make it sticky proof so I can smooth out difficult spots. And that ladies and gentlemen is the extent of my cake knowledge. Perhaps I should watch Ace of Cakes.

We've also watched Really Woolly Friends The Gift of Christmas by Dayspring...

and played with our Nativity felt board. You have to scroll down to get to the product on the link. Is that so 1980's Sunday school or what?

Happy New Year to all. Maybe nobody will read this post because you are all out ringing it in, but I'm too lazy to find a babysitter, so we are in for the night. Maybe I'll celebrate with the east coast in a half hour and call it festive.

Christmas Season - Baby Jesus Rolls and more

The liturgical season of Christmas is in full swing at the Cotter home! Each night we have been opening an extended family present and doing a fun activity. Here's what we've accomplished:

To start we made some baby Jesus rolls for dinner tonight! I love these because of the symbolism behind Jesus being the bread of life and here we are, making baby Jesus bread.

The idea comes from here, but I called upon my favorite buddy to help make these quick...

Oh dough boy, what would I do without you? Especially when you are frequently on sale and coupons for you are always in excess?

Just tear apart your dough, assemble them into a swaddling baby Jesus...

watch out for "helpful" toddlers who think their plastic dogs are hungry (my preschooler said, "hey, put that on the blog!")...

brush them with egg yolk to give them the new baby glow and bake them according to the package directions.

We also built a ginger bread house...

played with Christmas cookie cutters and Playdough...

and watched Veggie Tales' The Star of Christmas.

4 more days to go!

Merry Christmas!

For those of you who did not receive our Christmas card...

This year we were blessed to host Christmas at our home and my (Lisa) family came in to town to celebrate with us. 

Festivities included a visit to the zoo for its spectacular light display...

and a ride on their train.

Paul could hardly contain his excitement waiting for our turn to board.

Mary Clare on the other hand was not as enthused about the family picture with an elephant.

Of course we opened presents. About every picture looked like this: "I'm smiling... who's that present for over there?"

And the homemade decorations were out in full force.

While my family headed home today we now have until the Epiphany to celebrate Christmas! We are going to play up the Christmas Octave this week by opening up one present a day from Kevin's family members, doing one fun Christmas activity each night and spending lots of family time playing with our new toys because all FOCUS staff gets the ENTIRE Octave off from work!!! Kevin and I will however be working on a "dating talk" we will be giving together for an upcoming FOCUS conference in St. Paul, MN. Pray for us, I don't work well in groups.

I'll post some of the Octave events over the next few days. For ideas check out Catholic Culture's amazing amounts of resources and ideas for celebrating the season.

Merry Christmas to all, especially to our wonderful mission partners who make our work possible!

Speaking at Theology on Tap

This is kind of old news, but I've been too busy crafting to post it until now. A few weeks ago I spoke at a couple of nearby Theology on Taps. "Theology on Tap is a great opportunity for young Catholic adults to meet in a comfortable setting to explore our faith and how it affects our lives." At least that's what their website says. If you have never been to one you should see if your diocese hosts them and check it out.

Here it is: Me, speaking, at a bar, about women's emotions... sounds like at unlikely combination, but it happened. The beer however is not mine, I borrowed it because I just wanted to add it in there for authenticity, even although I hate beer, so maybe it's not authentic at all. This was definitely the first time I had been to a bar past 8:00 pm in quite some time.

Because I have a few more speaking engagements on this topic I added a tab to the blog called "chick flicks and chastity" so I have a place to direct people for resources on the topic. There you will find some suggested reading including books and free online articles, as well as brief synopsis of the idea behind the emotional side of purity. They recored the talk so it will eventually be available online, so I'll link to it on the tab when that day comes. Until then, go check out the articles!

Christmas Stars

It's time for the final Christmas decorations craft! I told you we had a busy crafter-noon on Sunday! These are my Christmas stars that twirl when the heating vent  underneath them comes on, it's a great use of fake wind power.

What you'll need:

• Gold card stock
• White card stock
• Red ribbion
• Silver glitter glue
• Star cookie cutters or stencils
• Sharpie
• Pencil
• Hole punch
• Scissors 
• Paint brush (oops, not shown)
• Glue stick (oops again, not shown)

Step 1: Using your stencils trace and cut out a big gold star and a little white star.
Step 2: Glue the little start onto the big star, but only put a circle of glue in the center, so the little stars edges will lift up when the glitter glue dries.
Step 3: Write Christmas words on each star. I used Joy, Peace, Faith, Hope, Love, Rejoice and Savior.
Step 4: Punch a hole in the top of the star.

Step 5: Squirt some glitter glue on the star and brush it around with a paint brush to cover the star.

Step 6: Tie various lengths of red ribbion through the hole at the top of the star.

Step 7: Hang from a window in your home (preferably under a vent so they can twirl :)

...out.

Christmas Stable Name Cards

More Christmas crafts! Today we made our name cards for Christmas brunch. The women in my family aren't big red meat or even meat in general eaters, so we opt for a delicious Christmas brunch over the traditional roast beast, poor men. What we lack in meat we make up for in sugar.

Perhaps you don't need directions for this one, but here they are anyway!

Here is what you will need:

• Brown card stock or construction paper
• Gold or silver stars (I used the foam sticker kind)
• Card stock with a picture of baby Jesus and a bible verse printed on the bottom and middle of the page. As you can see you can print 4 to a page. I used the verse "For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord." Luke 2:11
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Marker

Step 1: Fold your 1/4 sheet printouts in half to make a table tent. No pic, but it looks like the blank paper on the left side of the picture below.

Step 2: Cut out your stable. If you use a 1/4 sheet as a guide you will be sure to create a stable that will fit with your printed table tent.

Step 3: Glue your stable onto face of your table tent.

Step 4: Add your star.

Step 5: Find a 4 year old who knows how to write their letters and ask them to put the names of your guests on each name card.

Optional step 6: If you cannot find a 4 year old, you can always write them yourself.

Holly Napkin Ring Holders

It's been quite the crafter-noon at the Cotter home! We started in on the homemade Christmas decorations after a late night run to the craft store yesterday. The first item on the line up are our holly napkin ring holders.

One of our familiar Christmas carols is the Holly and the Ivy, which is often played without the vocals, so most people don't realize the meaning behind the song. Give it a listen here with the vocals which describe the Christian Christmas symbolism of holly and ivy. The lyrics go a little something like this:

The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown,

Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.

Refrain:

Oh, the rising of the sun and the running of the deer,

The playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir.

The holly bears a blossom as white as lily flower,

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to be our sweet saviour

Refrain

The holly bears a berry as red as any blood,

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to do poor sinners good.

Refrain

The holly bears a prickle as sharp as any thorn,

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ on Christmas Day in the morn.

Refrain

The holly bears a bark as bitter as any gall,

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ for to redeem us all.

Refrain

While holly was originally a pagan symbol of fertility, the Christians "baptized" it by giving it a a new Christian significance. Some early Church fathers like Tertullian protested the idea, but here it remains as a traditional Christmas decoration staple.

Alright enough history, on with the craft.

Here is what you will need to make 1 dozen:

1 sheet of stiff red felt

1 sheet of regular green felt

1 spool of 3/8 in/3 yd gold ribbon

36 red pompoms

Tacky glue

Scissors

12 paper clips

Step 1: Cut the red felt into 12 strips. If you pushed all the strips together it would make a whole sheet of flet, so cut the page up like shown above.

Step 2: Glue a strip of ribbon to the center of each strip.

Step 3: Loop each strip into a circle, glue and hold together with a paper clip until dry.

Step 4: Cut out 24 holly leaves (2 per ring) from the green felt and glue them to the center of the ring.

Step 5: Glue 3 pompoms onto your leaves and let dry.

For a nice conversation starter you can explain the symbolism of holly to your guests!

A Christmas Party for the Elderly with Sr. Dara

In my last post I mentioned that one of the women in the FOCUS bible study I led in college is now a religious sister. What I didn't mention is of the 2,700 sisters in her order spread out over 31 countries she is one of the few who happen to live 25 minutes away!

This is Sr. Dara. She was a biology major in college and was on track to head to med school, but those plans changed after she met the Little Sisters of the Poor at a FOCUS Conference (today is the last day to register for this years conferences!). One of the other women in our bible study was going to the vocations panel during a break-out session at the conference and she convinced Dara (at the time) to go with her. It was there that Sr. Dara listend to some of the Little Sisters share about their lives as religious and thus began her adventure to the convent. The Little Sisters apostolate is caring for the elderly, so Sr. Dara is still fulfilling her dream of working in the medical field!

Today a group of the FOCUS staff went to one of the Sister's homes for the elderly where we hosted a Christmas party. We decorated cookies...

and sang Christmas carols with them. Here the kids are with Mr. Sean, a former team member of Kevin's who happend to be in town and joined in on the fun. He is like their cool, unmarried uncle who has tons of energy and is super goofy.... they love him. 

We also spent time talking with the residence, something I only got to do a little bit of because I was trying to stop my 2 year old son, who skipped his nap for the event, from knocking over someones oxygen tank. No picture of that one, sorry. All the residents raved about how much they love living at the home and how well taken care of they were. They also shared about their big bell choir concert tomorrow night for their families. A volunteer made all the women matching red skirts to wear for the occasion, how cute is that!

Once again FOCUS, who is in one of their craziest seasons of all with 4 conference in less than a month, wins the best employer in the world award for taking the time to love their neighbors. We hope to go visit Sr. Dara and the residents more often in the future... in the mornings, when my child is of a good temper.