The Feasts of All Hallows Eve, All Saints' and All Souls'

This past weekend was a whirlwind of Autumn activities, family fun and making memories! All Hallows Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day were amazing for my family and we had a blast celebrating! To start all the fun we celebrated Halloween! As I stated before, you cannot have All Saints' without Halloween and vise versa. Check out Seven Ways to Have a Very Catholic Halloween if you don't believe me.

Halloween:

As everyone knows, this past Halloween was on a Monday so the school decided to host a Halloween Parade where all the children dressed as Super Heroes! If you follow me on Instagram, you are already aware that I barely made it to the Parade. I was scheduled to work and assumed I wouldn't make it at all but God blessed me with a quick and easy shift so I hurried over and made it just in time to join Little Man in his classroom. Little Man was Batman... well sort of. He wore a Batman hoodie because he is starting to think he is too cool to join in certain activities. I told him to enjoy being a kid because childhood goes by way too fast. He still seemed to have a great time!

My smart husband had remembered to request Halloween off (obviously I did not) and he was with Goalie walking through the parade. Goalie was so excited to show off his daddy and trick-or-treat throughout the entire school. Goalie decided to be Captain America. I absolutely LOVE that the costume has padded muscles because he is always talking about how big his muscles will be when he grows up. He wants to be just like his daddy who works out everyday.

After the parade, we headed home together and got changed into our first ever family costume! We decided to do a Star Wars theme. Harry, my husband, was Darth Vader. I was a Storm Trooper. Little Man was a Flame Trooper and Goalie was Captain Rex. I will be the first to admit that I have no clue what the difference between the storm trooper and flame trooper are and I also don't know if Captain Rex is on the Light or Dark side but we all had a good time and were asked several times to take pictures with people. You can also see our "melting" jack o' lanterns in the background.

As the Star Wars family we conquered the Haunted House in Old Colorado City (kid friendly of course) and did a little trick-or-treating as well. I was told some of our family photos would be posted by a few businesses on Facebook but I haven't had a chance to look for them yet.

I was so grateful a friend had invited us to do trick-or-treating as well because we have not been in the area for this season and had no clue what to expect. The kids walked away with two huge bags full of candy! I asked the boys to keep in mind as many people as they could so they could say a special prayer for the nice people that handed out candy... especially the ones that seemed to be home alone. We ended the evening as a family and the boys passed out. Me and the hubby enjoyed a glass of Spellbound Merlot and watched Gremlins.

All Saints' Day:

All Saints' Day is the real party. The kids had school so we had to wait until the evening to celebrate but we still had a great time. Which Saints did your children choose to dress up as this year? Little Man was Saint Dominic for the fourth year in a row and Goalie decided last second he didn't want to wear a costume. I felt sad but he has sensory issues so I didn't want to push the subject... he was Saint Michael the Archangel last year but had requested to be Saint Joseph. Maybe sometime before the end of the month I'll get a cute picture of him as Saint Joseph.

Also is it wrong that as an adult I really want to dress up for All Saints' Day too?! Are there families that do that? I need to know!

Do you have All Saints' Day traditions? We do! We decorate the house with saint medals, medallions and prayer cards. We also make a special dinner based on different Saints we love and cherish. Since Goalie wanted to be Saint Joseph and couldn't wear his costume, we decided on Spaghetti Squash Marinara and Turkey Meatballs. Italians have a great devotion to Saint Joseph and it is also customary to wear red on his feast day. Spaghetti Squash as a substitute for pasta made it a bit healthier and the baked turkey meatballs were a perfect companion to this Italian meal. 

All Souls' Day:

All Souls' Day is the day we use to remember ones we have lost. I had a great idea to do a more elaborate "Day of the Dead" book for our home altar. It was a bigger undertaking than I originally anticipated. I wanted to create a book that includes at least one photo, the dates of birth and passing and a brief history or story. I will continue to work on this and I will share the final product. 

In addition to the craft and extra prayers for our family, we made Soul Food for dinner. As you can imagine... dinner was demolished in a matter of seconds and I was unable to take a picture of it. We enjoyed some Baked Chicken, fresh garlic mashed potatoes and corn. Lots of comfort food and we all ate until we were ready for bed. 

I am Mexican decent and El Día de los Muertos is a great big celebration there. I am hoping to make All Souls' Day a more elaborate celebration with Soul Cakes, Day of the Dead Bread and Sugar Skulls. What do you do to celebrate these amazing days with your families? traditions? recipes? I can't wait to hear all about it!

God Bless!

Menu Plan Monday: October 31- November 6

With all the Halloween fun yesterday, I am a day late sharing my Menu Plan Monday post. I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween but remember that today, All Saints' Day is the TRUE celebration. This was apparently the warmest Halloween our area has had in awhile... I honestly wouldn't know since it was our first Halloween here but it was amazing! Here is a little sneak peak into our Halloween celebration yesterday:

This was our first year doing a family costume and it really was a big hit! We all had a blast and the kids are excited to plan our next Halloween family costume. I'll be sharing more about our Halloween later on and I am prepping the house for our All Saints' Day Celebration this evening! I can't wait to see pictures of all the All Saints' Day Celebrations today! Here is our family menu:

Monday: Halloween

Chili (Friends' home)

Tuesday: All Saints' Day

Spaghetti Squash and Turkey Meatballs

Wednesday: All Souls' Day

Baked Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Thursday: Feast of Saint Martin de Porres

Ratatouille

Friday: Feast of Saint Charles Borromeo

Vegetable Soup

Baked Apples for Dessert

Saturday: Lantern Festival

Crockpot Salsa Chicken Tacos

Sunday:

Chicken and Dumplings

My Sunday Best: All Saints' Edition

This Tuesday is All Saints' Day and there are only 4 more Sundays until Advent begins! I am also ashamed to say that we have missed Mass the past two weeks due to not feeling well, having one car working properly and just playing catch up. Goalie was actually upset when we were leaving after CCD today but we should be on track soon. Praying and fingers crossed!

I am also disappointed that I did not get a picture of myself and Goalie before I changed into my "I'm in a rut" clothes and got comfy on the couch with a blanket. These past few weeks have been super hard. Broken down car, being sick and fighting the depression and anxiety that become so much harder to deal with in difficult situations. I can share a cute picture of Little Man though. 

Here is Little Man's Sunday Best, he is dressed as Saint Dominic. The Black cape was suppose to be connected at the neck but I could not find a safety pin to keep it together this morning. He is wearing a large white shirt (suppose to look like a tunic) with black pants and a black "cape" which looks more like a veil from this picture. He has a rosary and was pretty pleased with his 1 minute costume. Little Man was dressed as Saint Dominic to do a presentation on him during CCD today.

I had asked the children in my CCD class to pick and research a saint they would like to learn about. Well, I only had three children dress up but I was very impressed with the amount of effort the kids put into their research and saints. I am hoping to share the other costumes on this post later after I have permission from the children's parents. 

After the saint presentations, I discussed some old Christian Halloween traditions and how they have evolved into the modern Halloween we know nowadays. The kids were really interested in the Soul Cakes and story of the Jack O' Lantern. You can find more information on those topics and more on my Seven Ways to Have a Very Catholic Halloween and {JEI}: All Saints' Day. Overall, I think having a small break from our books and getting some hands on learning was fun, exciting and the kids learned a lot about some of their favorite saints. I even shared information about my Confirmation Saint (Saint Bernadette) and encouraged them to keep learning about the saints because they also get to pick a saint in their Confirmation. 

Remember All Saints' Day is Tuesady! My boys will be dressed up as Saint Dominic and Saint Joseph so make sure to come checkout my pictures on Instagram later in the week!

This was my Sunday Best but I'll try to update with a picture from our All Saints' Day Mass!

God Bless!

{JEI}: All Saints' Day

Welcome to the weekly link-up recently turned Blog-Hop Just Enough Info: JEI for short. This lovely Blog-Hop is hosted by The Zelie Group and we would love for you to join us! This week we are discussing All Saints' Day! Let's get started with this week's questions:

1. How do you celebrate the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day feasts? 

Where to begin?! There are so many things that I like to do to celebrate All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. I have already shared some of these activities through my Seven Ways to a Have a Very Catholic Halloween. In preparation for All Saints' Day we celebrate Halloween. We dress up and do the whole "trick-or-treat" thing and we spend time together as a family watching movies and discussing what the TRUE meaning behind Halloween and All Saints' Day. 

On All Saints' Day we dress up as our favorite Saints and decorate our home altar and home accordingly. There are prayer cards, saint pictures and metals hanging from all sorts of places on this special feast day. Little Man ALWAYS dresses as Saint Dominic de Guzman. Goalie has been Saint Michael the Archangel several times but I think he wants to be Saint Joseph this year. We spend our day praying for those who gave us treats on Halloween and for the Saints' intercessions. We also enjoy some foods that we make during Liturgical celebrations in honor of our favorite Saints!

All Souls' Day is very similar. We pray for those in our families that have passed away and I am in the process of creating a "Book of the Dead" that has old family photos and other family information inside that can be brought out on this day to pray that our family members have all made it through the gates of Heaven. I began working on this several months ago but I did not complete just yet so it may not be unveiled until next year.

2. What was your favorite costume as a kid growing up? 

Honestly, I have never been a huge fan of dressing up until I became a Mommy! When I was little I was your typical princess or other dressed up little girl and I think i remember dressing up as a baby one year! Yeah that's right... I dressed up like a baby. Thinking back, I just did the bare minimum to achieve my trick-or-treat candy. 

Now is a completely different story! My boys really like me to dress up with them or face paint or something so I always try my best to impress them. I love to see those adorable smiles and hear those sweet little laughs.

3. What candy are you most likely to “test for safety” from the kiddo’s loot?

We have lived in a VERY small town for a VERY long time so we never really had to check the kids candy. We literally knew everyone handing it out and it was never a huge concern. Now we live in an area where we don't know many people and I am sure that this year will be completely different. I will be throwing out any candy that does not look tightly wrapped or that is a brand I have never heard of... just to be extra safe. I try my best to always to assume the best of people but my little boys' safety is something I do not mess around with!

Thank you for joining me for another week of Just Enough Info!

You have all week to answer this week's questions about All Saints' Day:

1. How do you celebrate the All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day feasts? 
2. What was your favorite costume as a kid growing up? 
3. What candy are you most likely to “test for safety” from the kiddo’s loot?

Next week we will be discussing Sports and Exercise:

1. What sports do your kids play?

2. What do you do for exercise? 

3. In the Mom Olympics, what would your event be?


The Zelie Group has some fun questions coming up in the next few weeks so make sure to follow us on Facebook and we would love to hear what you are interested in! What are you looking to learn about? Do you have questions about the Faith? Questions about the Liturgical Year? We want to help and learn and grow with you and your families!

Also stop by the new Page I created on my blog for new information concerning The Zelie Group. It is a work in progress but it has a good start!

Seven Ways to Have a Very Catholic Halloween

For my post to share with {SQT}: Seven Quick Takes this week, I thought I would share seven ways to have a very Catholic Halloween! I honestly think that Halloween often time has a bad connotation attached to it that can make it hard for some people to want to celebrate. An important fact to remember is that when Christianity was being spread many pagan holidays were modified to celebrate Christ and the liturgical teachings. As long as you are embracing the correct teachings any day can be celebrated, including Halloween! The most important thing to keep in mind, is that Halloween isn't the big holiday, it is actually the beginning of celebrating All Saint's Day. You can't have an All Hallows Eve without the Holy Day!

{ONE}

The Jack O' Lantern:

There are several ways to incorporate the Jack O' Lantern into your Catholic Halloween. You can create a Saint O'Lantern or in other words, a pumpkin with a Saint, rosary or other object that symbolizes something Holy is a great idea. If you prefer to draw a customary Jack O' Lantern face... that's OK too! I always read the story of the Jack O' Lantern. The story discusses heaven, hell, Saint Peter and the devil. My kids are always intrigued by the story and it opens the discussion of purgatory as well since All Soul's Day is in dedication of the souls in purgatory. I also like to include the pumpkin prayer with my kids regardless of what we decide to carve into our pumpkins. A few years ago, Little Man even said a prayer for Stingy Jack in hopes that he would find a way to heaven.

Roasting pumpkin seeds can be a great metaphor too! You are scooping out the seeds (scooping out the sin) and roasting it in the oven. I think you get where I am going with this.

{TWO}

Remember to Pray:

Including prayer on Halloween is essential to a Catholic Halloween. Halloween also known as All Hallows Eve because the following day is the feast of All Saints. The entire month of October is dedicated to the rosary so including the Rosary, the pumpkin prayer mentioned above and prayers for the souls in purgatory are important. October is also dedicated to Respecting Life and November is dedicated to Souls in Purgatory.

You can even receive some Indulgences for your prayers during this Holy time! A partial indulgence can be obtained by devoutly visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead. You can also gain a plenary indulgence visiting a cemetery each day between November 1 and November 8. These indulgences, however, are only applicable to the Souls in Purgatory. A plenary indulgence for the Souls in Purgatory, is also granted when the faithful attend a church on November 2. In visiting the church, you must pray one Our Father and the Creed. A partial indulgence can be obtained for the Souls in Purgatory when the Eternal Rest is prayed. This can be prayed all year, but especially during the month of November:

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. 

Amen.

{THREE}

The Decorations:

Decorating for a holiday is important. During Halloween, All Saint's and All Soul's I actually change up my decorations to correlate with what is being celebrated. My Halloween or All Hallows Eve decor consists of the above. I stay away from anything related to witches, zombies and anything demonic. Skulls and bones represent the dead and I have branches, pumpkins, gourds, leaves and pine cones scattered throughout the display to represent the Autumn. The scary house is actually a tea light holder and so are the bottles on the ends of the mantel. I have explained to my boys that these things aren't meant to be scary but to remind us that all things are beautiful in God's eyes and the light he shines down on all of us. 

Once Halloween is over, I will be removing a few items and sprucing up a few others. I will create a Saint Tree from the branches and hang saint medals that are important to my family up there. I will also put up other decor that portrays feelings of thanksgiving. As you can see, our crucifix is the main decoration and sits above everything because above all things God is most important. He is the focal point of our household. 

{FOUR}

Let's Trick-or-Treat:

Trick-or-treating has roots dated back to early Christianity. Young adults and children would go door- to-door asking for a Soul Cake in exchange for prayers for the neighbors deceased family members. Back then trick-or-treaters were called "Soulers." I think I like that name better because it sounds more liturgical. In addition to asking for soul cakes the children would often sing:

"Soul, Soul, a soul cake!

I pray thee, good missus, a soul cake!

One for Peter, two for Paul, three for Him what made us all!

Soul Cake, soul cake, please good missus, a soul cake.

An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry.

One for Peter, two for Paul, & three for Him who made us all."

I have made soul cakes for the boys before and will probably be doing it again this year too. Check out Catholic Cuisine for a great recipe! The roots of Trick-or-treating were special to believers of Christ, so make sure your children know why it is they go out on Halloween night! I have asked my children to say prayers to those that gave them treats on this night and why shouldn't they? A prayer for a treat seems like a pretty good trade-off to me!

{FIVE}

The Costume:

Here is were some troubles begins for some families. How scary is too scary? What is an appropriate costume for your child, your family and your beliefs? The answer to this is a little tricky. For my family, I try to steer my children in the direction of characters that they admire or would like to be more like. I do not force my kids to dress up as Saints because I feel it takes away the excitement of dressing up as a Saint on All Saint's Day. I have shared several pictures from past Halloweens and my boys were dressed up as: Scooby Doo, Transformers, Captain America, A Cowboy, A Football Player and other non scary costumes. That being said, my oldest is starting to ask questions about scary costumes. I have never said they weren't allowed so we will be entering the crossroads about what is appropriate to wear in the upcoming years I am sure. 

{SIX}

The Halloween Party:

I came across an article several years ago and I wish I could find it to share but the topic was about scary Halloween. It discusses how we as Catholics should utilize the "scary" aspects of Halloween to remind us how VERY REAL Hell really is and remind us that Purgatory is not Heaven so it isn't sunshine and giggles either. I loved that the author of this article compared the Christmas Carol Story to Halloween and how "scary" it was for Bob Cratchit to essentially be "haunted" by his friend who was in Purgatory. They even suggested that you could host a Halloween party and create a cemetery and place tombs in your yard with real names of friend's and family members that had passed away. At the Halloween party you would pray a rosary in your yard "cemetery" and an adult would dress up as a soul in purgatory (covered in chains and locks) and cry out for help and prayers. The whole scene sounded so scary but truly a way to illuminate the importance of living a good and prayerful life for your family. Honestly, this would be a crazy scary house to visit too while trick or treating. 

The article also mentioned incorporating some other traditional games like Bobbing for apples, eating soul cakes, having a bonfire and so much more. If anyone reading this knows what article I am referring to I would be so grateful for you to send me the link! If we use these scary things to be reminded of the souls waiting to go to Heaven, maybe a scary Halloween isn't such a bad thing? Especially if we are celebrating with friends and family and we truly understand that God is the light of the world. 

{SEVEN}

All Saint's Day:

The TRUE Celebration! As I stated earlier, Halloween is a day to prepare for All Saint's Day so you can't celebrate one without the other! My favorite traditions on this day is the Parish All Saint's Day Parade when children dress as their favorite saints. They parade through the church and are normally blessed, we even had a priest that would have each child tell the congregation which saint they were dressed as for the day and something special about the saint. 

In our home I already mentioned we hang medals from our fall branches to make an All Saint's Tree. In addition to the All Saint's Tree, we adorn the Altar with prayer cards and pictures of saints that our family has special devotion. We also cook special meals throughout the day. We don't call this a Feast day for nothing! We feast on the Feast of All Saint's with our favorite dishes that remind us of our favorite saints! 

I hope these Seven Ways to Have a Very Catholic Halloween are helpful in your Halloween preparations! If you are still looking for more information on Halloween and the Catholic Liturgical Year please check out the following resources:

Don't be Scared of Halloween

Hallowe'en

It's Time for Catholics to Embrace Halloween

God Bless!

My Sunday Best: Politics and Catechist Fun!

Well today was a little insane! I'm not sure whether I have shared that I work in hospitality or not but I work in a restaurant. My certification for Serve Safe Alcohol just expired so I had to retake the class this morning at 7am. To make things super exciting, my husband also works in the hospitality industry and he didn't get home until 4am from work and couldn't possibly get the boys ready for CCD and Mass. So I had to bring my children along with me! It was just as stressful as it sounds and I honestly felt a little rushed taking the test because I was so nervous that the boys would bother someone while they were taking their test. I would appreciate some prayers that I passed the test because I REALLY don't want to have to do it again so soon.

This was my Sunday Best: White Blouse with black pencil skirt and black heels. I rocked my glasses because I've been struggling with headaches and the glasses seem to help some. Might be time for a new prescription.

Moving forward welcome to the Catechist Corner:

I mentioned in my last post that I would be sharing some Catechist ideas and tips during My Sunday Best so I decided I had a few ideas to toss around to my fellow Catechists today. First, do you remember your most favorite CCD teacher? I do! Well, I actually was very blessed to have several teachers that had great impacts on my life. One of them is even the Godmother to my children, if that tells you anything! When I think of the most fun I had during CCD, I think about my 5th or 6th grade year when my teacher would create these amazing PowerPoint presentations that looked like a Jeopardy Game! We would read each lesson out loud as a class and he would sometimes have a coloring page or fun activity for us but we ALWAYS got to play "Jeopardy" at the end of class. Really it was him quizzing us but is was so much fun to answer in the form of a question and the anticipation of being called upon to answer questions. He even had Double Jeopardy questions for us and everything!

Here is what I am doing to make my class entertaining. The class is divided into four different teams. Throughout the class each team can win points for participation, answering questions correctly and being the first team to complete tasks. I have even assigned "bonus" points as homework. For example, Last week I asked the kids to find out what the name of our Bishop is and to discuss it with their parents and tell me today. Only 2 kids remembered to do it (besides my son) but let me tell you the teams they were on were super excited to get that extra bonus point today! I am keeping a running tally of the points until Christmas break and then I will restart the point system new with the New Year. Whichever team has the greatest number of points will receive a reward.

I also discusses All Saint's Day with the children and asked them to pick a saint to learn about. I also gave them the option of dressing up on our class Oct 30th if they wished (I'll be giving out bonus points for the dressed up kids but they don't know that yet). I am also hoping to purchase some Saint metals to hand out to the class as a reward for completing the assignment and putting some real effort into it. I am also emailing the parents so they are aware of what is happening in the class in regards to the Saint Project we started, how the teams work and to invite back students that I haven't seen in awhile. I believe communication is key! Plus it gives families something to talk about that can grow their families together in faith. I am so enjoying this group of children I am working with right now. They are all so entertaining and they all are trying and eager to learn!

Here is a list of the Saints that the class has chosen so far to learn about for All Saint's Day:

Saint Joan of Arc

Saint Thomas Becket

Saint Rose of Lima

Saint Valentine

Saint Nicholas

Saint Dominic

Saint Francis of Assisi

Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Saint Paul

As you can see I also have some research to complete so I am able to share as much information with the kids as possible! If you have posts, crafts or other neat ideas surrounding these saints please let me know so I can make them available as resources for my class.

I am also collecting resources for Advent! It's almost here so start planning your families and classes activities soon!

Fellow Catechists, what are you doing to make your Religious Education fun for your children? I would love to hear all about it! Maybe if I get enough interest we could start a link up? Let me know!

After CCD we headed straight to Mass today because Little Man was Altar Serving. Mass was really good and informative today! We discussed the upcoming election and why it is important to vote. Voting is one of the things we can do to help others that don't have a voice so it is our duty as Christians to vote and to vote for the better good. Included in the bulletin were several materials to explain about the issues that will be voted on this election year and they included several prayers to help our Nation. I really liked that they included the picture of Mary Untier of Knots as this prayer card. 

After the exciting Sunday we have had, I am so glad to be home! I plan to enjoy another cup of coffee (or four) and relaxing some before getting the house in order for the week and completing the two or three other posts I am hoping to share!

God Bless!

{JEI}: Autumn Adventures

Time to get have some fun with this week's JEI Linkup and I'd love to introduce you to the other hosts of the Just Enough Info Linkup:

Jessica (myself) – Pinot Noir and Prayers | Instagram | Facebook

Alicia – Sweeping Up Joy | Pinterest | Facebook

Kirby – Under Thy Roof | Instagram | Facebook

Kerry - Fishbowl Fortune | Instagram | Facebook

Kristina - Calidrab| Instagram 

1. Best fall flavor: apple or pumpkin?

I am a HUGE love of all things Autumn and Fall! Pumpkin everything is my most favorite flavor! I still enjoy apple flavored beverages but if given the choice I will always chose pumpkin. I was even lucky enough to come across some Pumpkin Spiced Eggnog during a grocery shopping trip! The boys and I enjoyed it during a Halloween movie night with whipped cream and pumpkin spice sprinkled on top. DELICIOUS!

I still want to try some pumpkin steamers at some point this Autumn. I have also started a collection of pumpkin spiced coffee and tea. I am also checking off all the different pumpkin beers I can too! Sorry, I just can't help myself. Have you seen the meme that says, "At this point my blood type is pumpkin spice"? That's me!

2. The leaves are changing colors, and the air is crisp. What are you looking forward to about fall?

This is my families first "real autumn" because we have lived in Florida for the boys' entire lives. We moved here during Thanksgiving break last year and we weren't sure about whether I would have to return to Florida so we didn't get to enjoy any time out and about in Colorado during the fall season last year.

This year will be a different story! We have created a Colorado Autumn Bucket List and we have already begun checking some things off our list... and added a few! Check out these posts to see what we are planning and what we have already accomplished so far:

Colorado Autumn Bucket List

Autumn Hometown Hunt: Apple Day

Autumn Hometown Hunt: Labor Day Lift Off

3. Do you decorate for the season (and which is it: fall or autumn?)

Yes! Yes! Yes! My family loves to immerse themselves into all holidays! We are preparing for All Hallow's Eve, All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day so this is our current mantel display. We will revamp it after the special feasts honoring the dead into a Thanksgiving display. 

Our patio and all windows are adorned with decorations as well! Pumpkin lights with a motion sensor on the patio. I can't wait to add some Jack O' Lanterns soon! If you haven't created your pumpkin masterpieces yet, I suggest you check out the story of the Jack O'Lantern to share with your children. I think it is a great story of purgatory and can lead to a discussion about life and death that is meaningful to you and them. It is a tradition for us to read the story of the Jack O'Lantern before we carve them and we pray while we carve them after we are done, we sprinkle some holy water on them. It's always a favorite activity during Autumn. Here's the Pumpkin Prayer we use:

Lord, open my mind so I can learn new things about you and the world you created. (Remove the top of the pumpkin.)

Remove the things in my life that don’t please you. Forgive the wrong things I do and help me to forgive others. (Pull out the seeds.)

Open my eyes to see the beauty you’ve made in the world around me. (Cut out the eyes.)

Open my ears when I hear your word, so I may learn how you want me to live.(Cut out the ears.)

I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned up my nose at people who are different from me, but who are your children, too. (Cut out the nose.)

Let everything I say please you. (Cut out the mouth.)

Lord, help me show your light to others through the things I do. (Place a light or candle inside it.)

Amen.

For my family this season is "Autumn". I think its just more fun to say sometimes? I'm not really sure why we say that more than Fall. I do like to create puns with the words too. I think I have a Facebook Album and Pinterest Board with the name "Falling into Autumn"

Well that is my take on Just Enough Info this week. I would love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to use the beautiful picture below in your linkup post if you so desire!

Please Join us and Link Up with your answers to this week's questions all about Autumn/ Fall Family Fun! Here are the questions:

1. Best fall flavor: apple or pumpkin?
2. The leaves are changing colors, and the air is crisp. What are you looking forward to about fall?
3. Do you decorate for the season (and which is it: fall or autumn?)

Next week we will be discussing Pets!:
1. Did you have a favorite pet when you were younger? 

2. Do you have pets now? If so, what? 

3. Have your kids eaten dog or cat food (either at your house or someone else’s)?

Feel free to check out the last few weeks of JEI to learn about the link up rules and other fun topics we have already discussed:

{JEI}: Respect Life Month
{JEI}: The Angel Feasts

{JEI}: Mommy Self-Care

{JEI}: Do Small Things With Great Love

{JEI}: Prayer is the Spirit Speaking Truth to Truth

{JEI}: Back-to-School Edition

Introducing the Zelie Group and Just Enough Info

The Zelie Group has some fun questions coming up in the next few weeks so make sure to follow us on Facebook and we would love to hear what you are interested in! What are you looking to learn about? Do you have questions about the Faith? Questions about the Liturgical Year? We want to help and learn and grow with you and your families!