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Aack! Ash Wednesday is THIS Wednesday!

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3 comments on Aack! Ash Wednesday is THIS Wednesday!

How did it sneak up on me like that?  What are we going to do to observe it in the schoolroom and as a family?   I have a Lent activity/coloring book somewhere, if I can find it, but I’d like to do a bit more than a couple of crossword puzzles…

First:  explain.  On the way to church this morning, I gave Oscar a mini-lecture about Lent.  He already knew it was "preparing for Easter."  I told Oscar about Friday abstinence and let him know that this year he is six and old enough to observe meatless days.  We practiced thinking of things we could eat on Fridays for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, and what we could choose if we have to stop at McDonald’s on a Friday.   

Next:  Mark stayed at church to serve at the K of C pancake breakfast, I took the kids home, and on the way stopped at the drugstore and bought some purple crepe paper to drape on our statuary.  Assuning I don’t misplace it before Wednesday.

Next:  Resolved to bake brownies or something on Mardi Gras, and to make pancakes in the morning.  I read somewhere that they are traditional Shrove Tuesday food.  The pancakes, not the brownies. 

Next:  Discussed with Mark and decided to add (1) a decade of the Rosary before bedtime stories, (2) read through the children’s  Stations of the Cross as part of our Friday story time, (3)… deep breath…  once a week I’m going to take the kids to daily Mass by myself.    

What’ll you do with your kids this Lent?  Or what are you giving up?

UPDATE: 

LA LA LA I can’t hear you LA LA LA.

Comments

3 responses to “Aack! Ash Wednesday is THIS Wednesday!”

  1. Kelly Avatar
    Kelly

    We do the Jesus Tree in the evening before bed. On Fridays, we always have soup and popovers for supper, followed by an abbreviated Stations of the Cross.
    I took apart a Fr. Lovasik Stations book, mounted the pictures on purple construction paper, then laminated them. We hang them in the dining room during Lent. For the praying of the stations, I put 14 votive candles on the table. We alternate praying an Our Father, Hail Mary, or Glory Be at each station, and then blow out a candle after the prayer. It is very nice that at the start of Lent, we are left in darkness after the stations, but the closer we get to Easter, the more natural light we have.
    This year we’re giving up eating out at McDonald’s as a family, ironically enough.

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  2. Valerie Avatar
    Valerie

    I like the idea of a doing a decade before bedtime. That’s something I’ve been wanting to implement for years, and I’m sure my older kids would view it as an extreme act of penance. 😉
    I also like Kelly’s idea of putting up Stations of the Cross in the dining room (which is still pretty much our empty room).
    And I hope to point out tomorrow that the pancakes were considered a tradition for Shrove Tuesday. Maybe we’ll actually make some masks that I have directions for in a Seton art book. 🙂
    And my personal sacrifice this year is giving up all cookies and chocolate. There, I said it. The more I say it, the more I will be likely to stick to that sacrifice. Funny that the Girl Scout cookies have just arrived and that I won a raffle basket full of candy the other night!

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  3. MomLady Avatar
    MomLady

    Who says brownies aren’t traditional Shrove Tuesday food?
    BTW, when my husband explained to our children that the word carnival came from the Latin carne vale (farewell to meat) and refered to the Lenten abstinence, one of my sons instituted “choco-vale” a farewell to chocolate on the night before Ash Wednesday. He used to buy all kinds of chocolate things to share with the family after dinner. The only problem was that we had to finish them up that night since we couldn’t have them during Lent.

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