Back in September, specifically around Michaelmas on the 29th, I wrote about how I’d been wanting to add more liturgical patterns to our yearly home rhythms. We’re a few months into that now, and while I still consider myself quite the extreme novice in this area, I thought it might be helpful to provide an update. In my research I’ve found that this type of information is readily available to you…if you’re Catholic. Liturgy, feast days, and holy holidays seem to be automatically built into a Catholic lifestyle, but that is not the case if you’re not Catholic. Hello there, fellow Anglicans! This is for us!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a few blogs that have been helpful in this realm already. First, my friend Sarah has been a significant inspiration when it comes to finding ways to integrate the liturgical calendar into her home. I mean, look at all these great ideas for Holy Week! Also, while I don’t know this blogger personally, I love all the ideas that Hannah has for Advent on her blog, The Art in Life. Finally, Phylicia Masonheimer has excellent ideas for celebrating small holidays in a way that elevates church history, like these for Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day (you’ll see a lot of similarities between her list and our activities here)! Since all of these mothers have more children that I do, I feel comforted in the fact that all of these things are doable with multiple kids under our roof, and that is no small thing.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and since we had so much fun observing Michaelmas and more recently Valentine’s Day (albeit a much smaller celebration), I decided we needed to do St. Patrick’s Day as well.

Look! We wore green!

I based our holiday agenda on what we had done for Michaelmas, because it was great fun. The basics: have a feast, add some (very very simple) decor, and sing a related hymn or two. I also decided that we should have some learning materials, so I got a few books via Thrift Books. Tomie dePaola’s Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland was my favorite of the bunch, although two of the books I ordered have yet to arrive in my mailbox, so I suppose that could change. Finally, we made sure to listen to traditional Irish music and do some Irish-themed crafts, like these fun name cards for our feast table.

Elise even made a full-sized one as a picture rather than a name tag!

To give credit where credit is due, I got the idea for these here.

For our feast, I went for a fully Irish menu: Guinness beef stew with colcannon and Irish soda bread, with an apple cake for dessert. I’d rate the stew, colcannon, and soda bread all five stars, but I’m not linking the apple cake since we all agreed we’d try something else next time. I’m planning ahead and I’m nearly certain this will be dessert next year.

And I will say…the cake LOOKED good, so it definitely had that going for it, if nothing else.

Before eating, we prayed a portion of St. Patrick’s Breastplate, which helped us remember why we were celebrating. Perhaps when the kids are a little older and less wiggly, we’ll pray the whole thing, but even the bit that we did was a blessing.

But beyond the food, the best part of celebrations like this is the hymn singing. Especially in Covid-world, where our regular source of communal singing (church) is on hiatus, singing a hymn together is something that I will never take for granted.

With an assortment of hymnals, we had slightly different lyrics among us and even a different number of verses for Be Thou My Vision, but it didn’t matter. It felt a little bit like a foretaste of heaven, which is what I have certainly sorely needed lately. Next year we’ll also do a bit more planning, so that our only version of I Bind Unto Myself Today isn’t only available in one hymnal, with only the melody printed. You win some, you lose some.

Like I’ve said before, this year (plus!) has really hammered home to me how much I’ve needed a firm foundation of faith to carry me through harder days, and therefore how much I want to provide opportunities for my kids to grow that foundation as well. Our pastor’s statement - “We remember what we celebrate” - along with the richness of tradition found through church history gave us a treasure trove of celebratory occasions that might have otherwise been overlooked, and that point us back toward the goodness of our God.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 16-21

Woodstock Writings