Feast Day Celebrations: Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego

My very own Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego

This is one of our favorite set of feast days!  St. Juan Diego is December 9th and Our Lady of Guadalupe is December 12th.

In 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the Blessed Virgin Mary) appeared to a poor, indigenous Mexican Indian named Juan Diego.  She asked him to tell the bishop that she wanted a shrine built on the Hill of Tepeyac just outside Mexico City.  The bishop was skeptical and asked for a sign.

Our Lady then told Juan Diego to gather roses on Tepeyac Hill, which was very unusual because these flowers were completely out of season.  He collected the roses and brought them to her where she arranged them in his tilma (or cloak) before sending him to the bishop.

When he showed the flowers to the bishop, a picture of Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe pregnant with Jesus, was miraculously imprinted on his tilma.  The bishop instantly believed, and work on the shrine began right away.  (There is more to the story - read the rest of it here!)

Juan Diego's tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is still displayed in the shrine today.  His tilma was made of cactus and should've disintegrated within 50 years.  However, 500 years later it is still there to be seen by the 22 million people who visit the shrine every year.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

I really enjoy their feast days because I love St. Juan Diego's humility and child-like faith and Our Lady's caring, motherly love.  They are wonderful role models of how to love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul.

Now, on to how our family celebrates them!  Everything we do to honor their feast days is simple and quick - perfect for our busy family (and our little one's attention spans!).

This year, we made our own St. Juan Diego Paper Tilmas!  (We got the idea from Catholic Inspired.)

St. Juan Diego Paper Tilmas

Time needed: 10-15 minutes (Parent + child assistance)

Materials needed:
Large brown paper sacks
Coloring page of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Crayons, markers, or colored pencils
Scissors
Glue

1.  Print off a coloring page of Our Lady of Guadalupe like this one and have your kids color it.

2.  Cut out a hole for the neck in the bottom of the sack.  Cut out the sides of the sack for the arms. Cut fringe around the bottom of the sack (optional).

3.  Then, cut out Our Lady of Guadalupe once the kids are done coloring.  Glue it to the front of the sack.

4.  Draw and color roses around Our Lady or hold some fake roses (we used old wedding bouquets).  Now, your kids have tilmas just like St. Juan Diego!

Next up - the play!

Because my kids love Juan Diego: Messenger of Guadalupe (affiliate link) from CCC of America, they know the story of Guadalupe very well.  So of course, after making their own tilmas, they wanted to act it out!

B wore his tilma, and J dressed up as Our Lady with pink and blue blankets and my pink fabric headband.  We also used our Rosary Roses (by Annery's Handmade) for the miracle flowers.  The kids loved acting out the miracle of the roses!

It's a miracle!

And to continue the celebration, we will have Mexican food for dinner for St. Juan Diego on December 9th and Our Lady of Guadalupe on the 12th.  Beef and Bean Enchilada Casserole, Chips and Homemade Garden Salsa, Taco Chili...yum!  Or maybe we'll really celebrate and just go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant instead!

I also saw some other great ideas for a Guadalupe play date from Kendra over at Catholic All Year.  There are so many fun and easy ideas!  How does your family celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego?

I love celebrating the feast days with my family!  The saints teach us so much.  They strove to lead holy lives for Christ in the midst of the same human struggles and weaknesses we all face everyday.  I love reflecting on their lives and teaching our kids about them because in all of their words and actions, they point us to Christ.  Who are your favorites?

Happy Feast Days of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe!  May their faith-filled, loving examples help us in our journeys to grow closer to God everyday!

Below I have posted an affiliate link, which means that we may make a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on this link; please see the disclosure page for more info.

Like I mentioned above, we love Juan Diego: Messenger of Guadalupe!  It tells the story of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe in such a fun way for kids.  Plus, my kids absolutely looooove the Lady of the Roses song at the end.  They always sing and dance along!

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Celebrating Christmas with Little Ones: 7 Fun Activities for Kids

I love to get my kids involved in the Christmas season by making it hands on for them.  And my favorite way to do that is through creative play and by making art projects.  It's so fun for the kids, and it really lets them make the holiday season their own!

So several of us got together to share with you some of our favorite Christmas, Advent, and Holiday projects.  Here are 7 fun Christmas activities you can do with your little ones: 

Kid's Pom Pom Christmas Tree by Becky at BYBMG  

Advent Wreath Craft for Kids by Jessica at Sweet Little Ones  

Toy Free Christmas Gift Ideas by Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me  

Making Ornaments Together by Whitney at Polka-Dotty Place  

Christmas Tree Counting Play Dough Mat Activity by Tara at The Magnolia Barn 

Away in a Manger Felt Activity by Moriah at Oh Tiny Gifts  

Christmas Family Fun + Free Printable by Keri at Living In This Season

I hope you enjoy these fun Christmas activities with your little family!

             

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St. Nicholas Day Traditions

We have been celebrating St. Nicholas Day for several years now.  It is such a fun family tradition for the Advent season!  The kids love it because of the goodies and surprises, and we love it because it teaches the kids (and us!) about the saints and the true meaning of Christmas in such a fun and visual way.

On December 5th, the night before St. Nicholas Day, we place our shoes under the tree/by our fireplace.  In the shoes, we leave a little family present, candy canes and coins (or gold candy), and clementines.

The candy coins and the oranges (or clementines) both represent the coins / bags of gold St. Nicholas gave to the three poor women who needed a dowry in order to marry and escape slavery.  Traditionally, St. Nicholas threw the gold into the house where it landed in the women's stockings that were drying by the fire.  Hence the reason we leave out our shoes on St. Nicholas Day (and stockings on Christmas Day!).

The candy cane represents his Bishop's crozier, which is like a shepherd's staff.  He is a shepherd tending his sheep, like Jesus is the Good Shepherd who takes care of us, His flock.

The family present represents the surprise of those who received charity from St. Nicholas.

The gifts are given when children are sleeping at night because St. Nicholas did all of his charity in secret.  He wanted those receiving the gifts to direct all of their gratefulness to God alone.

And all of it together represents the unselfish generosity of giving to others, which points us to our loving God who gave us His Son, born on Christmas Day.

Every Knee Shall Bow by Gaye Frances Willard

Several of these traditions also make it into our Christmas Day celebration as well.

First - St. Nicholas himself!  Santa Claus and St. Nicholas are the same man, a real historical person.  Santa Claus just means St. Nicholas in another language.  So Santa/St. Nicholas comes on December 6th and the 25th (or is it the 5th and 24th?!).  He brings traditional gifts that have meaning (mentioned above and here) which all direct us to Christ.

Second and third - Stockings and oranges (or clementines).  These were always a family tradition of mine growing up so I have loved continuing it with my own family.  But only recently did I learn of their significance!  Now, I love the tradition even more.

It's beautiful how so many Christmas traditions have so much historical and religious meaning behind them!

St. Nicholas Day 2012 - A new baby brother is on the way!

St. Nicholas Day in particular holds many happy and sad memories for our family:

Of course, it's magic to see the kids excited to see what St. Nicholas brought them!  And I love learning about the saints.  They're men and women with different strengths and weaknesses just like us, and through their holy lives, they direct us to the love of Christ. 

And twice, we got to give the surprise of a new baby in our kid's shoes!  (In 2012 for B who was born December 26th and in 2014 for the twins who we ended up losing.)  And one year ago, our beloved grandpa passed away on December 6th.

So St. Nicholas Day is tied up with many different emotions for us, but in the end it all points us to the charity and generosity of our loving God.

Does your family celebrate any of these St. Nicholas traditions on December 6th or Christmas Day?  What other traditions does your family have?  I'd love to hear how you celebrate St. Nicholas Day!

May God bless us and draw us all closer to Him this Advent and Christmas Season!

 

Below I have posted an affiliate link, which means that we may make a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on this link; please see our disclosure for more info.

P.S.  A great resource for teaching the story of St. Nicholas to kids is CCC of America's Nicholas: The Boy Who Became Santa DVD . We gave this to kids last year for St. Nicholas Day.  We love it and watch it year round!

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Beef and Bean Enchilada Casserole

I especially love this Beef and Bean Enchilada Casserole recipe because...well, I just love Mexican food!

But I also love how it's not expensive to make.  It uses only half of a pound of beef, or you can easily substitute the meat for more beans instead.  And it's still filling enough for the big eaters in my family.  Of course, it tastes amazing too!

Beef and Bean Enchilada Casserole
(Modified from Recipe Girl's Beef and Bean Enchilada Casserole)

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 - 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 - 15 oz. can corn, drained and rinsed
1 - 4 oz. can diced green chilies
8 oz. sour cream
2 Tbsp. flour (I use 100% whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
8 - 6 in. tortillas (I use 100% whole wheat)
1 - 10 oz. can enchilada sauce
1-2 cups Mexican cheese
Toppings: guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, black olives, avocados, crushed tortilla chips, etc.

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F. 

2.  In a large skillet, cook ground beef with onion until beef is cooked through.  Drain fat.  Stir in chili powder, cumin, beans, corn, and green chilies.  Set aside.

3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, flour, and garlic powder.  (It will be fairly thick.)  Set aside.

4.  Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.  Pour a little less than 1/4 can of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the baking dish and gently move the dish around until the entire bottom is just covered.  (Pouring some enchilada sauce in the baking dish first is the best way to keep the bottom of the tortillas from getting too tough.)

5.  Layer in this order:  4 tortillas (cutting and overlapping as necessary to cover the bottom of the dish - see picture above), 1/2 sour cream mixture, 1/2 meat mixture, and drizzle half of the remaining enchilada sauce.  Repeat layers 1 more time.

6.  Bake, covered with foil, for 40 minutes.  Uncover, sprinkle with cheese, and bake for 5-10 more minutes, until cheese is golden brown.

Notes:  This is a wonderful meatless meal as well!  Like I said above, you can substitute chili beans or black beans for the beef.  A perfect and hearty Friday meal!

There's just something about a casserole that sounds so wonderful during the winter.  The heartiness, the warmth.  And since snowflakes have started flying, it's time to start breaking out all my favorite casserole dishes!

What is your favorite casserole recipe?

             

   

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