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Review: Living the Seasons

Living the Seasons: Simple Ways to Celebrate the Beauty of Your Faith Throughout the Year by Erica Tighe Campbell, Ave Maria Press

Living the Seasons: Simple Ways to Celebrate the Beauty of Your Faith Throughout the Year, by Erica Tighe Campbell (Ave Maria Press, 2023) is a delightful and practical resource for Catholic mothers and families looking for a rich and family-fun way to celebrate the liturgical seasons of the Catholic Church. Campbell, owner and designer of Be a Heart, understands the importance of family bonding and spiritual growth. This book is filled projects and crafts that bring the liturgical calendar to life in a meaningful and enjoyable way. Don’t worry if crafts are not your thing! Campbell offers good advice and the crafts have easily accessible supplies. The beautiful pictures are great guides, too.

From Advent to Ordinary Time and back, Campbell gives us a wonderful selection of activities that cater to various age groups and interests within the family. Whether they are simple crafts for young children or more complex projects for older children, every member of the family can find ways to celebrate their faith.

The activities are designed to encourage families to spend quality time with one another, deepening their bonds through shared experiences rooted in the teachings of the Church. Whether it’s designing an Advent banner, creating a cardboard cactus during Lent, or preparing a special meal for a feast day, each project gives space for conversation and reflection. I especially love how she incorporates prayer as part of these activities.

Living the Seasons is a great resource for Catholic families seeking an activity-based approach to celebrating the faith. It’s filled with activities and projects that deepen that celebrate the liturgical seasons in creative ways while creating lasting memories. This book is a lovely companion for families looking for ways to introduce the celebration of all the liturgical seasons throughout the year.

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ave Maria Press (October 6, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1646802314
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1646802319
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Review: Poems Every Child Should Know

Book Review: Poems Every Child Should Know, compiled by Joseph Pearce

I love Joseph Pearce’s collection, Poems Every Child Should Know. This beautifully curated collection elegantly presents classic poetry that will shape hearts and minds and serve as an entry point into the sometimes daunting world of poetry.

When I was a freshman in college, I had a composition professor who assigned more literary reading to us than the literature professor. We were required to memorize a poem from a list, and I chose “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth. The rhyme and rhythm made it easy to memorize. I just wanted a quick solution to the assignment. I never expected that decades later, I can still recite the poem. It has been part party trick and part prayer to be able to recite this poem at various times in my life. Not only did it introduce me to the joy and challenge of poetry, but it showed me that it can have spiritual roots, too.

Reading good classical poetry contributes to a well-rounded education and creates a foundation for a lifelong love of literature and learning. This collection, designed for children, is really for anyone who wants to embrace the universal language of poetry. Its beauty, in carefully selected poems, is representative of the richness of the poetic literary tradition. Each section dedicated to an author’s work also provides a thematic context for the reader.

Some of my favorite selections include a section on so many beloved Mother Goose rhymes, poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and of course my favorite, “Daffodils.” It also has the lovely William Blake, and the touching A.A. Milne. I am enjoying revisiting many of the poems in this season of my life, and sharing my favorites with my grandchildren.

Within the pages of this lovely book, one can find echoes of the Catholic literary tradition, too. Poems exploring themes of love, compassion, and the wonders of creation are presented in a way that aligns with the moral and spiritual values often associated with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The collection serves as a subtle guide for parents and educators seeking to impart not only the joys of literature but also enduring virtues to the next generation.

Highly recommended.

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ TAN Books (March 21, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Imitation Leather ‏ : ‎ 344 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1505126303
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1505126304
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Taking a Mulligan as a Grandparent

I have the pleasure of being featured at CatholicMom.com with a reflection on being gifted the opportunity to do things differently as a grandparent. No longer driven by all the responsibilites of a household, I can slow down a little and just be silly and present.

I spend much too much time telling social media algorithms that I love baby memes and grandparent videos. And I continue to feed into it by watching every single one of the reels and videos that pop into my feeds. There’s probably a better use of my down time. I could take up the piano or write the Great American Novel.   

Alas, the videos win every time…. 

One of the funny bits that comes up often is the adult child pointing out that the mother-turned-grandmother is unrecognizable. My own daughter has said this on occasion when I’ve taken a fussy child aside and showered him with attention instead of sending him to a time-out, or when I give two small boys wooden spoons and set them loose in an explosion of flour and eggs to make cookies with no regard for the clean-up….  

read more at Catholicmom.com

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