Christmas Manger

Since Christmas is just around the corner my treat tonight is an edible manger with baby Jesus.  The manger is made from chocolate wafers with pretzel sticks as the frame.  I used white chocolate for the glue.  You can't see the straw, but I use shredded wheat for straw.  Baby Jesus' blanket is fruit roll-up, his head  a gumdrop and his body is bite size butterfingers.  If I were artistic I would put a face on baby Jesus, but I am not artistic so he has a plain face.  I did not have enough white gum drops for the face so I also used yellow and orange gumdrops for the face.  Jesus probably did  not have the white skin that we have so I was kinda glad I had to use other colors.
Merry Christmas everyone!

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today is the eve of The Feast of the Immaculate Conception and since we have mass tonight there is no CCD. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary celebrates that from the time that Mary was conceived in her mother, Anna's womb, she has been free from Original sin.

Last week we had The Jesse Tree Celebration and I am posting a group picture. The students did an excellent job, I am so proud of them!

Advent wreath

For my treat this week I made edible advent wreaths. The wreath is a sugar cookie with icing and sprinkles and for the candles I molded colored fondant around toothpicks.
The Advent wreath reminds us that Jesus, the Light of the World, is coming. The circle shape reminds us that God's love never ends. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advents. The first purple candle is the "candle of hope." The second purple candle is the "candle of preparation." The third candle-pink- is the "candle of joy." And the last purple candle is the "candle of love."

Jesse Tree

Every year the Sixth grade class leads the Jesse tree celebration that will be celebrated the first Wednesday of Advent. Grades one through six makes an ornament that represents a person who helped prepare the way for Jesus. The sixth grade makes an ornament for Isaac and King David. For Isaac they tie pieces of tree limbs together to represent the wood that Isaac carried when he was almost sacrificed. For King David they are making sling shots to represent his fight with the giant Goliath. So for my treat I tied pretzel sticks together with licorice to represent the bundle of wood.

Here are the other ornaments that are made:

The first grade make a rainbow to symbolize Noah, tools to symbolize Joseph, Jesus' step father and they carry the manger to the tree for baby Jesus.

The second grade make apples to symbolize Adam and Eve and crowns for the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The third grade make a ladder for Jacob and a coat of many colors for Joseph.

The fourth grade make ten commandment ornaments for Moses and a sea shell for John the Baptist.

The fifth grade make tents for Abraham and a sheaf of wheat for Ruth.

All saints and All Souls

Tonight we are remembering the Saints in Heaven and the Souls in Purgatory. Considering that the world we live in there are not very many people that we can look to for role models, it is nice to know that there are so many Saints that we can look to for guidance. One of my favorite 20th century Saints is Blessed Mother Theresa. I also feel blessed that I was able to shake Mother Angelica's hand, it felt like I shook the hand of a future Saint.


Don't forget you loved ones who are in purgatory they need our prayers as they are being purified for Heaven.


For my treat tonight I made pudding cups with crushed Kit Kat bars on top. I added a ghost peep, and put a paper R.I.P tombstone over the spoon.

Jacob-what you sow is what you reap

Isaac and Rebekah have twins sons, while they were in the womb they were already fighting. Esau was born first but Jacob came out gripping Esau's heel, not wanting to let go. As the firstborn, Esau was to receive his family's birthright. This was the oldest son's right to the greatest part of the inheritance and to a special blessing from the father. Esau was a very carefree person who did not really care about his inheritance. Jacob on the other hand really wanted it and decided to take matters into his own hands.
One day Esau found Jacob cooking. Esau was hungry for some of his soup. Jacob knew this was his chance. He said, "First give me your birthright." Esau was so hungry that he agreed. Neither son told their father, Isaac of this trade. So my first treat tonight is chili soup.
Years later when Isaac was old and blind, he called for his son Esau, and asked him to prepare him a meal and then Isaac would give him his special blessing. Rebekah overheard Isaac, and asked Jacob to pretend to be Esau so he could get the special blessing.
Esau was an outdoors man who liked to hunt and was very hairy. So Jacob wore Esau's clothing so he could smell like him, and put goat hair on his arms and chest, so he could be hairy like his brother. He was able to trick his father since his father was almost blind. When Esau heard what Jacob did, he vowed to kill him. So Jacob left and went to his uncle Laban's house.

After Jacob arrived at his Uncle's house he met Laban's daughter Rachel and fell madly in love with her. Laban told Jacob if he worked for him for seven years he could then marry his daughter Rachel, Jacob agreed.
Rachel had an older sister Leah who was not married. It was not the custom for a younger sister to marry before the older sister, and since the brides face was completely covered, Laban was able to trick Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. It was also the custom to have more that one wife, so Laban again told Jacob that if he worked another seven years he could marry Rachel and he did. So we also are having wedding cake tonight.

Abraham

Tonight in class the students will meet the first patriarch, Abraham. God asked him to leave his hometown of Ur and travel first to Harran and then to Canaan. God made a covenant with Abraham that he would possess the land of Canaan, that he would have many descendants and that all the nations would be blessed by him. God took Abraham outside at midday and asked him to count the stars if he could and told him that he would have more descendants than there are stars in the sky and sand on the seashore. So my treat is apple cider jigglers.