The kids loved it. John is finally old enough to do more of his crafts, so his crafts are actually starting to look less good because I'm letting him do more of the projects! I assembled his crown and did the cutting, plus I glued on the jewels in the shape of the cross, but John handled the glue all on his own and placed the googly eyes and puff balls. Plus he did his own coloring with markers. (Obviously, I designed Mary's crown all by myself--although after I placed the roses, it was John's idea to use that beautiful satin ribbon.)
I didn't think John would "get it." While we were making crowns, I told him the story of the three magi, which he's been hearing as part of the nativity story for a month now. Then when I was cleaning up our craft supplies, John ran in wearing his crown and asked me to follow him, wearing Mary's crown. We marched very ceremoniously and John led me to the nativity scene so we could "visit" Baby Jesus! He did get it!!! We then chatted some more about the three kings and I realized we could use John's "gold" (brass) thurifer from his Mass kit to pretend to bring incense to Baby Jesus. And I gave Mary the "gold" chalice. We practiced our skit for when Daddy and Pop-Pops returned from the traditional Latin Mass that evening.
When the fellows got home, we sang "We Three Kings" and marched back to the nativity scene, bearing gifts. Then we ate Epiphany cake (sort of)--I didn't bake a cake both because I was exhausted and because my cakes have been quite sub par lately, so I simply bought a chocolate cake for five dollars at the bakery. Cheating, I know!
We still hope to do the Epiphany house blessing, which most properly should be done by a priest. But without a Latin parish nearby (meaning, no priests willing to do it), Chris will have to do it himself as husband and father. We sent away for real blessed Epiphany water from my Latin parish in Sacramento and we're going to have our local priest bless chalk, and then we'll do the blessing sometime within the Epiphany season.
Did you try asking your local priest if he would come do the house blessing? He might be willing to.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of John holding the chalice. Looks like his is recreating the elevation. Cute crowns!