Celebrating the Solemnity of St. Joseph

We celebrated the Solemnity of St. Joseph (and patron saint day of our 14-month-old!) by attending a St. Joseph potluck at the parish down the street from us. This potluck has been hosted for years by friends of ours and had grown so successful that last year they moved it to the church and made it a parish-wide event. Although not so good at estimating crowds, I am guessing there might have been 150 people there in fellowship tonight!

We began the evening with reading prayers and litanies as a group.

Then we all enjoyed the feast of food, many dishes traditional to the solemnity. There were many families there we knew and it was delightful to catch up with them all. I feel like I didn't stop talking for two hours! Scores of children from one-year-olds toddling on up in age raced about the parish hall, in abandoned joy, free of being orchestrated by their parents.

A St. Joseph table is traditional at these events, and this one was beautiful. Many items symbolic of this great patron saint of the church were present on the table.

Everyone was sent home with holy cards and medals of St. Joseph. We look forward to this event each year and it did not disappoint!

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On Friday during our homeschool co-op art class, we made lovely St. Joseph luminaries.