On May 1, Mary received her First Holy Communion, the highlight of a delightful family weekend of celebration. We had finished our family novena to St. Joseph, on whose feast day the sacrament would occur, Mary had gone to Confession again the day prior, and the weekend of joy was to begin!
Mary's grandparents and godparents came from Atlanta and her Great Auntie Erica flew all the way from Oregon.
On Saturday, Erica and I enjoyed a ladies' lunch out before Chris took the three oldest swimming for the afternoon, so we could cook in as much peace as possible with a 3-year-old and a crawling baby.
Our menu was:
- ham with pineapples and maraschino cherries
- sweet potato casserole
- Grandmom's delicious baked beans
- Grandmom's famous applesauce
- macaroni and cheese
- green salad
- bread rolls
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| Adult's table and children's table |
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| Twelve guests for a feast |
For dessert, Chris made an ice cream cake in the shape of a cross using ice cream sandwiches, crushed Oreo cookies, and Cool Whip.
Then Chris and I gave Mary the personalized clutch we had had made to go with her First Holy Communion dress.
Auntie Erica (my mom's identical twin) felt moved to give a speech about the Holy Family whom we Catholics attempt to imitate, families aspiring to holiness, and our family--our domestic church--and she presented some artwork created by the children. Each drawing was of our family, with Mary's saying this is "the best life I ever had!" and John's that this is "the best life I could ever imagine!" It was incredibly touching to us as parents.
Erica presented us with a beautiful carving of the Holy Family from the Holy Land.
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| Erica, Katherine, and Thomas |
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