The Other Holy Season

We spend a lot of time in our house getting ready for Christmas. We shop for gifts, we decorate our house, we read the nativity story, we sing the Christmas songs. The other day during mass our priest told us that in our faith Lent is the most holy season and that we should spend just as much effort preparing our lives for Easter if not more than we do for Christmas.

This really hit home for me and made me realize that I have not been doing this. I have always given something up for Lent and tried to work on also doing something extra that is good too. I abstain from meat on Fridays and I try to fast as well. But in my heart, in my mind, and most importantly in my "home" we have not really been giving it our all with regards to Lent.

So this year I am working on getting the kids and Bret involved. I want my kids to understand the importance and meaning of Lent. I want them to be excited for Easter and what this means. So in typical me fashion I went to the internet for ideas on how to do this.

I found some great ideas on a website called Catholic Icinghttp://catholicicing.com/. We are going to make a crown of thorns this evening, keep a Lent calendar, and I put together a Stations of the Cross box.

I think that my kids learn so much about our faith through these activities. It puts things on their levels and the amount time and effort we spend on home shows them how important this time is. I love that Emily and Palmer are getting to an age of understanding and that they have a desire to learn. Bret and I are working to do our part to nurture this in them.