Liturgical Year File

Recently, I was very impressed by the craft kits a fellow blogger created. I really enjoy making crafts and having celebrations with the children. They love all the fun. Last year it seemed that all the smaller feasts and special days worth celebrating caught me off guard or totally missed the radar altogether. For instance, when I realized someone was celebrating A.A. Milne's birthday with a Winnie the Pooh party, I lamented the fact that we weren't celebrating too. So I wanted be more purposeful this year. I feel like these celebrations, especially the Liturgical ones, are so important, if not necessary, for their growth.

In my effort to be prepared, I did some heavy planning. I looked at the calendar from August until about two weeks after Christmas. I chose the Feasts and holidays we would celebrate this first part of the school year and began making my lists. (I still need to add a few famous author parties in there - I can use this site.) I knew I wanted to have all the craft supplies we would need purchased beforehand, save maybe the marshmallows for some snowmen we'll make in December. I decided what we would read, what we would eat (eating is almost always involved) and what we would make. Then I made a list of all the items I needed to purchase (bumpy chenille, rose stickers, etc. ) or acquire (like the Hail Mary in Spanish or an icon of St. Nicholas). I think I have just about everything. Then a couple of weeks ago I began working on my file folders. I took a stack of manila file folders and began labeling one for each day on my list. Inside the folder I included any printouts from the internet, templates or craft project instructions. On the inside left cover of the folder I stapled a sheet of notebook paper. On this paper I began a list. It simply lists the year and the activities for that year. For instance, on Mary's Birthday, I recorded that we will be making a birthday cake and making Marian grottos. I figured this would enable me to vary activities from year to year, especially for those feasts we will celebrate EVERY year and also as a way to recall activities from past years that we enjoyed. It serves as a file for information I may want to file away for later use. With this system, I can add on other days each year and just file them where they belong in chronological order. We won't do every day every year, but over time, I should have a pretty comprehensive file of activities for all kinds of days.

I would post a photo of one of the folders, but seeing as the camera is not functioning and currently being worked on in the den, I cannot. When I can, I will.

I am excited to watch the little system work and hope it will serve us well.