Wow! The 2022 Catholic Costume was such a success. We at Catholic All Year loved looking through each and every costume to choose the winners and honorable mentions. So, without further ado, here we go! Our email winner: Our Lady of Guadalupe & St. Juan Diego...
We did a costume contest in 2015 and it was REALLY cool. I loved seeing all the great Catholic costumes you good folks and your kids can up with. So . . . even though I’m not sure the world needs any more of my All Saints Day costume posts, I decided to do it again....
As most of you will already be aware, my husband Jim passed away peacefully in our home on July 9, 2022 after a long battle with cancer. More details, as well as a video of the funeral are available on this page: Funeral and Memorial Scholarship Information. If you'd...
Yesterday, I shared my friend Emily's personal story of her mom's crisis pregnancy. See that post here: What’s to Gain by Saying No to Abortion: A Story of Teen Pregnancy, Grandparents’ Prayers, and . . . Me. I received the following comment over on Facebook. I...
A note from Kendra: This is a guest post by my friend Emily, the Catholic All Year Warehouse manager and my partner on the Liturgical Living Subscription boxes. It's a beautiful story of how her mother's crisis pregnancy brought their family together. I'm so grateful...
Happy Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! In honor of the day, I'd like to share why I think Friday abstinence is a beautiful and effective form of penance and also, oh yeah, that Catholics are actually STILL required to do Friday penance EVERY WEEK. Unless it's a...
It's summertime . . . . and the livin' is liturgical. As I say in The Catholic All Year Compendium, "Maybe we’ve got some extra downtime, and some time with all the kids at home, and we were going to eat dinner anyway, right? I try to find saints’ days to attach to...
Prefer to watch or listen rather than read? This post is available in video format here. Hey all! Today we’re going to talk about belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist: how to understand it, how to teach it, and how to celebrate its feast day, Corpus...
Health update: The husband's treatments are progressing and we * finally * got the test results we were waiting for and it was good news for the spine! Thanks so much for your prayers. Happy feast day! Red for Pentecost! #dontcountus #someofusareoutsick I’ve had some...
Catholic All Year has been around for (almost) a decade. In that time, I've shared hundreds of liturgical living and feast celebration ideas, liturgical wall calendars, dozens of prayer booklets for you to print, over a year of physical boxes with feast materials, and...
Health update: Not much to report. Treatments are progressing. We are awaiting test results. We are all in good spirits. Your prayers are SO appreciated. God's will be done. In case you prefer watching/listening to reading . . . this post is also available as a video....
Hey all! Father's Day is coming up soon, and I wanted to share some Catholic Dad Gift Sets we've put together for you guys, along with some free printables and our family favorite movies for the day. You'll find those at the bottom of the post. Note: Since drafting...
In case you prefer watching/listening to reading . . . this post is also available as a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUXTwDas0vQ Hi, guys, Kendra here. Today we are getting down to basics. Today I’m hoping to answer some questions for you, that are really...
Mother's Day is coming and it seems like as good a time as any to open that evergreen can 'o worms, a topic of discussion in Catholic circles since, oh, 62 AD . . . the ever-controversial question inspired by Ephesians 5:21-33: Must Catholic wives submit to their...
Jesus walks into a restaurant and says to the maitre'd, "Table for twenty-six please." The maitre'd does a quick head count, and says, "I see there are only thirteen of you here. Please let me know when the rest of your party arrives, sir, and I’ll be happy to seat...
Also available as a YouTube video here! Well, you've done it. You AND your children have, somehow, against all odds, survived through to these last few days of Lent. Though for a while there, it looked like you might succumb to acute lack of coffee / Netflix /...
Happy Fat Tuesday, y'all! Scroll to the bottom for a Mardi Gras party printable freebie. Note: Illustrations are from vintage crime novel covers Lent, you guys. Here it comes again. Late this year, but coming nonetheless. I've written about how my general approach to...
The feast of the chair of Saint Peter is on February 22nd! This feast celebrates both an actual, physical, very old chair housed at the back of St. Peter’s Basilica . . . and the spiritual authority that the chair represents, passed down through apostolic succession...
Dear Kendra, First, thank you for your blog. I've been reading it for a while now and it's been a big help [to] me as a convert of a few years ago . . . . I wanted to ask how you guys handle sick kids, as we move into our umpteenth minor illness of the year so far. I...
Hey remember long rambling blog posts? Those were my JAM, y'all, back in the good old days of blogging. Let's go old school. But, because I know your attention span isn't what it used to be, here's what we're going to talk about. Feel free to scroll to what interests...
In our quest to give Advent and Christmas distinctly different characters, we have a strict family policy of not watching Christmas movies during Advent. Then, once Christmas comes, we watch a different family Christmas movie together for each of the “twelve days of...
Christmas Eve greetings, dear readers! Our Christmas cards shipped out on the 21st, which might be a personal best. So, if you get a card from us . . . you might already have it! But if not, and for all of you out there on the interwebs, here’s a virtual update on...
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are on a family vacation in a cabin at Lake Arrowhead, CA and it's been so fun. Also very cold and windy, but you can't beat a hot drink and a cozy fire after a chilly adventure! Note: Jack made it in time for...
I am a generally last minute person, but the one thing I try to get done ahead of time each year is Christmas shopping. Getting the shopping out of the way before Advent means I can concentrate on devotions and crafts and baking and family activities during Advent...
Advent is coming! What to do, what NOT to do . . . these are the questions. I think I can help. Here are my seven favorite Catholic Advent traditions with pros and cons of each to help you decide which ones will work for your family and personal circumstances this...
Hey guys! If you’ve been following me for any time at all, you know I like to go all out for All Saints’ Day. But just to prove that's not required, today we’ll be making twenty simple saint costumes . . . out of t-shirts! For many years, creating awesome costumes...
The month of November fast approaches, and that means liturgical living is about to crank into high gear. We've got All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day, and the Holy Souls all month long . . . then the SO MANY (too many?) beautiful devotional opportunities of Advent....
Hey guys! So much fun stuff is in the works around here. We are adding a whole new dimension to Catholic All Year memberships. Different levels include: a colorful daily medallion calendar featuring fun feast day symbols, saint and feast day summaries, five posters...
Hey all! It's September, the month of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is coming up on September 15. And while "The Seven Sorrows" might not sound like a lot of fun . . . I'm here to try to convince you that it's a devotion worth...
The Month of the Holy Rosary is coming up in October. I've written before here on the blog about saying the rosary (and made a video about it), so today I figure you're already convinced about saying it, and maybe you'd like to make one yourself! Below you'll find...