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...
More from the Catholic All Year mailbag today . . . Question: Dear Kendra, I have followed you for over a year now and it has been wonderful adding more liturgical traditions to our year! I'm pregnant and it's a big shock. We have always been generally open to life,...
I’ve received many reader questions on this topic over the years, and just discussed them again this week in a Q&A session after an online talk I gave to a parent group, so I figured it would be a good time to go ahead and get it in a post. Updates on The Catholic...
Hey, you ever announce you're going to start blogging again and then behind the scenes stuff goes sideways and then your dad has a stroke and you spend the beginning of Advent dealing with hospitals for the second year in a row, but this time it's 2020 so you can't...
YOU ASKED FOR IT! This is probably my most requested not-yet-posted post ever. So here it is: Every single read aloud we use on saints' days all year long! (This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through those links, I receive a small commission,...
September is traditionally a more somber month, liturgical calendar-wise. The month is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows. On September 14 and 15 we observe the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. The fall Ember Days are...
Summer birthday season is happening around here. I've shared some of these photos on social media, but since not everyone is on there, I figured I'd get them on the blog here too. And since the Princess Bride Quote food pun food tags proved pretty popular with you...
Happy New Year! I got this mailbag question and typed up the response a couple of weeks ago, emailed my reply to the questioner, and set the post to publish today. And then I got to thinking . . . and I ended up spending every spare moment I had since then creating...
It's been a very busy week and is going to be an even busier weekend, but I wanted to pop in here to share some thoughts that really resonated with some of you already, and this week's very excellent Catholic Stuff giveaway. From a social media post . . . Mothers of...
When I did my reader survey, the one thing you guys asked for above all other things was that I give you some advance warning for feast days. The problem with that is that my personal liturgical living style is mostly getting a reminder on my phone at 9am, realizing...
Our phones, right? We use them for all the things, but also maybe feel like we shouldn't be? As much? Ever? I'm all for balance and temperance, but in our concern about the pitfalls of our phones, it's easy to lose sight of the GOOD that's to be had from those...
This is the time of year I start getting emails and Facebook messages from parents who are trying to decide how to handle the cultural traditions surrounding Christmas, and how to balance them with their Catholic faith. There is genuinely a lot of worry that they'll...
I tend to get mailbag questions in bunches. All of a sudden, I'll get a flurry of questions on similar topics. Maybe it's Facebook? Maybe it's some sort of hive-mind phenomenon? But there you have it. It's a thing. The most recent wave was on kids and modesty. And the...
Disagreement with Catholic teaching is something that saints and heretics have in common. The great St. Paul himself, we read about in today's first reading, was a dissenter and debater. But the difference between the saints and the heretics has always been in how...
Mailbag time! The Question: Hi Mrs. Tierney, My name is Sanasi and I am a 21 year old university student. I stumbled across your blog when I was looking for more Catholic blogs to read in my free time and it's kind of weird, but I feel like I see so much of myself in...
Okay, here it is you guys. Finally. I have been having exasperating computer issues that have been a drain on my already limited blogging time. But I just know you guys have been dying -dying- to know what I think about The Force Awakens and whether or not it's a good...
Mailbag time! Today, you get two for the price of one, on a really challenging topic: how to handle family members who undermine our parenting. - first question - Hey, Kendra! I was at the funeral for one of my relatives, and after at the cemetery, we went to visit...
Something I get asked about quite often is what we're doing with our kids to help to raise them to have an understanding of and an appreciation for our Catholic faith. It's a tough question, but a very important one. Whether our kids are homeschooled, or go to...
It's mailbag time! I've received this same question from a number of different readers. So, perhaps you've been wondering about it as well. -question- Dear Kendra, I am cleaning up the house and happened upon some mail that I wanted to ask you about. Namely, ever...
Maybe you don't need this post. Hopefully, you don't. It's pretty obvious. But it didn't come easily for me. So, I'm going to put it here on the blog. Juuuuuuust in case. We are all very fortunate around here. We've got a fun, loving, involved dad. But, especially...
Before Pentecost can happen, of course, we have to have the Ascension. The kids and I will be observing Ascension Thursday by flying from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. to meet up with the husband who is there for business all this week. It seems somehow fitting to be...
It's still homeschool week on the blog. For earlier posts see here and here, and come back Monday for one last installment. Today, I'm answering another mailbag question, and sharing how I handle six kids from preschool through middle school all at once, plus a...
