Movies can be a great way to bring families together, and a great way to help kids understand complicated concepts. Holy Week is an excellent time to do both of those things. So, even though we give up our family screen time during Lent, our family Holy Week...
Lent: The End Begins (Ideas and Printables for Holy Week and Easter)
Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent, traditionally known as Passion Sunday. This is the day on which images and statues are often veiled in churches. We like to do this in our home as well. (I used think we were supposed to do this for all of Lent, but have recently...
Solemnities are NOT for Being Solemn: What They Are, Why They Matter, and New Free Printables for the Solemnity of St. Joseph
Tomorrow is the feast of St. Joseph, and it's a biggie. St. Joseph's Day on March 19th and the Annunciation coming up on March 25th are both solemnities. Note for 2017: Because March 19th falls on a Sunday this year, the celebration of St Joseph's Day is officially...
A Week Of Feasts and the Wearin’ o’ the Pink
Happy Laetare Sunday all! Here's what we wore. Obviously. Me: ModCloth dress (I really love their stuff. I have an affiliate link, over on the right sidebar next to the comments, if you want to check them out.) Old Steve Madden shoes. Lulu: Hand me down smocked dress,...
Did You Miss Us? (and some thoughts on Lent so far)
Blogger was having some technical difficulties last night and this morning, so most people (including me) got a "server down" error message when they tried to access Catholic All Year and many other blogs. But it seems to have been resolved. So if you missed today's...
Irish Songs of Drinking and Rebellion for Kids (with free playlist and printables)
I grew up listening to showtunes and pop music. I am still pretty partial to both. But, ya know, ya get married and are introduced to whole new worlds you never even knew existed. Like Irish Folk music, for instance. I wasn't aware of any such thing until I met my...
Liturgical Living for Beginners: A St. Patrick’s Day Tea Party Play Date, with help from me and CCC
This is a sponsored post. See my disclosure policy. It's March! Spring is in sight (at least in California), we are mostly in the swing of Lent (however much that's possible, anyway), and around the Tierney gaff, it's time to get super excited for the upcoming feasts...
What I'm Doing for Lent, and Fat Tuesday and Ash WednesdayRevealed . . . and the winners!
I shared a bunch of these photos on Instagram and a couple on Facebook, but not all of them. So I figured I'd throw them up here as quick as I can, in case you didn't see them there. AND I want to announce the winners of the Lent giveaway in time for the winners to...
Feast Then Fast: Tips for Fat Tuesday, Resources for Lent, Free Printables, and a Little Contest
Lent is nigh, you guys. It is NIGH. Hope you're ready. If you're not, I might be able to help . . . with some recommendations, and some free printables, and a contest. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? Because before Ash Wednesday, comes Fat Tuesday (aka...
Celebrating Birthdays That Fall During Lent?
I'm once again striding boldly into the dangerous, churning waters of Lenten "breaks." This time to answer a mailbag question . . . Question: Hi Kendra! My youngest is celebrating his first birthday next month and I'm wondering how to celebrate a birthday in Lent. I...
Lent Cometh: perhaps everything you’ll ever need to know to have the best Lent ever
Okay, folks. Now that Candlemas is over and all things Christmas are officially behind us, it's time to quit being in denial that Lent is coming. Fast. It is for me, anyway. Two weeks from today is Fat Tuesday. Then, it's on. A pretty significant percentage of my...
A Little Feast of the Immaculate Conception and a Little About Feasts
Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is a Holy day of Obligation. Yes, even though it's a Monday. Go ahead, run to Mass. We can do this when you get back. Okay, back? Obligation fulfilled? Your reward is this free printable: also, this one:...
Not Believing in Santa Claus is Like Not Believing in Jesus . . . or George Washington
It's the million-dollar Christmas question, right? And I've been asked it many times in the lead-up to Advent and Christmas: Do our children "believe" in Santa Claus? But . . . I don't think it's the right question. Hang in here with me. Seriously, let's look at what...
The Ten Things I’m Glad My Kids Got for Christmas
I've already written about how we are planning a more simple and a more toy-free Christmas than we've had in the past. Not because we are AGAINST toys but because we have reached the natural conclusion of a few years of more mindful toy-buying, more discerning...
The Virtue of Blind Obedience (yes. that’s actually a virtue.) Part of a Series on the Ten Virtues of Mary.
Blind obedience is a tough sell these days. If you're anything like me, it's going to take a lot to even convince you that it's not utterly WRONG, let alone a virtue to be cultivated. In our culture, the concept of obedience has fallen out of favor. We are hesitant to...
An Easter Present for All of You but Mostly Bonnie and a Triduum / Easter Recap
Happy Easter everyone! He is Risen. . . Are you guys getting tired of that yet? Sorry. I just found out about it this year. It's possible I'm getting carried away. Also, I've eaten a LOT of candy. They're always saying how easy it is to take candy from a baby. But...
How to Talk to Little Kids About the Crucifixion
How much of Jesus' suffering and death to share with little ones is a question many parents struggle with. It can be overwhelming to feel like you have to introduce so many facts and concepts and characters all at once, especially if your kids are perhaps more...
Becoming a Family of Prayer
You guys actually read my crazy Day in the Life post. All the way to the bottom! And some of you had questions about it. So, I'll be addressing those questions over the next few weeks. How we do bedtime routines, why our kids don't have their own beds, letting our...
Lent is Hard to Do and Other Earth Shattering Insights for Laetare Sunday
It's Laetare Sunday! If you just said, "Huh?" You're not alone. But here's a hint: You know how almost never, but it seems like maybe a couple times a year the priest wear pink vestments? That's today. From Scott P. Richert at the very excellent About.com Catholicism...
Kids Don’t Forget a Thing Like Waffles for Dinner
A big part of our family culture is celebrating the feasts of the liturgical year. And heaven help me if I try to mix things up any. Tierneys have waffles for dinner on the Annunciation. They started off as toaster waffles. Now they are usually homemade waffles. One...
Sundays in Lent: We Can’t ALL Be Right About This
Sundays in Lent seem to be a genuine source of confusion among Catholics. Both the "I don't cheat on Sundays" people and the "Sundays don't count" people believe that Church teaching is on their side. Or perhaps they just think there isn't a formal Church teaching on...
How to Win At Lent
Don't look now, but Lent is nearly upon us. Here are a few ways to make sure we get to the end of these 40 days a bit holier than we were when we started. 1. Choose Lent Disciplines that Challenge You It took me a while to understand that tendency folks seem to have...
In Which I Get Rid of Our Toys
--- 1 --- Don't adjust your screens ladies and gentlemen (mostly ladies), you read that correctly. I am getting rid of our toys. WITH MY KIDS' BLESSING! Last year's big toy closet organization scheme helped. But the playroom is still a major source of heartache and...
Righteous Anger Wasn't Working For Me
Living our faith is a learning process. It is our privilege and our responsibility to know and understand as much as possible about our Church. But with great knowledge can come great frustration. I know, I've been there. As I lived my slow and steady reversion to my...
Baby Steps to Living the Liturgical Year as a Family
My Catholic faith journey has been all about baby steps. God never knocked me off my bicycle, blinded me, and gave me a talking to. It's been slow and steady the whole way. And making the feasts and fasts part of our family's day-to-day life has been no different.For...
Fun, Feasting, and Beating the Devil With Swords: a Family Michaelmas
The first I ever heard of Michaelmas was in Pride and Prejudice and Middlemarch and other olden-timey English books. Apparently, it was one of the four days during the year on which servants were hired and rents were collected, so it comes up a lot in books. Also they...
Make a Mud Pie (it just may save your life): 7 Quick Takes XXVII
--- 1 --- Okay, maybe that's hyperbole. But SCIENCE says that women tend to have allergies and auto-immune diseases at a statistically higher rate than men, perhaps because they don't get exposed to as much immune-system-boosting mud and dirt as children. So here my...
Some Things I Watched and Some Things I Should NOT Have Watched: 7 Quick Takes XXV
--- 1 --- I see what you did there. And I like it. I hope everyone had a lovely Solemnity yesterday. We did! I really try to incorporate traditions, historical and/or from other cultures into our liturgical feasts. But there don't seem to be all that many traditions...
In Which I am Asked Not to Come to Mass . . . by a Priest
The husband knows an awesome priest who likes to say, "You should remember that when you pray for humility . . . God just might humiliate you." I think he said it in reference to having tripped up on the altar, which I would do every day and twice on Sundays, rather...
Pentecost is Bigger Than Christmas
Seriously. And don't try to pretend like you already knew. Unless, like me, you have kids who use the 1963 Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism for school. In which case, like me, maybe you found out that Pentecost is bigger than Christmas in front of your first...