My Pinterest Present and Edible Rosary for our Blessed Mother's Birthday!

Once upon a time I was a freshman in college (Go Wolfpack!) and I was at a Christian retreat with college friends, including my boyfriend, now husband.  I was staying in one of the girl's cabins and my boyfriend asked a cute little red head gal if I was in the cabin since he was looking for me.  This gal (whose name is A.H.) didn't really know who my boyfriend was talking about since there were many girls in the cabin and A.H. and I hadn't formally met yet.  My boyfriend finally found me and I finally met A.H.

Fast forward some time and A.H. and I finished our freshmen year with our freshmen roommates and LOTS of drama because A.H. and I broke the news to our freshmen roommates that A.H. and I wanted to room together our sophomore years.  A.H. loved me soooo much that we took several classes together, shared many laughs and memories, roomed together through our senior years, and our friendship has blossomed for close to 20 years now!  To the right is a picture of A.H. and I during a surprise party for me when I turned 19! A.H., we were  19 at one time? Really?  Glad I have a picture to prove it! :)


Here's A.H. and me at our college graduation in 1997.  Notice A.H. is on her tippy toes... :) 













So recently A.H. sent me a special birthday card (my birthday was on Aug. 24) and gift that she made after she saw the idea on...you guessed it! Pinterest :)

Here's my gift and I love it!

You may be asking, What is it?"  because I was wondering that myself when I opened it :)   It's a key chain with 6 pennies attached to it with holes drilled in the pennies.  Each penny has a year. But these pennies have the birth years of my husband, me, and my 4 cupcakes:  1970, 1975, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007.  Cool gift! Thanks A.H.! You have always been creative and thoughtful...that's why I'm keeping you ;)

Speaking of birthdays, in the Catholic Church, our Blessed Mother's birthday is traditionally celebrated on September 8 each year on the Church's calendar.  One of the many reasons I love being Catholic is that our Church celebrates Mary throughout the entire year with lots of  Marian feast days.  Mary did have such an important role in salvation history by having the privilege to cradle Jesus in her womb for 9 months and raise our Savior and it's always nice to give her honor on more days than just at Christmas time when we celebrate Jesus' birth.

There are so many wonderful Marian Feast Days in the church throughout the year and celebrating Mary's birthday is one of our family's favorite.  My children love birthdays and celebrating our Blessed Mother's special day is definitely a birthday party our family doesn't want to miss!   Each year our homeschool group gathers for Mass on or near September 8 and then we have a birthday party for Mary. 

This morning our homeschool group  met together for First Friday Mass and then we gathered at a local park to have Mary's birthday party. 

This year our edible rosary was made with Dunkin Donut holes for the "Hail Marys" and big glazed donuts for the "Our Fathers".  In the past we have made our edible rosaries out of cupcakes and  Hershey kisses, but have found the donut idea the easiest and quickest way to make the rosary :)

 As the children salivated over the donuts, we gathered to pray a decade of the rosary and sang "Happy Birthday to Mary!"  :) 

Identical twins in our homeschool group with their beautiful Marian bracelets, cute dresses, and praying hands.

After children took turns saying each of the 10 Hail Marys it was time to eat the donuts!  None of the children were shy when it came to this part of our celebration! :) 

We love you A.H.!

Happy Birthday Mother Mary!  Pray for Us.  

 

This painting of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was painted by Cameron Smith (no relation to me) at Smith Catholic Art