Making Soul Cakes during Hallowtide (All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day) has become a little tradition at our house. I wanted to share my recipe with you in time for All Souls on Sunday! The History of Soul Cakes As a kind of early version of Trick-or-Treating, folks would go door-to-door and ask for Soul Cakes in exchange for saying prayers for the dead. I really love the way … [Read more...]
When It Feels Like You’re Failing at Building Your Cathedral
The Most Important Person on Earth is a Mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral-a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body…The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. … [Read more...]
Liturgical Living at a Glance: October
One of the sentiments that was clear from this week's reader survey (you can still fill it out and help me make Carrots better) is that y'all miss the monthly liturgical year posts. As a blogger it's hard to tell what's striking a chord, and because there were rarely more than one or two comments on these posts, I thought y'all were bored with them! And they're time-intensive to put together so I … [Read more...]
Happy 5 Years, Carrots! (Good Music and Help Me Make Carrots Better)
It's Michaelmas, friends! Which means it's technically the 5th blogiversary (I know....ridiculous word) of Carrots. And I have a big favor to ask. Would you, pretty please, fill out this quick survey to help me learn more about what my readers love (and don't love!)? I will be eternally grateful. You may have to click over to the actual site if you're using a reader like feedly or bloglovin'. I … [Read more...]
On Spiritual Retreats: An Interview with Amy
Have you ever been on a spiritual retreat? We are lucky to live right down the road from a retreat center, so Daniel and I have both been able to attend weekend retreats here and there and it's always so spiritually fruitful. Carrots reader Amy from Australia shared with me about a beautiful retreat at an abbey and I thought it would be fun to interview her about her experience! Tell us a … [Read more...]
Harry Potter, Dumbledore’s Mercy, and the Triumph of the Holy Cross
It's the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross. What does that have to do with Harry Potter? I don’t try to hide the fact that I’m a Harry Potter fangirl. I’m often reflecting on the plot and themes, whether kids should read the series, and how Molly Weasley is fantastic. (SPOILER ALERT: Do not continue if you haven’t completed the series.) One of the most memorable scenes in the … [Read more...]
27 Books for Your Mass Bag (And Tips for Dealing with Little Ones in Mass)
After I posted about how my kids didn't ruin Mass despite their best efforts, I often get emails wondering how we deal with having small children in Mass and what we do to get them to behave. Don't get me wrong. I'm not an expert and oftentimes our two youngest still give us a run for our money on Sunday mornings, but we have learned A LOT over the past five and a half years of parenting in the … [Read more...]
We Are Still the Easter People
The past two weeks have been weighty. Heavy. Hard. And it’s not because tragedy has struck my immediate family. It’s because everywhere I turn, people are hurting and I feel helpless. Iraqi Christians are being murdered. My brothers and sisters in Iraq are being brutally killed because of their faith and what am I doing? I’m drinking a cup of coffee and using my MacBook Air. And that makes me feel … [Read more...]
12 Things I Loved About the Edel Gathering
The requests are flying in for an Edel '14 recap! I feel like I've got 10 posts worth of Edel chat and need a month to process this beautiful whirlwind of a weekend, but here I am starting a post at nap time because Carrots readers shouldn't have to wait a month for me to process all the amazingness that was Edel. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, fear not. Edel is a gathering designed … [Read more...]
The Vulnerable Victory of True Love: The Sacred Heart, ABC’s Once Upon a Time, C.S. Lewis and The Princess Bride
True confessions: every so often (AKA when I have a newborn) I binge watch a show on Netflix. I’ve watched plenty of embarrassing shows during 3am nursing sessions but I’ll only name one today: ABC’s Once Upon a Time fairy tale drama. Written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis of LOST, it’s similar to everyone’s favorite stuck-on-an-island-with-polar-bears series in that it has an ensemble cast … [Read more...]
