Here Come the Saints 2011

All Saints Day has passed so quickly and with our busy time with Trahaearn and the schedule I am keeping with him I am afraid to say that once  we had completed our trip out to get Trahaearn weighed and our simple meal organised and the children dressed up in their costumes that we did not play any of the games we had planned for this day.
Our younger children were a little disappointed with this as they had anticipated this for a 'whole day' after the Halloween Celebration and my idea of sharing what we do on this day is once again not quite up to scratch.

I do want to state that we DO NOT go out and buy costumes or accessories for our dressing up for All Saints Day. I know this is a big thing for some people, especially in the USA but as we usually need to do these home based activities well within our budget, getting new costumes is pretty much out of the question.

So we tend to think of the Saints the children would like to come dressed in and then find appropriate clothing from our regular clothes that can be adapted with some accessories and we make liberal use of our play cloths and silks from our everyday 'dressups'.
Therefore  Blessed Jacinta (above) is dressed in a peasant shepherd girl looking clothes and a couple of toy lambs and headscarf.
Funnily enough Arwen thought we were going to Mass because she was getting dressed up and and wearing a headscarf. Then she was quite put out to discover that we were not going then and insisted we go right there and then!

St Dymphna also had a fairly simple outfit. Skirt with a blouse and headscarf with a bible/prayerbook.

Moran has a special devotion to St Dympha and she really loved playing the part for All Saints Day.

The costume for  St Joseph  was a simple one with a shirt underneath some play cloths wrapped around the body and a cloth on his head held on with some wool

A staff was easily obtained from outside that 'St Joseph' loved carrying around.

St. Maria Goretti  was another peasant style saint and easy to dress for. Myffwyn was a little tragic through out the afternoon filling her role perfectly

We have some ferns around the property that we were able use as a substitute for the palm usually seen in her image.

Baby Moses just too cute what else can I say!!!!

It was quite an effort to get a shot of all the children together., with  little people moving or not smiling etc. I love these group shots though

St Joseph Yuen was Rogan's choice and we were not surprised as he seems to have quite a devotion to China in his saints.
We actually took two cloths and hand sewed them together at the shoulder, so they could be taken apart again. He used an old pair of black tights for his braid and beard and then sewed up an old table cloth to go underneath the red over robe

Later in the day St. Joseph's beard fell off and was replaced with black tape.

St Cecilia was who Vellvin decided to be.  A reasonably easy costume to ensemble.

For her toga we used a double-bed, and another bed sheet and pinned it up and tied it around her waist with a ribbon. A pair of sandals and a violin and she was set!

Said violin was out of tune producing some very.... interesting sounds and  causing our dogs to howl, but the  little saints loved dancing around to it. I simply adore impromptu additions.

St. Maximilian Kolbe  was who Saxon decided to come as.     Super easy!

A pair of his stripey blue pajamas  with a paper prison number pinned on , a bible and his Dad's old glasses and there he was!
Bring on the Pajama party!

Judith from Old Testament was Eden's choice.   Her costume was a little more time consuming then most of the others  but, was very lovely when completed.

Using the dress she had worn to Autumn's Deb. Ball. Eden was then very creative with two pretty shawls. Using one as a shawl of sorts and the other as a head covering.   At the back of her hair she plaited in two ribbons as well adding to the eastern looking costume. For the head of the king that Judith cut off, she used an orange from Halloween and pinned on yarn hair and a little paper crown.    A  very successful and  pretty costume.

Our painted saints once again graced our table . Simple pizza and (a planned salad) for dinner.

Once again there was talk of which saint out of them was liked most by whom etc.    It was a lovely day and one of the many happy memories I  hope we shall share forever.

Blessings to you and your homes,