Today we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. From the Women for Faith and Family website...
On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (or Triumph of the Cross) we honor the Holy Cross by which Christ redeemed the world. The public veneration of the Cross of Christ originated in the fourth century, according to early accounts, beginning with the miraculous discovery of the cross on September 14, 326, by Saint Helen, mother of Constantine, while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem -- the same day that two churches built at the site of Calvary by Constantine were dedicated.
A friend of mine put this idea in my head many, many moons ago and I always think of it when this feast day rolls around, especially when it rolls around on a water soaked day like today!
Make some simple cutout sugar cookies in the shape of a cross. Any cut-out cookie recipe will do although, it might be fun to try a chocolate version to simulate the wood of the cross. Frost all of the cookies white except for one. Frost that cookie red. Now, go hide the cookies all over the house during rest time or while the children are distracted. The red cross represents the True Cross that everyone should be hunting for and at the end of the hunt you should have a plate of cookies to enjoy together.
Now, if the idea of cookie crumbs all over your house just sends your spine a tremblin', never fear... you can wrap the cookies in cellophane or use paper crosses instead, maybe even craft stick crosses! Surprise your little hunters with a plate of cookies after they have hunted for and found the True Cross like St. Helena.
Also... this is a coloring page I made for St. Helena's feast day, but it could also be used for today. This link will take you to a short YouTube video on the church of Santa Croce and the story of St. Helena and the True Cross. And for more ideas for celebrating today, click here and stroll through the lovely posts from last year's blog fair.
*I think the wet weather outside kept my frosting from setting up and drying, so we ended up hunting for craft stick crosses!
Oh, now this is clever! I'm always impressed with what you come up with, but this one is just awesome! We had an elaborate feast last year, but today is a busy day (we won't even all be eating at the same time at dinner!) :( and my plan was to make "crown cupcakes" for bedtime snack. But this is too good an idea to pass up, and I'm revamping my plans as we speak!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great, feast-saving idea!! :)
This is a great idea! I'm going to do this today.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this idea, I surprised myself and actually did it!
ReplyDeleteI called a friend (Miss Kitty would not have enjoyed doing this by herself!), made chocolate cross cookies (I've added a cross cookie cutter to my wish list), and whipped together some craft stick crosses.
We headed over to our friends mid-afternoon, the other mom & I hid the crosses, and her two oldest along with Miss Kitty had a great time looking for them. They continued to hide them and hunt for them. . . and of course they enjoyed the cookies!
Thanks for sharing this idea!
It is a fun idea - very interactive. We made cross cookies yesterday for the reception following our Mass with Bishop to open our homeschool year. We didn't hide them though - have to remember that next year. I was thinking gingerbread would also be a good option for "wood" colored cross cookies.
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