St. Joseph's Day

Like all things I have been doing during this moving process, I decided to have a low key feast of St. Joseph's meal. I didn't want it to be a big production so I decided to just use the entry table as our St. Joseph's Altar.  Since we are still in Lent I used a vintage lavender tablecloth with butterfly crochet-work.  An amethyst glass vase we received as a wedding gift held a bountiful bouquet of Lenten roses. The hellebores are finally yielding so many blooms that I can cut a lot and still have a lot of color in the garden, just in time for me to move away. So I decided to give myself a big bouquet this year! 
My nice St. Joseph statue is packed away somewhere, so I took this opportunity to dig up the one we buried in the back yard to encourage a sale on our house. Good thing I kept him wrapped up in a plastic bag! My Little Helper helped me put together the altar and we talked about what the different items symbolize.  (I of course had to reference the Virtual St. Joseph's Altar.)

 I didn't have all the items this year; I always forget about the fish.  MLH is very particular about how to arrange things, he wants everything it be "beautiful" but our opinions differ on what constitutes a beautifully composed tablescape, so I took some pictures of my way and then let him rearrange everything around the perimeter as he preferred.

Wine, bread, fresh fruit, fava beans, candles.

This year I was able to find fava beans!  I have lamented so much the past few years.  Bob's Red Mill now offers the dried variety and I found them at Fred Meyer's even!  How easy was that!?
In keeping with a simple meal I only made the St. Joseph's Day soup from the Italian Holiday Cookbook.  This soup is so good, especially for a vegan meal.

Baby Boy is getting pretty good at feeding himself with a spoon, although he still only wants to eat store bought baby purees.

A couple days later the boys and I walked over to the old Mt. St. Joseph's nursing home to leave some flowers for St. Joseph. It was rainy so I thought the snowsuit would be the warmest thing for Baby Boy who seems to have a constant runny nose.

That big white St. Joseph statue sure is tall!

Snug!

I let Baby Boy walk a bit on the way home.  This photo cracks me up because he looks like a little jawa or ewok with that walking stick. Or maybe I watch too much Star Wars.

Because I wanted to honor St. Joseph as much as possible now that we have a contract to sell our house, I also did this pipe cleaner craft with MLH.  On each flower I asked him who he wanted to pray for and he gave me a good list of people.  I should do more of these crafts.  Hopefully I'll be more motivated after we move into the new house.