Mary’s Birthday

We kicked off a new year of Little Flowers on the First Saturday. We now have 35 Little Flowers! Praise God!

We are on Wreath III and I decided to focus on Mary, Mother of God and Cheerfulness for the first meeting. We had a Marian Birthday Party.

The girls were delighted to come together for such a glorious celebration shared with Mass and friends.

Marian Birthday Menu: inspiration was found at Catholic Cuisine

Bake Blueberry French Toast
Cream cheese Lily Rolls
Marian Snack Mix
Fruit
Mary’s Prayer – Blue Chocolate Dipped Pretzels
Dried Blueberries
Mary Cookies
Cheer Sticks – Veggie Straws
Blue Drinks

I invited the girls to share what they knew about the Blessed Virgin. We honed in on her cheerfulness in all situations.

We spoke of times when the girls have been cheerful and times when their cheerfulness was lacking. Then we identified what a non-cheerful “Yes” sounds like vs. a cheerful “Yes.” The girls enjoyed proclaiming a “Yes” like Mary.

The girls also generated a list of words or phrases that could be said to cheer someone else up.

Cheer up!
Be happy!
I Love You!
Smile!
Be Joyful!
Jesus Loves You!

A friend gave Sparkles this cheer card.

The talk on cheerfulness led us to our crafts. The girls created Cheer Cards, cards that they could give to someone else in need of a smile.

The girls also created a Mary, Mother of God journal. I encouraged them to use their journal to record their cheerfulness, pray intentions, post their holy cards, and other spiritual practices.

We closed the meeting with the Rosary. Unfortunately, we were a bit short on time and could only pray an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. We prayed for an increase in cheerfulness and and the intentions of the Blessed Mother.