Friday, August 26, 2016

St. Teresa of Calcutta Party! (Shining Light Dolls GIVEAWAY!)

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Happy Friday, friends! Today is Mother Teresa's birthday! She's set to be canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta on September 4, so this morning I teamed up with my good friend Chantal (of Shining Light Dolls fame) to throw an epic Indian-themed party! We've got a fledgling group of Catholic moms in Chicago (sound like you? join us!) that started online and is growing fast, and we had yet to plan a get-together, so this was a wonderful opportunity to meet some new people. It was actually pretty easy to put together, and I've got lots of ideas to help you start planning yours. What better way to add to the festivity of a long weekend at the end of summer than to celebrate a new Saint?

Mother-Teresa

Agnes Bojaxhiu was born into a Catholic family in Yugoslavia in 1910. At 18, she joined the Loreto Sisters of Dublin and took the name Teresa, in honor of St. Thérese of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Avila. She was sent to India and worked as a school teacher. Later, she founded the Missionaries of Charity, an order which became known throughout the world for its work to help the poorest of the poor. Mother Teresa was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She died in 1997 and was beatified in 2003.

A new Saint Teresa Shining Light Doll is also being released just in time for the canonization, so each child at our party received a doll, as well as a copy of Chantal's fantastic new book, Saints on the Go, which features Saint Teresa (among many others)! Would you like one for your child? We're giving away 3, so enter at the bottom of this post to win!

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It was a beautiful day, so in addition to the things listed below, we had a lot of end-of-summer fun in the back yard, and a big baby party in the living room.

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On to party planning! This can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be.

Activities:
  • Marigolds are a symbol of celebration in India, so why not craft your own out of pipe cleaners and tissue paper?
  • Easy as can be: print a coloring sheet (scroll down for a printable!) and provide crayons and colored pencils!
  • Pray together! Mother Teresa would love it. We used the simple, short prayer from the novena to St. Teresa here: http://www.praymorenovenas.com/mother-teresa-novena/
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Food and Drinks:
  • If you have an Indian grocery or bakery anywhere near you, you can pick up beautiful traditional desserts, as well as snacks and other things from their frozen section. 
  • Mango Lassi - Like a milkshake. Easy, kid friendly, and healthy!
  • Classic Samosas - Want a little challenge? Make these from scratch (we opted for frozen to save time)!
  • Indian-spiced Hummus, with slices of naan (I found it at Costco!) and raw veggies for dipping.
  • Chai tea with milk and honey (decaf for kids, great iced or hot).
  • Mango lemonade and/or pineapple coconut water.
  • Chicken Tikka Masala with rice (scroll down for the recipe!)
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To enter to win the doll and book, comment on this post letting me know how you are planning to celebrate the canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta with your families! Extra entries for visiting Coppertop Kitchen and Shining Light Dolls on Facebook. Good luck!! Winners will be announced on September 1.  Congratulations to our winners: Mary-Anne, Nicole, and Amanda! Check your email for info about how to claim your prizes.

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Chicken Tikka Masala
adapted from Cooks Illustrated
serves 4-6

While there are lots of Indian foods that would have been more authentic than this (this dish actually originated in London, not India), it's hard to beat a kid-friendly, crowd-pleasing meal that still has a bit of Indian spice. And I really mean a BIT. I took out every hint of spicy the original recipe had to offer. You're welcome, kiddos!

Sauce:
3 tablespoons olive or coconut oil
1 onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons sugar
salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Chicken:
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced

For the sauce: In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and stir until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir together until fragrant, about a minute. Add the tomato paste and garam masala and stir together, cooking for another minute until it all blends together. Stir in the tomatoes and sugar, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the chicken.

Preheat broiler to high, and place a rack in a foil-lined baking sheet. Spray the rack with cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together the salt, cumin, and coriander. Sprinkle evenly over the chicken breasts, and rub the spices in slightly so they stick. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, olive oil, ginger, and garlic. Using tongs, dip the chicken in the yogurt mixture and coat well. Lay the chicken on the prepared rack and broil until cooked through, about 7-9 minutes per side. Chicken will be slightly charred on both sides. Remove to a cutting board and let cool for a minute or two, then cut into 1-inch cubes.

Add the cream and cilantro to the sauce, stirring to combine, and then stir in the chicken pieces. Serve with basmati rice.

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101 comments:

  1. Fantastic! I will be delving into how to immulate St. Teresa of Calcutta life of servitude!

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  2. What a great party! We love the shining light dolls. One of our favorite Indian traditions that is cultural not religious is the celebration of the brother/sister relationship. It's a lovely festival.

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  3. Buying my daughters the St. Teresa of Calcutta shining light dolls! As well as making some Indian food in celebration! And I might treat myself to an iced chai!

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  4. Such cute ideas for the canonization! We love shining light dolls and we'd love love love to win!

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  5. We'll be getting take away from a new Indian place!

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  6. We will add St Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us to the litney at the end of our rosary :)

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  7. We will be celebrating the baptism of our third child on he day of her canonization.

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  8. We'll be celebrating by watching the movie of Mother Theresa's life, The Letters!

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  9. We'll be celebrating by watching the movie of Mother Theresa's life, The Letters!

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  10. We will be going to Mass and watching The Letters

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  11. Great ideas here! Thanks for sharing!

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  12. Thank you for the wonderful ideas. We will watch the canonization and have Indian inspired snacks. Also, coloring sheets for the kids.

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  13. Love the ideas...we will be going to mass, reading more about St Teresa of Calcutta and enjoying Indian food in her honor.

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  14. What a great party!

    We will be watching the canonization on EWTN and I'll probably bake/decorate some cupcakes to celebrate. Can't wait to see the new doll in person!

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  15. I am very excited to celebrate this Feast Day. I will Skype my only grandbaby who is 9 months old. She lives far away so I look forward to this Skype. Her name is Marie Therese. I will show her the Mother Teresa statue I have in my home. I will tell her the stories of how St. Teresa has touched my life. She is too young to understand, but I am starting this as a tradition to teach her about the saints.

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  16. I'd love to do more themed parties with my kids. Starting with St. (!!!!) Theresa sounds lovely. Thanks for the great ideas!

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  17. I'll probably celebrate by watching the canonization Mass and by reading about Mother Teresa's life.

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  18. We will probably color a picture and read about her life. Maybe watch a movie about her.

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  19. I'm planning an Indian themed dinner for our team of missionaries! Thanks for sharing these recipes, they're perfect!

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  20. I was just trying to think of a way to celebrate when I stumbled across your blog!

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  21. We'll be on vacation so won't have a ton of resources but I'm going to try to remember to print the coloring page and also talk in the week following about how she and we can serve the poor.

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  22. Great idea. I was just planning to talk about her and try to watch on EWTN.

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  23. Before I was just going to read a book about her and discuss it, bit after this post, I'm wondering how I could throw together an impromptu party for my children and their friends! Thank you for the great ideas!

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  24. We will be watching her canonization on EWTN or online

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  25. We'll color the picture and talk about her life.

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  26. We plan to attend mass and ask for her intercession for our family and friends prayer requests (& for the state of our world). Our girls and most likely us, will color a picture of Mother Theresa. We will also talk about her life. Maybe even make marigolds out of tissue paper. Your party looks like it was a fabulous success and the ideas you shared are fantastic.

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  27. We're celebrating by having our new addition baptized on her canonization day!

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  28. Wow! So many fantastic ideas! I plan on reading a few books about Mother Teresa this week and your post gave me lots of ideas to use! Love the marigold tissue paper craft and maybe I'll bake some cupcakes like marigolds! Thanks for the giveaway! I plan on blogging about this beautiful soon to be Saint and will link up to your fantastic posts here!

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  29. Wow! So many fantastic ideas! I plan on reading a few books about Mother Teresa this week and your post gave me lots of ideas to use! Love the marigold tissue paper craft and maybe I'll bake some cupcakes like marigolds! Thanks for the giveaway! I plan on blogging about this beautiful soon to be Saint and will link up to your fantastic posts here!

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  30. Love this!! I hadn't planned a celebration but now I may borrow your ideas! I've just started to teach my little one about the Saints.

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  31. Before I was just going to read a book about her and discuss it, bit after this post, I'm wondering how I could throw together an impromptu party for my children and their friends! Thank you for the great ideas!

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  32. Love this! Was just planning to go to a special Mass in Mother Teresa's honor, but now I want to incorporate some of these ideas - definitely Indian food, coloring, and maybe the marigolds too.

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  33. Wha t a wonderful idea. Thank you for sharing especially before the actual event. I can't wait to use some of your ideas in my own home. I also just received A Call To Mercy and look forward to reading it.

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  34. We have been reading a biography of her for family read aloud leading up to next week and will do some activities together as well. But the biggest part will be celebrating with our 5 y/o Teresa who was named after her - special dinner and dessert :)

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  35. This is so wonderful! I plan on making butter chicken and Naan bread with my kids and talking about serving the poor.

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  36. I love these dolls. We have a Catholic mom and me group at our church. These are good ideas for that week. Thank yoi

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  37. I love these! We are going to talk about her life, her works and see how we can continue the spirit of those works at home and in the community.

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  38. Coloring pages from Holy Heroes

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  39. I haven't thought about it yet but I love the ideas of the me rigid flowers and coloring pages. We will definitely read about mother terse and I saw there is a movie about her on FORMED. maybe a movie night!

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  40. I haven't thought about it yet but I love the ideas of the me rigid flowers and coloring pages. We will definitely read about mother terse and I saw there is a movie about her on FORMED. maybe a movie night!

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  41. Making your chicken recipe! My oldest is going to research about Mother Theresa & teach us about her life while the younger ones color the beautiful print out. We love our shining light dolls and would love Mother Theresa ones. A sweet young friend asked me to be her Confirmation sponsor this year and she is choosing Theresa as her name after Mother Theresa.

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  42. Awesome ideas! I'm excited for my kids to learn more about her!

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  43. We will eat Indian food (a family favourite) and do some of the activities that you suggest here, I love the marigold flowers!!

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  44. Now I am feeling like I need to do something.

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  45. This why I love the Internet and FB! I love doing these types of themed gatherings but it can be hard to get the thought process going. This sounds like a great party with an awesome theme. Thank you SO much for sharing!!! We have just two of the dolls and the book on Mary and we all LOVE them. We plan on reading some info on Mother Theresa, watching some of the footage on TV (to help our girls understand that lots of people are celebrating!), and to add some the ideas from the party into our weekly celebration! Thanks again!

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  46. Love it!! I have a special devotion to Mother Theresa. I am going to have a full Indian meal on Sept 4th to celebrate.

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  47. How awesome! I'm going to print the coloring page if I can get my printer to cooperate. I'd like to order the book as well!

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  48. Our priest is attending the canonization! Our parish is Mother Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church. We will be praying for his safe travel back home and I'm patiently waiting for my baby that is due today.

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  49. Reading about her and watching EWTN for sure! Thanks for these great ideas!

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  50. We are planning to watch EWTN coverage. Now that I've seen your recipe, we will add that too!

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  51. I would love to do something even with a new baby due any day now. So cool!!!

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  52. We will be on the road so Coloring sheets and a saint story in the car!

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  53. Hopefully we'll get to watch some of the coverage and I love your ideas! We'll have to color that coloring page for sure.

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  54. We will celebrate by watching EWTN and sharing a special dessert!
    Donna
    tappclan (at} hotmail {dot] com

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  55. I am still in planning stages, and this post is so helpful! Thank you!

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  56. So cute!!!
    I should plan something, too! It's a perfect opportunity to teach our 2 year old about saints :)
    I'm so excited now!

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  57. We're going to talk about who she was, how we can help others like she did and make a craft. What wonderful ideas you have listed!

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  58. This idea is fantastic!! I will DEFINITELY be observing in some similar fashion. Wish I lived closer to Chicago.

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  59. We will be celebrating with Indian good of some sort!

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  60. We will be making Indian food and your Mango Lassi as well as reading 2 picture books we got about Mother Teresa. One of my daughters is named for her so we have been waiting for this day when her patron is canonized a saint!

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  61. I love this! I once dressed as Mother Teresa for Halloween when I was in grade school.

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  62. I will celebrate with my family by learning more about Saint Teresa and with my school family on Monday by planning a little game and coloring sheet with a little treat.

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  63. My church is having a screening of the Mother Teresa movie and having a simple soup supper in her honor which we are planning to attend. <3

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  64. I hadn't thought about it yet! Indian food sounds fun.

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  65. We'll be celebrating by watching our Teresa of Calcutta cartoon and making St. Mother Teresa puppets! :)

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  66. I can't wait for the 4th. My husband is from India, and Mother Teresa is dear to our hearts. And, I love sharing that (faith and culture) to our children.

    I'll be preparing a few Indian favorites. I love tikka prepared with paneer and chicken both. We also really like saag paneer and a chickpea curry. With naan or paratha. For dessert my favorite is vanilla ice cream with mango purée as a topping, but the kids really like kheer the rice pudding.


    I have a very special blue and white table cloth I got after my husband and I were baptized, in Italy when Pope John Paul II died and had his funeral. Always fun celebrating the Saints!

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  67. We are going to celebrate by reading from some of the Blessed Mother's books and saying some extra prayers :) I love the paper marigold idea, so we may try that too as well as the coloring page!

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  68. We are going to celebrate by reading from some of the Blessed Mother's books and saying some extra prayers :) I love the paper marigold idea, so we may try that too as well as the coloring page!

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  69. We were planning on teaching about her with crafts but now I am thinking we will be having a feast too!!!

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  70. Thanks for all the ideas to help us celebrate!

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  71. Thanks for all the ideas to help us celebrate!

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  72. Your party looks like a lot of fun!! Maybe we will make an Indian dinner. We would love to win a doll.

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  73. I'm not sure yet but I AM sure that we'll be using some of these ideas. Thanks! Would love to win!

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  74. I love your ideas for celebrating. I'm not sure what we will do yet. :-)

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  75. Love these ideas and recipes! I'm celebrating with the students in my classroom with some coloring pages with wise quotes from the new Saint!

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  76. Love this!! Thanks to your inspiration, I am planning a party like this myself!!

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  77. We are celebrating by going to a baptism of a little baby Teresa!

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  78. We are celebrating by watching EWTN programming, listening to the Saint Teresa Glory Story CD from Holy Heroes and coloring pages from Holy Heroes. We might do something for the poor like make Blessing Bags. I am now going to incorporate some of your ideas. Thank you! Saint Teresa, Pray for us!

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  79. Thanks for the reminder! I think I might try my hand at homemade samosas.

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  80. Hmmm may just have to throw a party!!!! My kids can learn more about her!

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  81. I will be celebrating by reading her books!

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  82. Unlock bonus entries & boost your chances!

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    How will you and your family be celebrating Mother Teresa's canonization day?
    not sure yet! :)

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  83. I'm not planning anything fancy, but planning to read to the boys about Mother Teresa and then color a picture.

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  84. My husband and I honestly aren't huge fans of Indian food, but I'll enjoy reading some of her reflections from a book that my Godparents gave me for my confirmation!

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  85. We love to celebrate feast days with special meals. Indian menu sounds wonderful.

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  86. The littles and I are planning a T (tea) party for Sunday! The hummus you suggested will be a great addition!

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  87. We will be saying extra prayers and finding a way to serve the poor.

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  88. I hope to watch EWTN and read a book to the kids and have them do some coloring sheets.

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  89. Maybe try some Indian food, watch EWTN and color the cute coloring page above!

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  90. These are great ideas and I can't wait to celebrate SAINT Teresa of Calcutta's feast day with these ideas.

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  91. Probably will be celebrating with some crafts and if I have the energy bake some goodies!

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  92. This is wonderful! I found you through A Slice of Smith Life, and am so glad! We will color and pray and attend Mass!! Thank you!

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  93. I think we will get some chain and read about mother Teresa to celebrate... And get some Indian food or make this delicious-sounding chicken recipe!

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