DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

    La Mercè, Patron Saint of Barcelona     The legend goes that on the night of 24 September 1218, the Virgin appeared simultaneously to King Jaume I, Saint Pere Nolasc and Saint Ramón de Penyafort. She asked all three to create an order of monks dedicated to saving Christians imprisoned by the Saracens. It was the time of the wars of religion.     Centuries later in 1687, Barcelona suffered a plague of locusts, and placed itself in the hands of the Virgin of La Mercè. Once the plague had been overcome, the Council of the City named her patron saint of Barcelona. The Pope did not ratify this decision until two centuries later, however, in 1868. The Origins of The Annual Festival    After Pope Pius IX declared the Virgin of La Mercè the patron saint of the city, Barcelona began to celebrate a festival in the month of September. La Mercè really took off in 1902, when under the impulse of Francesc Cambó, the festival became t...

 This diy was found at  www.stolloween.com   I thought this was a pretty cool diy  and also pretty easy to make.  No haunt is complete without some barbed wire. This is a very easy way to make some convincing rusted looking barbed wire to enhance your props or costume and the best part is that it’s safe and inexpensive. This prop does not involve the use of a papier mache (gasp!) but it does make a nice enhancement to your papier mache props. The Faux Barbed Wire is made from twine, craft foam and black latex paint. When starting this project I referenced a piece of real barbed wire and found that the barbs were approximately five inches apart. The first step is to grab a piece of twine that is twice as long as you would like final piece of wire. If you want 10 feet of barbed wire then start with 20 feet of twine. Any type of thick twine will work but I prefer ...

I need to know something…how come when our kids are little and they tell us “no” we find it unacceptable.  I shouldn’t presume to think that you are the same way, so please forgive… But, when MY children don’t want something…say  lasagna  for dinner, they say, “no, I don’t want that”.  Or if I ask them if they want to wear the blue shirt for school and they say, “No”… I get agitated.  I want them to say yes..to be agreeable…but when kids don’t want something they don’t hesitate to let you know. I am sure that I was the same way as a child. But somewhere along the way I, as I am sure many of you, turned into a “Yes” person. Would you please bake 3,000 cookies for a  school  function?  Umm, sure yes. Can you coordinate this event that is going to take you weeks and weeks and hours and hours? Sure, why not! I need someone to practice my knife throwing skills at, can you help? Ok, I’ll be right over. Now I should say no, no...

   Trick-or-treating—going from house to house in search of candy and other goodies—has been a popular Halloween tradition in the United States and other countries for an estimated 100 years. But the origins of this community-based ritual, which costumed children typically savor while their cavity-conscious parents grudgingly tag along, remain hazy. Possible forerunners to modern-day trick-or-treating have been identified in ancient Celtic festivals, early Roman Catholic holidays, medieval practices and even British politics. Ancient Origins of Trick-or-Treating    Halloween has its roots in the ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of Samhain, which was celebrated on the night of October 31. The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, believed that the dead returned to earth on Samhain. People would gather to light bonfires, offer sacrifices and pay homage to the deceased. ...