It’s Gonna Be A Party! St. Pope John Paul II Feast Day

You guys. Our main man St. Pope John Paul II has his FIRST ever saint feast day this week. Party time! October 22 is now the feast day of the great saint, chosen to fall on the anniversary of his inauguration as Pope in 1978. Pretty neat, right?

So, what’s the plan? Gonna celebrate? You’ve got to celebrate, after all, even some of our children were alive during his papacy! He’s a saint many of us even met, or at least saw in person. You’ve got to celebrate.

Going to daily Mass is a great way to enter into prayer with the Church, and hopefully our parish will have a special prayer said for him to commemorate the day.

You could read some stories about his life with your children, such as this one with quotes from him, or a biography. Also, you can listen to the Glory Stories CD about JPII. We have this one and love it!

Now, I’m probably not going to have time to make a nifty papal flag bunting (though how cool would that be?! Anyone up for that?), but I am going to prepare a yummy spread of Polish food, all gluten-free. Sure, JPII has his Papal Cream Cake (which we made in honor of his canonization!) but there are other amazing recipes to try, so we are going to do just that.

(note: I made these pickles last year. Not making pickles again this year, ain’t no time for that!)

First up, pickles. When I was researching (sounds so formal and official, doesn’t it?) menu options, I took all my ideas from one site. Then I gathered recipes from around the web. I’ll do my best to link them appropriately. Anyway, dill pickles are among the top Polish appetizers! I love pickles. They’re easy to find, delicious to munch on, and if you get a certain brand (Bubbies) you’ll even have a healthy fermented pickle.

I’m hoping to try this potato dumpling recipe, which appears on a list of top Polish foods, and looks like it will be good as a side with sauce poured on it.

This chicken recipe sounds delicious (wrapped around herbed butter?! I mean, how can you go wrong? I think it will have amazing flavor!), and I’m excited to try it.

Of course, there is goulash! There are so many variations of goulash…I’m certain we had a goulash in the school cafeteria, though not the traditional Polish kind!

For dessert, we’ll have rice with baked apples and cinnamon, or perhaps some budyn (pudding) and sesame snaps (if I can find it at the World Market!)

Looking for other ideas? Bonnie has a great little vlog about what her family will be doing!

Since I can’t resist, I’m gonna share the same song she did. Enjoy, and celebrate this great saint with your family!