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Member Reviews
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If you want to celebrate your faith throughout the year with your family, Erica Tighe Campbell's new book, Living the Seasons: Simple Ways to Celebrate the Beauty of Your Faith Throughout the Year, is definitely the resource for you. Instagram users probably know Erica from her work at Be A Heart Design (@BeAHeartDesign). In this book, Erica applies the same principles as she does in her creations: finding simple and fun, yet beautiful, ways to mark the events of the liturgical year. Although the title is "Living the Seasons," there's a lot of information in the book about particular feast days as well, which truly makes it a resource you can use all year long.
You don't have to be an artist or experienced crafter to use this book—and you certainly don't need to do every project, make every food, or try every spiritual practice mentioned here. Some things are better for certain seasons of your family life than others. For example, the pre-Lenten practice of going to Confession is always appropriate for parents and older children, but if your children are still preschoolers, you may wish to find another way to lead into that season.
Some of the crafts in the book are fairly complicated, so I recommend reading ahead if you're able, so that you can decide what's doable for you and stock up on the materials you'll need to have on hand to complete the projects. Other projects are simpler and are made from templates you can download free from BeAHeart.com.
While the Church year begins during Advent, you can jump into this book at any point. Lent comes fairly early this year, so the activities leading up to Lent and the ones for that season would be an excellent starting place. Living the Seasons is organized chronologically beginning with Advent and ending with the feast of Christ the King; feast days of saints are interspersed with seasonal content, in order of appearance. The book is well-organized this way, and there's an index at the back in case you're looking for a particular occasion to celebrate.
My go-to way of celebrating is by cooking rather than crafting. There's plenty of content in Living the Seasons to inspire beginning cooks or full-fledged foodies. (That said, this is not a cookbook, so you'll need to look elsewhere for recipes for the foods mentioned in this book.) And Erika makes sure to focus on the spiritual aspect of each season by sharing hymns, prayers, and practices appropriate to that time of year.
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A beautiful book with ideas for celebrating major and minor holidays (including many Saints Days)--including decorations, games, refreshments, and background of the holiday. This could be just the thing to get me through my winter doldrums. #LivingtheSeasons #NetGalley
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I loved this for getting me into the festive spirit and giving me amazing ideas for the following seasons to come .
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This is a wonderful resource for families, teachers, and parish (child) catechists.
I don't have children myself, but I have friends who do (including moms who home school). I also work at a Catholic Archdiocese. Through that lens, I see immense value in a resource like this, especially for families.
The book was well-designed, with a clear font, great lay-out, lack of "word clutter", and plenty of sample pictures to "paint the story." For each liturgical day/seasons, there was a great basic explanation of the day, and then some ideas of what you could do to incorporate the rhythm of the liturgical season into your life.
I thought the ideas were clever and easily adaptable. Some of the ideas might not work given ones financial limitations and/or time limitations. But there were enough suggestions of varying price-ranges that I think this could be easily done in your own small way that best fits your family.
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This book is stunning, filled with gorgeous photographs and approachable activities to celebrate the beautiful feast days in our church calendar. So enjoyable to flip through or to use the index to find a specific day in which to celebrate.
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As a mom to 2 little kids and a JK/SK teacher, I’m always on the look out on activities and crafts that I can do with my kiddos at home or at school. I’m so happy to have read this book, it has so many good ideas for hands on living the liturgical year. I enjoyed the photographs and the ideas that the author gave for each feast day. This has been a great help as I come up with my own ideas as well. I will most definitely be buying this book as a hard copy. Catholic parents- this one’s for you!
Thank you to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for the eARC.
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Excellent book! I loved the beautiful images, the in-depth knowledge of the various church calendar dates, and the creative ways in which to observe them. This book is fun, engaging, and such a lovely resource to have on hand!
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It's objectively an impossible task, to review a book based on a 28-page sample, much of which is occupied by photographs. The style of the photographs is certainly pleasant, but I honestly don't feel capable of forming an opinion otherwise.
On a purely personal note, I don't particularly enjoy texts on liturgical living that blend ancient traditions with innovative proposals born from the author's creativity (e.g., for Shrove Tuesday, the book suggests actual historically contextualized activities. For March 24th, it proposes activities related to Oscar Romero, which the author clearly invented because she's a fan of that saint. I personally don't appreciate this mixing of the old and new in liturgical living, and I find initiatives like the baby shower for the Madonna rather comical. But, of course, it's a matter of personal taste).
Certainly, this is a book designed for families with children. If you don't have young children to educate, you'll probably prefer other publications. At least, this is my opinion based on the smallll portion I was able to read.
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It's hard to rate this book when I was given such a small sample. I really would like to read the rest of it and I love everything I've ever gotten from Be A Heart! So I'm sure the rest of the book is just as beautiful.
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I just got to review a sample of this book through Netgalley, but what I previewed was lovely. I appreciate the welcoming spirit of this book. It gently invites the reader into living a more liturgically focused life in a very non-stressful way.
It has absolutely gorgeous photos and
Would be nice coffee table book to treasure. The crafts look adorable and kid friendly.
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It's hard to write a full review on a 28 page preview but this book is gorgeous and I am very familiar with Erica's work outside of this book.
This is a must for any Catholic or liturgical home and I am obsessed with the high quality photos and easy ways to incorporate the liturgical year into daily life
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This book shows a way to celebrate each holiday and include the Catholic faith. I found the book to be very interesting and informative. The author did a great job explaining the traditions and ways holidays are observed. She was very simple and not over the top with her ideas.
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I received a sample of "Living the Seasons" and I must say, I will definitely be reading this book once it is released. "Living the Seasons" is a book that presents readers with different ways in which they can celebrate the various Catholic holidays throughout the year. From the sample I can tell that the book does a thorough job of covering the different holidays, some of which I have never heard of before. I'll definitely be giving this book a read once it is published.
Thank you to NetGalley for this e-arc of :Living the Seasons".
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This book is a treasure! Sometimes all of the Catholic holy days and feast days can (while beautiful) feel overwhelming with young children. In this book Erica gives simple explanations of the origins of each day, along with fun and unique ways to celebrate them. There are so many creative activities that both kids and adults alike will enjoy. And as always, Erica's illustrations are beautiful. One unexpected surprise was how stunning the photography was in this book as well, and so helpful to see examples the liturgical activities. All of it together is truly a work of art!
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Finally, a contemporary book for Catholic families that inspire us to celebrate our Church’s rich traditions with freshness and warmth. This book is multigenerational, modern, and full of hospitality for every season. I can’t wait to open it again and again.
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We sometimes make faith complicated. In our busy schedules, if we think about the milestones of the Christian calendar at all, celebrating the days may feel like too much of an effort.
Designed for busy moms, the simple crafts, explanations of the holidays, and adaptations to family rhythms make this a worthwhile purchase. Add it to your shelf ... or let your kids browse the illustrations for ideas during their carpool.
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I received a sample of this book through NetGalley for advanced review - I wish I could have read the whole thing, because I loved what I saw so far. A straightforward and beautiful book (I expected nothing less from Campbell, the owner of Be A Heart) that is a very accessible guide to liturgical living. With fun ideas and projects, this book is a must for anyone who wants to bring the rhythm of the faith and Church more into their daily lives.
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I’ve loved looking to Be a Heart for activities and ideas for our Sunday School curriculum, so when I saw she had written a book, I jumped at the chance to review.
Let me tell you, I cannot wait to buy this book for every parent I know. She’s broken down each season to have activities, crafts and togetherness activities to teach kids about Jesus, saints, and sacred traditions. Not only are the activities exciting (who doesn’t love the idea of hosting a baby shower for Mary?) but they book itself is gorgeous with beautiful illustrations and photographs.
This is the sort of resource parents have been asking for to help with Christian formation at home. I’m so excited to share this.
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Religious faith is not a spectator sport. It involves not only prayer, but also concrete action.
In recent years, I have been more cognizant of the liturgical year and the gems contained within it. I have found that living according to the seasons of the Church adds a sense of richness to my days.
If you are looking for a guidebook to such a faith-filled life, look no further than Living the Seasons: Simple Ways to Celebrate the Beauty of Your Faith Throughout the Year.
The cover of the book is so inviting, it seems almost to be calling out to the reader, "Come, pick me up!" The strategies contained inside are refreshing yet comfortable, making it a valuable resource.
I have seen much excitement in the Catholic sphere about this book. I can tell you--it's well worth the hype!
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I received a free copy of, Living the Seasons, by Erica Tighe Campbell, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I really like this book, it has great activities for the whole family to do. It had information on saints and holy days, things to make, pray about, eat etc.