Pancake day

Pancakes for dinner?



Oh, yes!


According to my research here, here, and here, the celebration comes from the time when all the fats, meats, and sweets had to be out of the house before Lent. Roman Catholics don't fast as austerely anymore, but our family has embraced the tradition of an especially sweet dinner just before Lent.



We usually give up after-dinner desserts during Lent, which gives us more time after dinner for family prayer. Tonight, in addition to the pancakes, sausage, and fruit salad, we needed to finish some cheesecake left from St. Valentine's Day, so we added it to the celebration. I think my mother would call that "guilding the lily."

chocolate mustache--we think he looks a bit like Clark Gable here

We sacrifice something that isn't necessarily bad in order to help us keep our focus more directly on Christ during Lent. I give up chocolate; John gives up beer. The children choose their own sacrifices according to their age and understanding. Matthew does something different each day. These are small things, but when united with the sacrifice of Christ, they become something much larger. "Little things for love of Jesus," we say with St. Therese.

Back in Yakima, John sometimes went out for a beer with a friend on Shrove Tuesday; tonight he had to settle for one last beer with his dinner. I had one, too. There were two cans of Guiness left in the garage (our winter cold storage), so I thought I would be gracious and help him out. ;)

Daddy's last beer before Lent.

More in the coming days on the things we do besides giving something up for Lent.

Happy Pancake Day!