Elisabeth's First Communion

The Saturday before Mother's Day, Elisabeth had her First Holy Communion ceremony. Usually, children take their First Communion classes in 2nd grade, so Elisabeth was a few years older than most of the other kids. Being Elisabeth, though, she made the most of it and was sweet and kind to her younger classmates. She was relieved though when two other girls attended and were around her age as well.

The ceremony was beautiful. All these boys and girls, dressed in the finest, excited to partake in a sacrament they've all grown up watching their families partake in weekly. The front part of the church was packed to the gills with family members and friends trying their best to be as close to the participants as possible.

It's blurry, but I really love this picture:

I got there early enough to get a seat on the end of the pew so I got to sneak some pictures of her going forward to see Fr. Eddy.

Her dress was a Costco find, but, unbeknownst to me, most stores like Target and Kohls sell First Communion dresses. Her veil was a gift from her godparents, Kara and Zach and her shoes were a gift from her Nina because her Nina is the Queen of Awesome Shoe Finds!

 After Mass there was a cake reception. The First Communioners were all lined up by the Parish Hall stage to receive scapulars from Fr. Eddy. I thought the interaction between Elisabeth and the little girl she walked into the church with about their veils was sweet to watch.

Fr. Eddy told all of us that the priest at his home church always gave the First Communion recipients scapulars and he thought it was a tradition that should be brought back. The kids were pretty excited and I know Elisabeth has been wearing hers quite a bit. I actually had to look up were scapulars were and the history behind them because, well, I'm still learning.

It was a great morning. Evan and Vivian are not pictured in the picture below because after she ate her cake (and by that I mean ate all the icing and declared the cake part yucky) she darted around the hall like a crazy zoo animal that had broken free of its cage and Evan was following/chasing/trying to control her.

Julia is really excited to partake in her First Communion in a couple of years. She wants to wear Elisabeth's veil which I think is sweet.