Today is Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras. We are hosting our church family for an evening of shrivening. Instead of the traditional pancakes and sausages, we are making potato doughnuts with lemon glaze, yeast doughnuts with cinnamon sugar and Viennese doughnuts. We bought a deep fat fryer a few months ago. Other people are bringing their favorite fattening desserts and hors-d'oevres. We will be eating a sausage and potato bake made with a cream sauce and a salad for dinner. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we fast.

Of course, the children won't be fasting, but I will be making meals of abstinence, so no meat. That way we can talk about what Ash Wednesday means, why we are eating differently (or not eating, as we adults will be), and so on. We will be going to our priest's house for an Ash Wednesday service. It will be later than our normal mid-week activities, but with no coffee hour, food and socialization afterward, we will likely get home earlier anyway.

So begins Lent. I have been contemplating what penances of the will, body and mind I will do, and have come up with a plan. Please pray for me to keep them.

Labels: Church Year, Lent, Mardi Gras