Giveaway! Drinking with the Saints and celebrating the liturgical year
The beautiful thing about Advent (which is coming shortly!) is that it’s a new beginning — the perfect time to act on the little promptings you’ve been feeling on living your time in God’s time.
In our book, The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home
, you’ll find lots of good reasons and practical help in this journey — whether you are just starting out or have been celebrating the Liturgical Year all along.
And here is another book, in a more rollicking vein, that goes right along with ours:
Since now (even before Advent begins) it’s also a good time to get a few gifts tucked away, we are giving away five — FIVE — copies of Drinking with the Saints by Michael P. Foley, signed by the author!
This book will make a wonderful gift for that special someone who enjoys mixing fun libations on festive occasions — or who perhaps needs a little help to become such a person!
The best parties (and even small gatherings) have some sort of celebration at the heart of them, however modest. (This article by Jeffrey Tucker made a big impression on me long ago, but I think it’s still relevant and isn’t limited to Catholics.)
It’s just that living the fullness of the Liturgical Year brings out the celebratory side of things! And Drinking with the Saints really helps by combining information about the saint (or feast day) in question with appropriate drinks (some familiar, some invented by Foley and/or his friends) to hoist in his/her/its honor.
The production of Drinking with the Saints was beyond my expectations. It’s big. It covers every day and season, often with more than one saint/drink suggestion per entry. Well made to last through many rounds, this hardcover book has a good index and is easy to thumb through. The writing hits just the right notes on the scale of jovial, light-hearted, and solemn, because Michael Foley understands festivity. He also understands the role of drink (just enough, not too much) and the ceremony that surrounds (and civilizes) it.
Friends invited us over for dinner last month and offered us a “Maple Leaf” cocktail to celebrate the Canadian martyrs, whose feast it was. Let me tell you, that drink hit the spot. Mixed exactly as directed in the book, it was delicious.
I love that Foley included a section on “How to Toast.” Dads, start now because your toasting abilities need to be sharpened, the better to shine on that marvelous day when you raise a glass at your daughter’s wedding! (Even if you only have sons, you will be called upon to set the tone at the rehearsal dinner. Best be learning!)
“Drinking isn’t about drinking; it’s about conviviality. And part of the art of conviviality is the toast, no matter how simple. Toasting is about as old as drinking itself and just as important, although it is in a lamentable decline these days. And it has deeply religious roots… Catholics should be natural toasters, for ritual is in our blood… formality does not replace spontaneity or joy but completes it, channels it, enriches it.”
Thus, I consider Drinking with the Saints to be a good and jolly companion to The Little Oratory. As we keep saying and demonstrating, it’s not enough to know that you should be celebrating the Liturgical Year. We all need a little help on how to do so. And that’s why you will love Drinking with the Saints.
Other books you find helpful for living the Liturgical Year:
The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home
The Year & Our Children: Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season
Take Joy, by Tasha Tudor. Although it’s out of print, this book is lovely. Keep your eye out at book sales for one!
And of course, Drinking with the Saints: The Sinner’s Guide to a Holy Happy Hour
Enter your comment below to enter the giveaway for Drinking with the Saints. Five lucky winners will each receive a signed copy of Drinking with the Saints! We will close the giveaway on Saturday.
The post Giveaway! Drinking with the Saints and celebrating the liturgical year appeared first on Like Mother Like Daughter.
