A St. Joseph's Day Celebration @ the Halls!

Jerry's future in-laws were gracious enough to invite us to their St. Joseph's Day celebration!
Rosaire and her daughters produced quite a spread, and the food was amazing. We started the evening with  a prayer to St. Joseph...

A little history....The altars were made to honor St. Joseph, the Patron Saint of carpenters, fathers and Sicily. These altars gave thanks to St. Joseph for good fortune. In the Middle Ages there was a severe drought and famine in Sicily. The Sicilians prayed to St. Joseph for relief and promised him they would honor him with a bountiful feast. The altars consisted of three levels to represent the Holy Trinity.
Rosaire did a beautiful job...and  her talented daughters were at her side baking this beautiful bread!

The loaves of bread were formed and decorated in a variety of symbolic shapes, they were called cuccadati. The girls did a beautiful job!...I'm thinking my son should be thanking St. Joseph for the talented girl he'll be marrying very soon!

 {...he does look rather happy here!}

Carolyn's fabulous sister Jennifer came in from Iowa to help with the celebration!

...And fabulous sister # 2, Pamela, was also demonstrating her cooking skills!

...Of course no daughter is simply born talented...there is usually a mother who has quite a bit of talent to pass on to her offspring!

Please Note:  Rosaire is not always drinking wine and wielding a knife, just every now and then...

{ I believe I had a little wine at this point of the evening }

The food was beautiful...

And the company was wonderful...!!

Carolyn celebrated her birthday while I was in Florida, so I brought her a little something...

...every good cook needs oven mitts!

...and every soon to-be-married couple needs monogrammed robe hooks!

...and maybe something to fend off the wind in Chicago!

The clean-up portion of the evening was beginning and this is usually when I exit the building...

I hated to leave but we had a long drive ahead of us. Thankfully Rosaire packed up some leftovers for the trip. 

St Joseph may be the Patron Saint of Sicily, carpenters, and fathers...but tonight I think we might have to add celebration and laughter to the list...

...and don't forget cookies...

Mary Elizabeth