We visited
Our Lady of the Snows National Shrine over the Christmas break. They had a buffet dinner that wasn't too expensive and of course Christmas displays and lights! My family is not Catholic so I was unfamiliar with Our Lady of the Snow story.
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| We found another St Louis Christmas cake which brings us up top about 90 cakes found and we are running out of time to gather all 250, but we have had fun looking and stumbling upon them when we can:) |
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| The history of Our Lady of the Snows can be traced back to Rome 352 AD and is one of the oldest devotion to Mary in the Catholic Church. It was said that the Blessed Mary had indicated in a dream to a wealthy couple that she wanted a church built in her honor and the site of her church would be revealed to them as it would be covered in snow. One day in August while the rest of Rome was sweltering there was snow on Esquiline Hill. A church was built and remains to this day in her honor. |
The facility we visited was in Illinois and every year they hold a light display and recount the birth of Jesus.
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| Inside they had wreath displays from area business which we enjoyed seeing |
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| This one was the family favorite |
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| Of course you had to have a Frozen wreath this year |
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| They had a room decorate to themed Christmas trees! |
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| This one was of pictures of WWII and even had black ribbon with different dates from that period on it |
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| Ronald MacDonald house |
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| A solider's tree |
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| Pictures of deceased soldiers for many wars |
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| At the end of the hall was this portrait and on closer inspection we noticed it was made up entirely of legos! |
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| Pretty impressive we thought |
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| Driving the grounds to see the lights and read about the birth of Christ |
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| A nativity display was found at the end |
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We also attended a later display on the grounds.
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They also had Camel rides, a petting zoo and a young children's room for families. Due to the cold we skipped the outside activities this night. We enjoyed it so much we will add it to next years list of places to visit during this time of the year!
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ReplyDeleteAnna-Marie,
ReplyDeleteI saw that you are the Blog of the Week at Blog Mommas! Congrats! Then this post title caught my attention immediately! I just sent a sympathy card to Mary Lenaburg and her family for their loss of sweet Courtney (I'm not sure if you know who I'm referring to or not, but Mary blogs at Passionate Perseverance and she just lost her 22 year old daughter just after Christmas). The card I sent was from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate at this Shrine and with my donation to the Missionary, they will light a candle at Our Lady of the Snow Shrine and remember Courtney in their daily Mass. OK, so I'm just in awe of this timing of your post, my card, and the fact that I read your post on the same day that I sent a card to this beautiful Shrine to support a blogging friend!
And I really didn't know much about Our Lady of Snows and learned alot from your post here! So thank you for teaching this Catholic gal a thing or two ;)
Wow, Our Lady's statue is just beautiful! I'm not going to say I'm jealous you got to visit this shrine, but maybe a wee bit envious :)
And the beautiful and creative wreaths and trees! Awesome! The soldier tree would have brought tears to my eyes to see all those faces who sacrificed so much.
Love the light show too! It must have been amazing! And I'm showing my kids that LEGO portrait! WOW!
Thanks so much Anna-Marie for blessing me with your post tonight! I just loved it for so many reasons!
Our Lady of the Snow, pray for us! :)