You might be familiar with Mary on the Mantel from Be A Heart, a popular modern online Catholic gift shop from Erica Tighe Campbell.
Now you can bring that same spirit of beauty and faith into every occasion of daily life with Campbell’s new book, Living the Seasons: Simple Ways to Celebrate the Beauty of Your Faith Throughout the Year.
This gorgeous book, packed with light-filled photos and colorful crafts, is worthy of display all year round. But it won’t stay on the coffee table as you’ll want to pick it up to refer to it constantly!
Campbell shares doable and fun activities, from baking Santa Lucia buns to making a wooden baby rattle. The crafts, recipes, and themed celebrations celebrate Catholic feast days, holy days, and liturgical seasons.
And this book isn’t just for parents: It’s a delightful and inspiring read for anyone who likes food, crafts, creativity and fun!
I had the chance to catch up with Campbell about her new book and all the work and thought that went into it. Here is our conversation.
What inspired you to write Living the Seasons?
In 2019 when I was pregnant with my first child, I was shopping in a children’s boutique and saw a gorgeous book filled with ideas for children’s birthday parties. I had this idea to create a book that was for parties inspired by the saints and Catholic feast days. At the time, I did a lot of work in the event industry in Los Angeles and always had parties on my mind. When Ave Maria Press approached me about doing something with them, I pitched the idea. They loved it, but instead of it being a birthday inspired by St. Joseph, they wanted to focus on simple ways to celebrate feast days in our everyday lives.
What are some easy ways for people to start out celebrating their faith in their homes?
I think the easiest way is to start with what you already do. I would bet that most families already celebrate in some way. Growing up, I remember the nightly candle lighting during Advent and the sacrifices we would make during Lent, and most of all the prayer we would say before dinner. So, an easy way to expand the celebrations by looking at what is next. For example, in the Church, Christmas only begins on December 25. This year, you could do something super small from then until Epiphany on January 6 (the 12 days of Christmas). Last year for my daughter, we gave her minimal gifts on Christmas day and then gave her something tiny every day so that we could keep the celebration going.
Then, think of a saint that is meaningful for you and your family, find out what day we celebrate their feast day, and pick one activity to do for it or even simply say an extra prayer to that saint to invite them into your life.
Why would you encourage living liturgically in this way?
There is such richness in the traditions of our faith. It isn’t something to be lived only on Sundays at Mass for an hour. We can learn so much from different saints and the way that God called them each individually to live Christ’s love in the world. This can inspire us to listen quietly to the way that God beckons us. I’ve been thinking a lot about how this year seems even more pronounced that people jumped from Halloween to Christmas decorations. The world is heavy around us and decorating and celebrating brings people joy. The Church gives us a blueprint for ways to make so many of our days special. We don’t have to jump from October 31 to December 25 because there is so much beauty and richness in between.
How do you envision families using this book?
I intentionally made this book for everyone -- not just families. For many years I was single and without children and I would have loved a resource like this. I wanted to make a book that was so beautiful that you’d want to leave it out on your coffee table and page through it and be inspired. I didn’t want to create another book that felt like another task for moms to add to their ever growing to do list. I didn’t want it to feel like an obligation, but more of an invitation to lean into the many seasons of our lives - times for joy and dancing, times for quiet contemplation.
What are some of your favorite parts of the book?
Going back to my original inspiration for the book -- I love to throw a good party. Probably my favorite parts are the parties -- throwing a baby shower for Mary as an Advent party where you collect items to take to a pregnancy center and pause in the midst of the holiday madness for prayer, turning a New Year’s Eve party into a Marian theme for her January 1 feast -- Mary, mother of God, and a Mardi Gras picnic with a pinata and cat king and queen. As we were writing the book - a special shoutout to my friend Augusta D’Ambrosio who helped me -- we wanted to share different traditions from around the world that show the richness of the diversity of our universal church.
What is the most important thing you would want people to know about Living the Seasons?
There is no right way or wrong way to live liturgically other than going to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. The book is full of suggestions that we hope will bring more richness and beauty into the sometimes mundane of daily life. As the title invokes, there are many seasons of our lives and some seasons where doing anything “extra” is impossible because you are tapped out. Then there are seasons that have more space and room to add in new traditions. My hope is that in all the suggestions of the book, there is joy to be found in both living our faith and sharing it with those around us.
