A/N: This story was suggested by Rizzles13. Thank you for the suggestion. I hope you enjoy the story.
St. Joseph's Day
Jane, Maura and the children were sitting at the dining room table Friday night having dinner when Lilly asked, "Mommy, why are we wearing red St. Joseph's Day t-shirts tomorrow? Who is St. Joseph?"
Maura replied, "Because mama is of Sicilian ancestry, which means you are also of Sicilian ancestry. Many Italian-American communities recognize St. Joseph as their patron saint and we celebrate St. Joseph's Day to honor him. Just like we wore green and celebrated St. Patrick's Day because I am Irish." Maura and Jane had made sure that their donor had as many traits as possible in common with Jane. It was nice that he was also part Irish. The children were too young to understand the particulars of the donor and how they were conceived. That would be a conversation for when they were much older.
"Who was St. Joseph and what is he a patron saint of?" Lilly continued to question her mother. She was very curious for a five-and-a-half-year old and they loved it. All four of the children were demonstrating signs of high intelligence. Of course, both of their parents were very intelligent as was their donor.
Jane spoke up, "St. Joseph was the husband of Mary and the step-father of Jesus."
Maura answered the second part of the question, "St. Joseph assisted in stopping a famine from happening in Sicily during the middle ages by bringing them rain. The people had prayed and promised God that if their patron saint brought them rain, they would honor him with a feast. The rain did come and to this day they honor St. Joseph with a feast every March 19th. In 1870 Pope Pius IX decreed Joseph as the patron saint of the Church and declared March 19th as St. Joseph's Day. He is the patron saint of workers and those that are seeking work."
AJ asked, "Why March 19th?"
Jane answered, "That is the day that is believed to be his birthday. In quite a few countries it also marks the beginning of Spring."
"Are we doing anything to celebrate St. Joseph's Day?" AJ asked. Jane and Maura figured he may have just forgotten that they have been celebrating St. Joseph's Day every year. AJ had so many things going on in his young life so it was easy for him to forget at this age.
"Yes, nonna is preparing the feast for tomorrow afternoon and we will participate in giving out food to the needy at the food bank in the morning. We will wear our red t-shirts as that is the color that is associated with St. Joseph's Day." Maura replied.
AJ said, "Thank you, mommy, for explaining. I think it is great that we can give out food at the food bank."
"Technically, you are supposed to be over 16 to work at the food bank, but your mama and I have been volunteering there for years and the director has something that you can do to assist. Mama will be passing out the food while we help the director in other ways." Maura explained.
"I wanna help mama." Kate said. "Peas, me be with mama."
Maura stated, "How about you stay attached to mama and then you can be with her, you can't wander off."
Jane told her, "Ya, little one, you can hold onto my leg like you do at the baseball games sometimes."
"Me want to hold hand, mama." Kate said.
Jane replied, "But I am going to need both of my hands to hand out the bags of food. It would help me if you could hold onto or snuggle up to my leg, otherwise you will have to be with mommy."
"Okay, I be good and snuggle with you." Kate said as she smiled at her mama.
"What is in the feast?" MJ asked. "I think I remember having a feast at Nonna's a few days after St. Patrick's Day last year."
"The feast typically consists of breads, zeppole and fava beans.
"What are zeppole and fava beans?" Lilly asked.
"Zeppole is pizza dough fried and dusted with powdered sugar. It can also be stuffed with ricotta cheese like a cannoli, or other fillings. Fava beans are the beans that kept Sicilian people from starving" Jane informed Lilly.
"Can we make some zeppole?" Lilly asked, she had enjoyed making their pizza and pies for Pi Day.
Maura looked at her watch and then at Jane who just shrugged her shoulders, leaving the decision up to Maura. She replied, "Okay, but then you have to take your baths and get ready for bed."
All four children smiled and said "yes." They high-fived each other and went to wash their hands in preparation for making zeppole. Jane and Maura loved how they didn't have to ask the children to wash up before they were going to prepare something in the kitchen. While they were washing up, Jane and Maura got all the ingredients ready to make the zeppole.
The children listened very carefully to the instructions that Maura gave them. AJ promised, "I will not make a mess with the flour again." Jane couldn't help but laugh when AJ made that promise, because it is her experience that AJ always managed to make a mess with the flour. Pi Day was just more of a mess than normal. They enjoyed cooking with the children. Kate loved to be in the center of everything and she was always trying to cook with her mommy. Maura encouraged her and had a special step stool for her to stand on when she was working in the kitchen with her.
Maura informed them, "Mama will do the frying, the oil is too hot and we don't want you to get burned by the hot oil in the fryer." The children all agreed and when their dough was ready, they passed it to their mama to put in the fryer. They started with Kate's first. When Kate's zeppoles came out of the fryer Maura put them on a cooling rack to cool down and let the extra oil drip off of them.
Lilly was next to pass her zeppoles to Jane, then AJ and finally MJ. By the time MJ's were coming out of the fryer, Maura was ready to assist Kate with dusting her zeppoles with powdered sugar. The children had so much fun. Of course, they got powdered sugar all over their faces and all over their aprons.
Jane was able to take a few pictures before Maura dusted her with powdered sugar and whispered in her ear so the children couldn't hear them, "you are my zeppole and I wanted you all dusted up so I could enjoy you."
"Maur, you are bad, the children are still wide awake."
"I know, I will take some powdered sugar upstairs with us for later."
"See, you are bad. I might have to arrest you for bad behavior."
"Please do." Maura said with a smirk and wink.
"Maur!" Jane said it a little louder than she meant to and it got the attention of the children
"Mama, did mommy do something wrong?" MJ asked.
"Yes, she dusted me with powdered sugar." Jane said as she laughed. "Should I punish her?"
"Yes." MJ said as he laughed with his mama. "I think you should dust her with the powdered sugar."
"Really, you hear that Maur, your oldest child said I should dust you with the powdered sugar." Jane was having a hard time keeping a straight face. She grabbed some powdered sugar and all four of the children gathered around Maura.
"Oh no, you all cannot gang up on me." Maura exclaimed.
"Yes, we can and it looks like we are Maur. Do you promise to be good while we enjoy our zeppolis?"
"Yes, I do." Maura exclaimed hoping not to be dusted with powdered sugar by Jane and the children.
Jane placed the powdered sugar on the kitchen island and helped Lilly get her zeppolis. MJ was helping 'his Katie,' and Maura helped AJ. After MJ finished helping 'his Katie' he got his zeppoles and gave one to his mama. AJ gave one to Jane also and Lilly and Kate each gave one to Maura. Maura poured half a glass of milk for everyone and they spent the half hour enjoying conversation and their zeppoles. The children brushed their teeth and then went to bed. They were excited about their St. Joseph's Day events on Saturday.
The children were up early on Saturday morning and all four went in their mother's room and discovered their mothers were not in their room. Jane and Maura had gotten up early so they could prepare breakfast for the children. Weekends were bunny pancake time and the kids took their seats and were served by their mommies. Maura was cooking the pancakes and Jane was squeezing fresh orange juice. She had already set the table. They enjoyed their breakfast a zeppole or two and then changed and got ready to go to the food bank.
When they arrived at the food bank, they checked in and then Maura took MJ, AJ and Lilly with her and Jane took Kate. True to her word, Kate stayed glued to Jane's side. So many people commented on how cute she was and how much she looked like her mama. Kate just smiled and said, "Tank you." Jane was very impressed with Kate's behavior. She was a polite young lady.
Maura and MJ did some filing and organizing for the director. The director had AJ and Lilly work on artwork for some flyers. Her office manager had suggested some children's drawing would be nice, so that is what they were working on. This was a task right up their alley, they loved arts and crafts.
When they finished their volunteer time they drove over to Angela's house. Angela had a small table with the traditional St. Joseph's Day set up. I had a lace tablecloth, lily blossoms, votive candles. On top of the table cloth was a statue of St. Joseph and an offering of fava beans, breads and zeppole. Angela had a big pot of gnocchi on the dining room table with extra fava beans, breads and zeppole.
Once everyone had arrived, they sat down to eat. Even though it was a Saturday, Angela stuck with a no meat meal as she always had, that is how her mother taught her. Her rationalization was that if you were poor or in a drought you may not have certain things such as meat, but you most likely had breads and pasta. Jane, Frankie and Tommy had grown up with that knowledge as that is how Angela always cooked for St. Joseph's Day.
They enjoyed their meal and then went to mass. Jane promised after mass they could have more zeppole. They helped Angela clean up and do some preparations for Sunday dinner the next day that they would eat after the St. Patrick's Day Parade. The family had a fun day and they were so glad that they were able to spend this time together. Jane turned on the heat lamps in the backyard and after they put the children to bed, they went out to the hot tub and enjoyed some adult time.
