Resources and recommendations

Best introduction to the names of our faith

sanctanomina Resources and recommendations , ,

You all know I frequently link to Amazon using affiliate links — mostly (and I’m totally honest here) because they have all the books that I really highly recommend for any name enthusiast (I LOVE sharing with you the books that I love!), but certainly also because I earn a little money each time you click over using one of my links (so yes, as with my Father’s Day post, sometimes I’ll post other things I think will be of interest. I always try to have them connect to the themes of this blog though — names and faith). (As an aside — how do you all feel about affiliate links? Do you hate them? Not mind them? Are you okay with this?)

Certainly Amazon is the best for heavy duty name books, but there are so many name-related items that I think would be great as gift ideas (or “just because”) that I want to share with you, and a lot of them are available on Amazon, but every time I look on Amazon I feel a twinge that a Catholic company isn’t getting the business (and surely any Catholic companies need the patronage more than Amazon). So I’m thrilled thrilled thrilled to tell you that I recently signed up with The Catholic Company (Catholic Books and Gifts from The Catholic Company – The World’s #1 Catholic Store) to be an affiliate (like with the Amazon links).

Woo! I LOVE The Catholic Company!! No joke, I use it allllll the time for gifts for others, things for my kids, things for me 🙂 , etc., and they have SO MANY great things that fit so many occasions!!

So for my very first Catholic Company affiliate-linky post, I thought I’d list some of the kinds of books that fired up my love of the names of our faith (sancta nomina), all those years ago, when I was a wee girl.

It was all about the saints.

Oh my I loved the books of saints my mom had! And she had a lot — most of them were the same size, and fit in a brown cardboard shoebox-type box, and when I was teaching sixth grade Religious Ed the year I was pregnant with my oldest, I brought that box in with me for my students to use and the other mom who helped me out (bless her, she tried hard, but clearly hadn’t had a great formation in the faith), her eyes just about popped out of her head. “Where did you get those?” she wanted to know — she was so unfamiliar, and so hungry! You know?

These ones, the “Miniature Stories of the Saints,” are ones I actually owned. In fact, I came across one of them in my nightstand the other night! They’re small, with a quick profile of the saint on each page. And they’re very budget friendly — all less than $3.00!

Miniature Stories of the Saints (Book One

Miniature Stories of the Saints (Book Two)

Miniature Stories of the Saints (Book Three)

Miniature Stories of the Saints (Book Four)

Though I haven’t read this one, I liked the look of it, since it contains all six volumes of the “Little Book of Saints” series in one: My First Book of Saints.

This one too, which comes in two volumes: Saints for Young Readers for Every Day – Vol. I (January – June) and Saints for Young Readers – Vol. II (July to December).

And of course I have to include my boys’ particular favorite, which they have loved to literal pieces: Picture Book of Saints by Fr. Lovasik. (I love Fr. Lovasik. Anything by him is good by me.)

These books are amazing as gifts for baby showers (especially when they ask you to bring a book! I always bring books of saints), baptisms, birthdays for the younger set (maybe age 10 and younger?), and First Holy Communion, as well as Christmas (there’s always a big stack of new books under our Christmas tree, and books of our faith are always well represented).

So! I hope this is all helpful! It’s the kind of post I’d find useful, so I hope you all agree. Happy shopping! 🙂

The dads in your life will thank you

sanctanomina Resources and recommendations

WARNING: If you’re one of those people who gets totally annoyed by Amazon affiliate link-heavy posts, please click away! And pretend you never saw this!

I’ve been thinking of adding gift ideas to my “Resources and recommendations” page, because I think it would be helpful to you all — baby shower gifts, for example, or gifts for baptisms, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Christmas, etc., gifts that are related to faith and family and of course names (when possible), all of which are at the heart of my blog — and it would be helpful to me and my fledgling participation in the Amazon Affiliates program, so I’m hoping you don’t mind this mutually beneficial gift-ideas post too much?

I was browsing for Father’s Day on Amazon today, which made me think it might a good time to try this idea, because I saw some really cute things. Like “Happy First Father’s Day!” onesies — I mean, really. How cute. Or the “Like Father … Like Son” matching adult T-shirt and baby onesie set. Or perhaps the “I am your Father’s Day gift” onesie. (Can you tell I really like the onesie idea?) Fear not! I also liked (loved) the *new* “Coolest Dad Ever” Star Wars (!) shirt and the “How to say ‘Dad’ in eight different languages” socks. I mean really, What Dad doesn’t want these things?! 😛

Or maybe tchotchke-type things? Like the “To Daddy on our first Father’s Day” picture frame (there were actually a bunch of different ones like this). The “Best Dad Ever” regular mug or travel mug. The titanium “Dad” ring engraved on the inside with “Love you Dad.” A Willow Tree statue of a dad with his two little girls (totally reminds me of my dad and my two youngest sisters, who we will always and forever call “the little girls,” much to their chagrin) (they’re 25 and 27).

I’m a big fan of books as presents, both to give and receive — you too? Or not at all? I thought these were good ideas for a dad on Father’s Day (disclaimer: I haven’t read any of them, but I’ve seen the first two highly recommended by trustworthy sources, like CatholicMom.com, and the third just sounded like a good Father’s Day gift):

Man to Man, Dad to Dad: Catholic Faith and Fatherhood, by Brian Caulfield
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know, by Meg Meeker
Dad’s Playbook: Wisdom for Fathers from the Greatest Coaches of All Time, by Tom Limbert

(I did a search for “baby name books for dads” but didn’t like any of the results. Sorry Dads, I know you’re bummed.)

(I also did a search for “book of saints for catholic dads” — there’s one for Moms, but not for Dads!)

And there were a couple things for grandfathers too, like “The Grandfather” t-shirt (a take on The Godfather) and the “Keep Calm and Papa Will Fix It” shirt (this could be for those dads who go by “Papa” too).

Done! Those are my ideas! If they’re helpful, I’m delighted! If you hate them, and this post, and my audacity, then … I don’t know what. Hopefully that’s not the case!