July 24: Saint Christina

History

Saint Christina’s father was rich and powerful, but he didn’t believe in Jesus. He had some golden idols that he worshiped instead. When Christina became a Christian, she learned that idols were bad, so she broke them into pieces and gave the gold to the poor. Her father was really angry with her. He had her beaten with metal rods and thrown in a dungeon until she gave up her faith. Christina wouldn’t do it. Her father and the governor who took over after him tried to kill Christina through fire, drowning, poisonous snakes and more, but God kept protecting her. Finally, she was killed with arrows.

Activity

Here’s a tasty treat to celebrate Saint Christina’s faith.

Saint Christina’s Arrows*

Wafer cookies

Pretzel rods

Chocolate chips

Vegetable oil

Hershey Kisses

Step 1

1. With a serrated knife, saw the ends of the rectangular cookies diagonally, so that you have parallelograms that will serve as the fletching (feathers) on the arrows. 

Step 2

2. Divide the wafer in half by slicing through the filling so you have two identical, thin pieces. (Younger kids can do this with a butter knife.) 

Step 3

3. Melt the chocolate chips with one teaspoon of vegetable oil. Stir until smooth. Coat one (or more) pretzel per person in chocolate – set on waxed paper to dry. (If it's hot in your kitchen, you may want to put them in the fridge or freezer to speed this step up.  WOH Moms or Moms of Many tip: Buy pretzels already dipped to skip this step. Or try tube-shaped cookies like these (if you don't mind the extra sugar). Move on to step 4 before you start another pretzel!

Step 4

4. While the chocolate is still wet, press the edge of one of the wafer cookies pieces on each side so that they stick out. If you took the Step 3 shortcut, melt a few kisses or chocolate chips and dip one edge of the wafer cookies into that to "glue" them onto the pretzel or tube cookie. 

Step 5

5. Unwrap one Hershey kiss per pretzel. When all the pretzels are done and dry, reheat the melted chocolate chips (if necessary), and dip the uncoated end of the pretzel into the chocolate to coat. Press a kiss onto the end to serve as the arrowhead.

Return to the waxed paper and place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

*We developed this recipe because our youngest daughter is named Christine.