The Rosary Tree

Tami Urcia describes the surprising way her children have made a weekly family Rosary a treasured prayer practice.

After attending the Catholic Mom Contributors retreat in February of 2025, I was inspired to pray the Rosary more as a family. Due to hectic schedules that sometimes have our family looking more like a revolving door than a cohesive unit, I knew that attempting a daily Rosary would result more in increased frustration than increased holiness. But we could definitely shoot for once a week.

A Sneak Peek at our Weekly Family Rosary

So every Sunday after dinner, but before dessert (because we all know what sugar does to our already rambunctious kiddos), we all sit down in the living room for a family Rosary. Before we begin, we ask if anyone has any particular intentions they would like to pray for. It always surprises me to see how our children's hearts and minds expand as they grow. For example, one week my 7-year-old son prayed that all those who get baptized will stay with God forever, and my new teenager prayed for all those who would be losing a loved one in the coming days. Even my 4-year-old chimed in to pray for Daddy’s back to feel better.

We are blessed to have a colorful and poetic prayer aid so the kids can delve a little bit more deeply into the Mysteries of the Rosary at their level. Since we happen to have five children, we pray one Mystery for each one of them by name and ask them to lead the prayers for that Mystery as well. We hope that the graces from this wonderful prayer will lead them on the path toward sanctity.

But lest you think that these times of prayer come straight out of Leave it to Beaver or The Brady Bunch, with perfectly behaved children all lined up in a row with eyes closed and hands folded, let me set the record straight. We have our fair share of whispers, giggles, wiggles, elbowing, dancing around the room, and whirling rosaries around like a pinwheel. But with consistent redirection and the promise of a yummy dessert on the horizon, we get through it. And the kids now expect it as part of our family routine, our small attempt to “keep holy the Sabbath.”

Taking It One Step Further

... or should I say, one evergreen further?

This past Advent season, something peculiar happened. As we finished praying the Rosary each Sunday, instead of putting their rosaries back in the end table drawer, my children began hanging them on the Christmas tree. In our family, we put the tree up on Thanksgiving weekend but wait until after Mass on Christmas Eve to put on the ornaments. Seeing the tree so empty, they wanted to decorate it with Our Lady’s beads.

Even after Christmas came and went, I left up a small, undecorated pine tree on the side table and they began hanging their rosaries there. I dubbed it “The Rosary Tree.”

Most of the rosaries on the tree came from the Father Peyton Center and were all different colors, so it was quite a sight to behold. After walking past the tree several times without a second thought, one day I looked at it with new eyes. It was really quite profound. I realized that, just as trees grow and flourish, these rosaries are helping my kids to grow and flourish in their spiritual life.

Just as these rosaries are all different colors, my kids are all very different. Just as all the rosaries hang upon this one tree, we all hang onto our one God. Just as the trunk of that tree makes the branches strong enough to hold the weight of all the rosaries, so God is strong enough to hold all of us.

Now It’s Your Turn

I pray that during this month of May, the month dedicated to Our Blessed Mother, we may all grow closer to Mary through personal prayer and the holy Rosary. Perhaps you start by simply fingering the beads as you carry it around in your pocket. Then you start praying it, one decade at a time. Then perhaps you invite your spouse to pray with you and then your family. And before you know it, the Rosary will be a source of consistent comfort to you. Who knows, maybe one day you will even find yourself setting up your own Rosary tree.

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Copyright 2026 Tami Urcia
Images: (top, center) Canva; bottom copyright 2026 Tami Urcia, all rights reserved.