Celebrating the Liturgical Year!

"Families who observe the feasts with joyful home celebrations based on the religious thoughts of the season, will certainly never have to complain that their youngsters find home life dull or uninteresting.  The modern trend of seeking shallow amusements outside the home is mostly due to the ignorance and inability of parents who forgot(or never knew) how to mold the lives of their children in the spirit of Christian tradition with all its happy customs inspired by holy liturgy."  from The Year of the Lord in the  Christian Home by Rev. F.X. Weiser

How very inspirational Father Weiser's words are to all of us!  We have been given rich traditions by our family's heritage and our rich faith traditions.  They may seem trivial at times or too much extra 'work', but these are the things that your children will remember and hopefully pass on to the next generation.  While passing on these traditions we are also passing on prayers and devotions to increase their love of our Lord!  Our Advent season is full of tradition as we anticipate the coming Nativity of the Lord.  Let us use this Advent as a time of preparation and penance!  

Praying Over My To-Do List

I sit here with my list, Lord, and I know I need help finding a balance. I am so looking forward to Christmas Day, with the family here, the company, the wonderful celebration. But, Lord, there is SO much to do!  When will it all get done?  How will I maintain any semblance of inner peace in this "peaceful" season?

I think, Lord, that I need some balance in my life. I feel so torn between wanting to cook and fill my house with wonderful welcoming smells, and wanting to finish decorating the house. I have shopping to do, the house to clean and cards to write and mail.  When?  How?

Help me, guide me, Lord. Help me to set priorities around doing those things that will bring me closer to you. Maybe my house really is clean enough, or maybe I can ask my family for help. Can the cards wait until a quiet afternoon after Christmas?  Can my house decorations be simpler?  Is there more than a little ego involved when I want so desperately to have my house "magazine perfect" for the holidays?

Help me rediscover the joy of simplicity, Lord. Help me to remember what I am celebrating. Help me to find it in my heart to call out, "Come, Lord Jesus."

 

Homemaker's Prayer
Lord, you have chosen me for the noblest of woman's callings. I ask You for wisdom to use well my opportunity. May the precious lives entrusted to Your care blossom to beauty and maturity in this home. Grant that they may come from the world's rough and thorny ways to find rest and a secure, loving family. May they be renewed each day in faith, hope, and love. May we live for the best and highest, seeking to lessen, where we can, the burdens of others. Strengthen me, but keep me soft-hearted and tolerant of others. Make me willing to learn from the old as well as from the young. Dear Lord, make me sufficient for my task.
*Author unknown

Count your blessings!

Advent Blessings!

Working in the Kitchen During Advent

What joy this brings me, Lord. Thank you for guiding me into the kitchen
for some time of silence with you. The room fills with wonderful smells and I
share tastes and samples with my family as they make extra trips through the
kitchen on days like this. Thank you for each and every one of these special
people in my family. They are like the ingredients of my own life, adding spice
and heat and wonderful flavor and melding together into a unique dish designed
to glorify you.

You know, God, cooking is quite a bit like my life. It's messy, I get
careless and sometimes things don't turn out as I had planned. But in the mess
of my life, that's where I can turn to you. Help me when I have to deal with
being so imperfect. Bless me with humility when I grapple with my own poverty.
Let me feel how deeply you love me, even when all I have to offer is scorched
and humble.

Be with me Lord, in this kitchen today. Help me to take the time in this
intimate silence with you, to pray for each person who will eat this food.
Allow me to remember all of those around the world who have so little food, and
bless those who share what little they have.

Only seven days a week...

Monday:  Wash Day 

Lord, help me wash away all my selfishness and

vanity, so I may serve you with perfect humility
Through the week ahead.

Tuesday:   Ironing Day
Dear Lord, help me iron out all the wrinkles
Of prejudice I have collected through the years
So that I may see the beauty in others.

Wednesday:  Mending Day 
O God, help me mend my ways so I will not
Set a bad example for others.

Thursday:  Cleaning Day 

O God, help me to dust out all the many faults I have been hiding in the secret corners of my heart.

Friday:  Shopping Day

O God, give me the grace to shop wisely so I may purchase eternal happiness for myself and all others In need of love.

Saturday:  Cooking Day
Help me, my God, to brew a big kettle of brotherly
love and serve it with clean, sweet bread of human kindness.

Sunday:  The Lord's Day   
O God, I have prepared my house for you. Please
Come into my heart so I may spend the day and the
Rest of my life in your presence.

Homestyle Cornbread

Today is a chilly, rainy day in Holmes County...it's been raining since last evening and shows now signs of letting up.  So I wanted to make some nice, rainy-day comfort food.  This morning I started a big pot of pinto beans with ham chunks and let it simmer for hours. To go with the beans I made cornbread muffins.  Cornbread muffins are a favorite in our house, even with my "Yankee" husband.  They go along side most any meal, but especially with soups and chili.    

In a mixing bowl :

Mix 1 c milk, 1/4 c melted and cooled butter (do not substitute), 1 egg, 1 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal, 1 cup flour (can be 1/2 whole wheat), 1/2 cup sugar, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Preheat oven to 400. Grease pan(s) for 12 muffins. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.  Leftovers can be saved in freezer to add to dressing/stuffing.

 

 

"

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord,

plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future

and  a hope."   Jeremiah 29:11

Time-Warp Wife

http://time-warp-wife.blogspot.com/

Love this blog! Empowering wives to joyfully serve!

All Saint's Eve sampler

This adorable little sampler is available at http://www.christianpatterns.com/autumn/Christian-Fall-Halloween-patterns.htm     I just love the message!

One of our favorite fall snacks is a simple mixture of one bag of Brach's (no substitutes!) candy corn mixed with one can of cocktail peanuts.  That's it.   Sweet and savory. Mmmmm. Won't last long :D 

Frugal fall decorating

Using some clippings from flowers and trees around the yard I tied them with twine onto a trellis. Voila!   I love the sights and smells of autumn...crunching of leaves...chilling mornings...smell of firewood burning....

†Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam†

Custom rosary giveaway!

http://awomansplaceis.blogspot.com/2011/10/custom-rosary-giveaway.html#comment-form
Custom rosary giveaway!

God is good!

After a day of rain, gray skies and falling temps, 

this was the view from our front porch at sunset! 

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be,
as if it had not been!"
-  Percy Shelley

To every season....

"Every season hath its pleasures;
Spring may boast her flowery prime,
Yet the vineyard's ruby treasures
Brighten Autumn's soberer time."
-  Thomas Moore

Photos from around the homestead

Preparing for winter!

End of September

Welcome Fall! It's chilly this morning in Holmes County and cold temps are coming tomorrow night! I love these quiet mornings with the cool breeze fluttering the curtains, crisp leaves falling and a variety of birds at our feeders.....getting my slippers out for the first time this season...hugging my steaming coffee mug...getting out jackets and my beloved hoodies.

Fridays are my market day and I want to do some baking today. I enjoy fall baking and not worrying about heating up the kitchen and enjoying the warmth of the oven. Starting to think of pumpkin recipes! Here are a few of our favorites. Autumn Blessings to you and yours!

PUMPKIN PIE CAKE  
1 29 oz can pumpkin
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup melted butter
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
(or use 1 1/2 t. Pumpkin pie spice)
Prepare pumpkin mixture pour in a 9" by 13" cake pan. Sprinkle yellow cake mix over pumpkin mixture. Melt butter pour over yellow cake. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Great with whipped cream
or vanilla ice cream.

PUMPKIN MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15 ounce can)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Makes 12 muffins

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, and brown sugar in a large bowl until smooth.  In another bowl whish together the flour, white sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice.  Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until until just combined.  Be careful to not over mix .

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.