The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

Christmas Morning Coffee Cakes

I love a good coffee cake, but I must admit that my first experiences with this baked treat weren’t too impressive. First of all, I questioned the audacity of a recipe to call anything that was not topped with icing a "cake"! Ha! Secondly, they just seemed a little blah. Until.... I became a COFFEE DRINKER! I clearly remember my first piece of coffee cake with a cup of coffee. My goodness, it was so good! And then it became clear that my problem with coffee cakes hadn't really been the coffee cakes themselves. My problem with coffee cakes was that they were truly meant to be eaten while sipping a cup of steaming coffee. The two compliment each other, and together they are a delight! ... Read more

Christmas Hello!

Good morning, friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? The fall season absolutely flew by and I can hardly believe it's Christmas! It was a very lovely fall season this year, and I soaked up every bit of its color, coolness, and festivity. However, truthfully, I felt I barely kept my head above water most weeks, so blogging took a back seat to other more pressing things. I've missed posting here and hope to get in a few Christmassy posts in the next week. I have some recipes to share and some photos from a fun little Christmas getaway my daughters and I took with some friends to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina! I also have a recap of fall in the works. Right now, I'm ... Read more

Looking Back: Winter 2019/2020

Hello again! Yesterday I posted some highlights of FALL 2019. Today I'm moving on to WINTER 2019/2020! As soon as Thanksgiving was over and the fall decorations were packed away, we went straight into Christmas festivities. My tea ladies and I kicked off the season the last weekend in November with a tea lunch at a beautiful tea room, all decorated for the holidays! This leisurely tea time was our calm before the holiday storm. The first weekend in December, our family went to cut down our Christmas tree at a tree farm we've been going to since our oldest was a baby. I took a lot of family photos, and won't post those here, but it was a lovely, sunny day on the tree farm! It's ... Read more

Do You Wanna Build a Snow Globe? ❄️

We've had some snow days here lately! Well, a different kind of snow day. The "white stuff" doesn't come around often in Alabama, yet our household has had a snowy theme going on for the last several days. Last week, we went to see the Frozen movie (a homeschool perk--we waited until after the holidays, went to the 2:00 matinee, and literally had the entire theater to ourselves!) and this week we made snow globes! We'd planned to make snow globes during December, but with so many other Christmas activities going on, I decided January would be the perfect month for a snowy project. I just googled "snow globes" and found these instructions from Better Homes and Gardens. Their supply list and ... Read more

Mama Poole and the Crooked Christmas Stocking

Happy Holidays! This post is just a quick little tribute to the precious lady who was my sweet and feisty great grandmother. My Mama Poole. As I'm starting to pack away Christmas decorations, I thought it would be fun to tell you all about my Mama Poole and the stocking she made for me when I was a little girl. There were five children in our family, and one year my mom asked Mama Poole to crochet some stockings for us kids, knowing what treasured keepsakes they would be for us after Mama Poole left this earth. I hang mine from my banister each year in her memory. You might notice that it is crooked in its construction and wonder how skilled she really was with her hands. Well, although she ... Read more

‘Twas the Weekend Before Christmas….

'Twas the weekend before Christmas, and all through the house... every creature was stirring, and you better believe my table was set! With new dishes! Yay!  I've always wanted a set of Christmas dishes. You know the ones with either a Christmas tree or a snowy scene or holly encircling the border of the dish? So when my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year, I decided on the dishes! He told me to pick them out and he would get them. I know, he's a keeper, right! I searched the entire internet, looking at patterns, reading reviews, and narrowing down my favorites. But then, I saw something I wasn't expecting: the prettiest solid green dishes with a textured lacy pattern! ... Read more

Chalkboards of Christmas Past and Present

I love all the cute Christmas signs and plaques around the craft and home stores this time of year, and for every holiday really. But to save on expense and storage of such holiday decor, I just use the quotes and pictures I see on those signs, or chalkboard ideas off the internet, as inspiration for my own chalkboard signs. This large chalkboard changes year round for holidays, birthdays, and other occasions (like first day of school, fun menus, Bible verses, family announcements, etc.). ***** Christmas 2019: “Joy to the World!” This year I’d been seeing the use of wreaths over chalkboards and loved this idea! I also needed to make this chalkboard an easy one this year for the sake of ... Read more

Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

We hosted a Christmas party for our Bible study group last night. Everyone brought their favorite finger foods and the assortment of savory goodies was outstanding, followed by yummy desserts and a s’mores bar! I’m still quite filled this morning, from both food and fellowship! We love our small group so much. One of the party foods I prepared was Pepperoni Pizza Rolls. Think of it as the pizza version of a cinnamon roll. Pepperoni Pizza Rolls Ingredients: 1 frozen loaf bread dough, thawed but not risen Pesto  Shredded mozzarella  Parmesan  Pepperoni Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 12-x-18” (doesn’t have to be exact).  Spread a layer of pesto in ... Read more