The Ways of Her Home

Embracing the homeward call

A Merry Little Christmas Shower

In early December my daughter and I hosted a Christmas-themed bridal shower for a very sweet young lady. We've been friends with her and her mother, Missy, through years of homeschooling, tea parties, and even a trip to the Biltmore Estate together! My daughter will be one of her bridesmaids, so we wanted to throw a shower for our lovely bride-to-be. This shower was so much fun to plan and prep, thinking of goodies and details the bride would enjoy. She is so sweet and grateful for any little thing people do for her, that honestly, she would have appreciated peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! When I host a gathering, I try to finish preparations a few minutes before guests arrive so I ... Read more

Christmas Decor ’23

Good morning, friends! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I have truly enjoyed all of it this year! The baking, the shopping, the gatherings, the goodies, the movies, the music, the decorating, and the worship! I had to cut out a few things this year, like getting Christmas cards printed and mailed, but it's a balance, right! I always hesitate to share photos of Christmas decor because I never want to appear that I'm showing off (I just enjoy decorating!) but also because Christmas decor has become so controversial. Has anyone else noticed that? The right time to put up your tree, the right kind of tree, and the right color schemes for your tree. In fact, there are arguments about ... Read more

Christmas Advent ‘23

When my kids were little our Advent time was usually incorporated into our school day. Some years I worked with them on memorizing the account of Jesus’s birth in Luke 2 (tip: The Charlie Brown Christmas movie helped with that!) Some years I read through a children’s devotional book and we made a craft or did a service project to go along with that day’s message. Having older kids now ages 19 and 12 in the home, we’re enjoying a more mature type of Advent. I’ve mentioned before that our family has a Bible time after dinner. It’s nothing rigid and not even every night but just a few nights a week when everyone is home and we can read through a chapter of the Bible and discuss. So, during ... Read more

BING-HO-HO-HO!

For the last year and a half, my son and I have been calling BINGO at a local assisted living home on the third Monday of each month (used to be Wednesdays but changed to Mondays this year). My friend, Teresa, works there and makes everything magical for the residents! She is so creative and plans the best activities! So, when she put out a call for Bingo volunteers, I jumped at it. And it's been a BLAST! The regular Bingoers know us well now and we have fun joking around throughout the hour we're there. I was especially looking forward to going back this month for a little Christmas gaming with our spunky friends! Our sweet little neighbor girl joined us this time! Her mama, Rivers, is ... Read more

Mother’s Day Fancy

I'm continuing to catch up on my spring posts and today I'm covering Mother's Day. We hosted my husband's side of the family this year and while my sweet husband insisted that I not work too much on Mother's Day, I assured him that getting to set a feminine table for the ladies would not be work at all but, on the contrary, would bring me great pleasure! I set up the dining room for the ladies so we could have a frilly table and the men had the kitchen table set just for them so they wouldn't have to endure the pink and fluff, haha! I've had this April Cornell tablecloth for so many years and I've always called it my "Mother's Day tablecloth" because the floral pattern and soft ... Read more

Spring 2023

Good morning! Before I get too far into summer, I need to record our spring season. Today I'm going to quickly run through some spring highlights and then the rest of the week I'll go back and detail some of my daughter's graduation stuff a little more. I'll go ahead and apologize for the length of this post. It's a big one! In early March my daughter and I took a girls' trip out to Texas to visit my married daughter and son-in-law. We had such a fun visit, and they took us to Homestead Heritage, a self-sufficient Christian community which is also open to the public. It was amazing! We enjoyed shopping in their many shops including the quilting barn (below), general store, grocery ... Read more

Irish Tea Party

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Two years ago, I gifted my oldest daughter a subscription to Tea Time magazine and the first issue she received included recipes for an Irish tea. This magazine along with some newly thrifted green and gold teacups inspired her to host a St. Patrick's Day tea for our family and her then boyfriend, now husband (nothing like some good cooking to seal the deal, right!) As you'll see from the photos, she put on the loveliest tea time complete with a delightful menu served at a beautiful table! She cooked all afternoon and then set the table, pulling anything green from around the house. Each teacup held an Irish Breakfast teabag (except for my son's since he ... Read more

Easy Irish Supper

St. Patty's Day is tomorrow! We don't go all out around here but I do try and cook a meal with an Irish theme. Here's a quick meal idea for St. Patrick's Day that I prepared last year and will do again this year. Since my daughter has an out-of-town game tomorrow night, I'm going to go ahead and serve this meal tonight. Irish sausage, cabbage steaks, and potato stacks! I didn't take any fancy plating photos last year, but boy this meal was so tasty, and I can't wait to eat it tonight! I roast the sausage and cabbage steaks on one pan. For the cabbage, I slice 1 or 2 cabbage heads (depending on how many I'm serving) into 1" slices and lay flat on a sheet pan that's either greased ... Read more