Painting by Trevor Mitchell
From Emilie Barnes:Simple Secrets to a Beautiful Home: Creating a Place You and Your Family Will Love
“No matter where I serve my guests, it seems they like my kitchen best.”
That little painted plaque in my kitchen is more than just a cute saying for the wall. It’s the way I’ve felt all my life. Wherever I’ve lived, the kitchen has always seemed to be the place where warmth and love reign.
Family and friends are drawn there like chickens to their roosts. Of all the rooms in our home, the kitchen is the place of comfort, the preferred gathering place for shared conversations and the teamwork of preparing good meals for and with each other.
For me as a young girl, the kitchen was always where I wanted to be – sitting on the countertop as ingredients flew everywhere, tantalizing aromas floated through the air, and meals and memories were created.
After my father died and my mother and I took up quarters in three rooms behind her little dress shop, the kitchen was still the center of warmth.
I remember so many times when Mama welcomed me home with a baked potato, hot cocoa, cinnamon apples, or popovers in winter; popsicles or ice cold lemonade in summer.
All these were expressions of love, and they all came from the kitchen.
The Heart of the Home
Even today, the kitchen feels like the heart of home to me. The smell of garlic and onions being sautéed in butter draws me to the kitchen. Coffee, brewing fresh in the pot, lifts and warms my heart.
I love to bend over a bubbling pot of soup or gaze out the window while quietly bringing order to my countertops. And I love to smile at all the photographs of family and friends that smile back at me from the refrigerator door.
My kitchen is filled with heart. My pots hang on hooks above the stove the way my dad’s pots did in his commercial kitchens. Plants line the windowsill, including a few pots of herbs to snip when needed. A crock holds my whips, wooden spoons, and spatulas in a space-saving and attractive bouquet. A collection of special plaques and pictures from friends and family decorates my “love wall” at one end of the room.
Above all, make your kitchen a room you enjoy and feel good in.
“A special time to show your husband he is very important in your life is when he comes home from work. Make it a pleasant time for him. Put the housework aside. Greet him with a smile. Have his favorite beverage ready for him. If he wishes to talk, listen attentively. If he doesn’t, give him space to unwind. Such a greeting will make an amazing difference in his life.This may not always be possible with many little ones, but make it happen as often as you can. Your thoughtful consideration for his welfare will make him feel respected and loved.” -Paraphrased from Fascinating Womanhood
Celebrate the Feasts and Seasons with the von Trapp Family!
In this joyful and charming book, Maria von Trapp (from The Sound of Music) unveils for you the year-round Christian traditions she loved traditions that created for her large family a warm and inviting Catholic home and will do the same for yours.
Here are the songs they sang for feasts and holidays, as well as Maria s personal recipes for traditional holiday foods. Here are stories and games to delight your children, and countless other ways to turn events such as anniversaries, baptisms, graduations, birthdays, wedding receptions, and even funerals into feasts celebrated in the Lord.
Most people only know the young Maria from The Sound of Music; few realize that in subsequent years, as a pious wife and a seasoned Catholic mother, Maria gave herself unreservedly to keeping her family Catholic by observing in her home the many feasts of the Church s liturgical year, with poems and prayers, food and fun, and so much more!
With the help of Maria von Trapp, you, too, can provide Christian structure and vibrancy to your home. Soon your home will be a warm and loving place, an earthly reflection of our eternal home.
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Make a statement with these lovely and graceful handcrafted aprons….fully lined….made with care. Aprons tell a beautiful story…..a story of love and sacrifice….of baking bread and mopping floors, of planting seeds and household chores. Sadly, many women have tossed the aprons aside and donned their business attire. Wear your apron with joy….it is a symbol of Femininity….”Finer” Femininity! 🌺 💗
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Everyone goes to the kitchen, it really is the unique room of the house. 😊 Thank you.