At my grandparent’s house, Christmas was as elegant as a Harrod’s storefront window. Everyone wore their best clothes. The formal dining room and the family dining room were both completely decked with Christmas china, crystal, napkin rings, Christmas crackers, salt cellars, and silver serving pieces. The tree was a coordinated masterpiece of tasteful holiday cheerContinue reading “Red Ribbon Eggnog”
Tag Archives: Family
No Leisure Even to Eat
All you football moms out there can identify with having no leisure even to eat. You’ve carted them to practices and cheered them on in games. You’ve driven the length and width of the state of North Dakota (for example) with kids and crockpots in the trunk. Paper plates, pickle jars, and plastic forks areContinue reading “No Leisure Even to Eat”
Out of the Depths
The kitten’s piteous meowing sounded weak. It had fallen down an old well in our yard. My son carefully removed the sheets of corrugated metal and peered into the grimy blackness. “It’s so far down,” he said. “I’m not sure I can get it out.” As one of my daughters went for a long-handled net,Continue reading “Out of the Depths”
Another Chicken Parable
The weather has been warm enough to move my chickens out of the coop and into the chicken tractors. Chicken tractors are mobile coops that roll around the yard. After a whole winter cooped up in the coop, the chickens should have been very happy to graze green grass and feel the Spring breezes. ButContinue reading “Another Chicken Parable”
The Old Cane Pole
My dad has a long cane pole hanging in his garage. When we visited for Christmas, I asked him to tell my sons about it. “Well, it was Papa’s,” he said, meaning his dad, “and he called it a Calcutta cane pole.” Dad went on to describe the way Papa held the pole, the wayContinue reading “The Old Cane Pole”
Ladies and Gentlemen
Listen HERE Since my family is studying Medieval History this year, our car trips have been full of The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Men of Iron, and Ivanhoe. Chivalry is not dead in these stories! Perhaps the courtesy and manners in these stories only ever lived in myth, but I still raise my daughtersContinue reading “Ladies and Gentlemen”
Just the Right Time
As a home educator, I have one of those closets in my house. You know the one I mean. It’s the closet that won’t shut and is the black hole of everything homeschooling. Puzzle pieces, math manipulatives, parts of speech sorting activities, and dice all go to the closet to die. (Pun intended.) When IContinue reading “Just the Right Time”
Prayer in the Present Tense
Listen HERE We drove 2,088 miles to be with my parents for Christmas and 1,662 miles to come back home again from my in-laws’ house. Driving from the top of the country to the bottom and back again gives my family the opportunity to see varied landscapes, animals, architecture, and people. It also expands myContinue reading “Prayer in the Present Tense”
The Burden of Advent
Did you get it right this year? Advent, I mean. Did you do it right? Did your perfectly clean house smell like gingerbread? Were all of your gifts purchased and wrapped before December began? Have you had angelic family devotions every night where your children gathered around the piano and sang Silent Night perfectly onContinue reading “The Burden of Advent”
“Letters from Father Christmas” : A Review for the Advent Season
In 1920, a small boy asked his father a simple question: “What is Father Christmas like and where does he live?” In answer, the father began the tradition of writing a newsy letter from Father Christmas to his children, detailing the preparations for the holiday, the past year’s events, and other fun tidbits from theContinue reading ““Letters from Father Christmas” : A Review for the Advent Season”
Sarah Dixon Young 