Homemaking Day

We were busy with our now annual homemaking day last week, and wanted to show you some pictures, as well as explain what took place. Several of the women brought something to demonstrate: how to prepare vegetables, interesting crafts for the home, tips on making hospitality easy, and helpful household hints. Afterwards, the women shared a lunch on the lawn, allowing their children to play in the grass.


Between demonstrations, one of the young women led the children in character-building songs. This enabled the mothers to keep their children by their sides during the program, which lasted from 11 a.m. til 2 p.m.

One of the speakers talked a little about children's manners, one being that they should not take the most comfortable chair in a room, when there are older people present, and that even as they grow up, they should continue to defer to the elderly. On the point of hospitality, one way to remove hesitation on the part of the hostess, is for the children to be careful not to destroy the order of the house, take things down or create havoc in the bedrooms. The idea was presented that children need to be within sight or earshot of their parents, when visiting at someone elses home, or else stay near their mother, as you see the little girl is doing, in the picture of one of the class presentations.

One of our speakers presented a gardening album that she had made, showing how she planned her gardens and took pictures as she went along. Over the years, she even recorded the month that a certain plant was in bloom, and when her daughter got married, she planned the date of the wedding around the time that plant would be blooming, so that her reception would have the colors she desired. This teacher also showed how to manage the household income so that you could have a profit at the end of a year, by keeping careful track of all money spent and all money coming in, being frugal, and finding ways to get things with a minimum of spending.

Another teacher showed the same concept with recipes. As she tried menus and recipes that really worked for her, she copied them and put them inside plastic pages. As she built her cookbook, she also placed pictures of her own mother preparing the same recipes, and pictures of the family eating the meals. Her plastic pages kept ingredients from splashing on to the book. Since most cookbooks only have a few recipes that people use, this was a way of putting all the recipes she used, into the same collection.

Each guest was presented with a shiny gift bag of silver or gold mylar, which contained

A hand made booklet called "Homemaking With Love:" which taught about preparing for the day.

A pen: for taking notes during the presentations, and writing down ideas.

A crocheted doily - to remind them to add some soft touches and beauty, with a few facts about the history of looking after furniture.

A scented candle - to remind them to put a pleasant scent in the home; the candle need not be lit, and the scent will last a long time. It can be put in troublesome areas that get musty, such as closed drawers, shelves, and corners.

A cookie cutter for children shaped like an animal - to remind them of the importance of the children being part of the functioning of the home, and that they can be tactfully taught to have good habits and appreciate the home.

All of these items were purchased at a dollar store, sometimes at the price of four for a dollar, so in all, we were pleased that such a gift could be presented with minimal expense.

The day began and ended with singing. A good time was had by all, but the person who was most impressed, was my husband, "Papa," who heard the singing through the walls from his office at home. He thought we ought to have one of these events each month. We don't know if we could prepare one each month, but will be considering stepping up the frequency of classes so that they occur more often than once a year. We certainly regret that we did not film it, but will try to remember to do so the next time.

The fake cake in the picture above is a decorative craft made with styrofoam bases and silk flower petals, glued on to look like frosting. It is sprayed with a scent called "birthday cake," which also scents the house beautifully, especially in a climate like ours, which often makes the indoor air damp and cloisome.