A good wife in the 1950's.

My great friend Sharon had this on her fridge and I asked her for a copy. Man! We have come along way baby...but I'm not sure it's all good. I am typing it here in it's entirety and some parts may be a bit overstated! But I found enough challenges here to pass this along. After all, we are to make our bodies living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2)and lay down our lives for our friends (John 15:13). How much more does this apply to our husbands?

The Good Housewife's Guide
Originally printed in Housekeeping Monthly Magazine May 13, 1955

*Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favorite dish) is a part of the warm welcome needed.

*Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

*Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

*Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives.

*Gather up schoolbooks (HA HA HA), toys, paper etc and then run a dust cloth over the tables.

*Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare a light fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you immense personal satisfaction.

*Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

*Be happy to see him.

*Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

*Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first-remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

*Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.

*Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

*Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

*Don't complain if he's late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.

*Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

*Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

*Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of your house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

*A good wife always knows her place.

Christmas Generosity

This time of year there are many asking questions about how to balance out giving gifts to friends and family on the one hand and giving to the poor on the other hand. There is a push to get back to a simpler celebration of Christmas and not be so commercialized about it all. I love to simplify (I'm actually addicted to it!). And I don't want our kids to be materialistic, but we are celebrating the most wonderful event in history! We do want to actually celebrate! We want the world to see us celebrating Jesus in a wonderful, beautiful way! And we want to include the orphan and the widow in our celebrating. I would like to offer up another word (or two) on the subject via some terrific articles that say things much better than I ever could. My introductions will be in italics. Enjoy your Christmas celebrations, whatever they may look like!
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We can celebrate in grand style, but we invite the poor to celebrate with us! Sending money is one way to help the poor, but there are poor and needy all around us that need ministering to as well.

"Israel was not supposed to refrain from feasting because there were orphans and widows around. Rather, they were commanded to bring the orphan and the widow into their feasting, so that the needy could share the abundance of their joy and of their goods. We in the new covenant have an even more profound reason for doing so: God has shared the abundance of His life with us in Jesus, and so ought we to share with one another.

So, feast this Christmas in good conscience. Lay your hands on whatever your soul desires, and eat it in rejoicing and thanks. But look for opportunities to share your abundance with the orphan, the widow, the aged and the poor. God has filled you when you were empty, and helped you when you were helpless. Go and do likewise.”

I found this quote here.
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Is buying presents materialistic?

"As you do your Christmas shopping, you are bound to run into the person who is feeling very guilty about buying presents. It’s so materialistic, they say. Well, yes, it is in one sense. After all, it is stuff. But if we are buying this stuff to bestow on our friends and family because God has bestowed so much of it on us that we just have to let it slosh over, then that is not materialism.

Thankfulness is a great antidote to false-guilt giving. Look at how much God throws away on us all the time. How much rain just runs down the gutter? How many sunsets are enjoyed by the whales because no one else is around to see them? What about the mountainsides covered in wildflowers that no human eye will behold? God just gives and gives and gives recklessly. He doesn’t want us to feel guilty about the sunset or the flowers. He wants us to overflow in thanksgiving. And though we cannot come near His capacity to give, we can imitate His extravagance by giving gifts and filling stockings and making fudge, all to the glory and praise of The Great Gift Giver Extraordinaire."
Entire article here.
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This is a little idea for gift giving. We sometime get more than one gift in a category, but it is helpful to have an outline to start from.

Something they want
Something they need
Something to wear
Something to read
Entire article here.
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Celebrating and rejoicing is a discipline that we have to learn how to do well. It takes work and effort to celebrate such a wonderful occasion! Simplify in another area to cut out stress if you need to, but put in the effort to make this time of year a festive time. She refers here to the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany.

"May you all enjoy your post-Christmas celebrations. I know many of you keep going for the full twelve days. Learning to rejoice and celebrate is a real discipline that requires patience, stamina, practice, and endurance. So go for it! God must be pleased that we are making progress!"
Entire article here.
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This man's parents gave extravagantly in every way and to everyone. It taught him and trained him in the delight of giving.

"I grew up in a family that practiced extravagant giving. In other words, when we woke up on Christmas morning, we could barely see the tree for all the presents. My parents overwhelmed us. Some would say that spoiled us. They gave physically, tangible gifts that we as children enjoyed: trains and guitars and dolls and forts and more. And yet, the giving was NOT a substitute for time. They gave time extravagantly as well. They played with us, told us stories, and listened to our stories.

They gave us so much, we couldn’t help but become givers. That’s right. The extravagance was not simply self-indulgence. It was celebration. It was an overflow of the joy they had in raising us. That joy continue to flow as we grew up. Our house became the center for all the lost friends and souls who had no where to go on Christmas (or any other holiday).

The party kept extending outward and inviting others into a celebration.

Did they give us too much? Of course (and they still do). In my parents, we learned the true intoxication of giving of everything. Presents, time, laughter, and life.

The answer to our outward culture’s selfishness is not inward selfishness (either in miserliness or in self-righteous judgment of those around us). Rather, it is in giving even more of our life, our love and our STUFF. Once we get the hang of it, giving is so fun that you can give anything away. Our hands open and we can freely give to the deserving (and undeserving), to the poor and needy, and even to the selfish."
Entire article here.
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Being called to give things away, not give them up.

"We do not give anything up. We are privileged often to give things away, including ourselves, but that is another activity entirely. When you give things up you are acting like a son of the devil—he is the father of lies, and he started with you. The lie here is that God is a grinch.

When you give things away, they always come back to you—thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. When you give things away, there is a person on the other end, receiving. What you are giving is called a present. When you give presents, you are acting like God. When you give expensive presents, you are acting like God. When you give unreasonable presents, you are acting like God.

But when you give unreasonably like this, won’t you run out? No . . . the one who supplies seed to the sower will continue to supply you with all you need (2 Cor. 9:10). This is why we should be dedicated to learning how to give in order to get, in order to give again. Wisdom is needed here, but it is not a stingy wisdom."
Entire article here.
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A historical view of Christmas here.
If you've seen Advent Conspiracy check out this response.
To pay off debt or celebrate Christmas? Both! Here is an article that might balance things out a bit. And if there really is NO money, then get creative and still have fun!

Liturgy

Here is an interesting short read about why we might need a little liturgy in our lives. I know I sure do.

Savvy Nest

I met Emily from Savvy Nest through her sister Susanne many years ago. She is a sweet gal and she just began her blog 9 months ago. I have to say, I have loved it from the start! I don't have tons of time to spend reading blogs, but when I see one from her in my Google Reader, I can't wait to read it. She is very crafty, but in a practical, frugal, down-to-earth kind of way. You can actually DO the things that she suggests AND they don't break the bank. She also posts good sales going on now and then, along with a few fun seasonal reminders about cleaning or gardening. The last think that I like is that she does not post too often or posts that are too long. That sounds funny, but I have had to unsubscribe from some blogs that I LOVED because I did not want to spend a lot of time trying to keep up with all that they were publishing (extremely long posts or multiple posts per day). All of her posts are a manageable length for a mom on the run. I hope you like it too! I'll leave you with a few of my favorites:

Essential Oils I did this and it was easy and terrific!
Fall Cleaning Still need to do this one, but I'm motivated by her!
Fall Gardening This was really helpful
Nice Re-covery Great job!
Great Gift Ideas
MORE Gift Ideas

To Serve

"You want truly happy children? Get this one thing through to them....we are here to serve, not to be served." -Kelly Crawford

Trickin' and Treatin'

Why do we trick or treat? Well, my friend Dolly reminded me of a great post by Wondergirl that spells it out quite nicely :0)

*This year we got to have cousin Brody (Buzz Lightyear) here from Missouri to trick or treat with us!*