Gigi&#039;s Blog &raquo; Tales of the Mortician&#039;s Wife

January 21, 2020 - 4:14 pm

Gigi – Sarah, I have always loved seeing your beautiful violets on your blog. 🙂 They are so lovely!

January 21, 2020 - 4:13 pm

Gigi – Kristal, I love the winter months too!

January 21, 2020 - 4:13 pm

Gigi – Regina, thank you for asking about the pregnancy. It is going fine- and speeding by! I hope to do an update soon.

January 21, 2020 - 4:07 pm

Gigi – Paula, I would *LOVE* to build up my collection that way! What a wonderful memory!

January 21, 2020 - 4:06 pm

Gigi – Hello Robyn, a veriegated one sounds so lovely.
No, my bold is an oldie – 13 years old now! Welcome. 🙂

January 21, 2020 - 4:04 pm

Gigi – Bethany, I completely 100% agree!

January 18, 2020 - 3:21 pm

Bethany – It’s so true how these small simple things can bring so much joy! It really does make me smile when I see these small and simple, yet pretty things, even if it’s just a mug or a placemat! Why drink out of a beige mug when you can drink out of one that has a pretty design on it that makes you happy?

January 17, 2020 - 11:37 pm

Robyn – Yes I love them too. I have a variegated one, but have been losing a few leaves lately. Haven’t seen your blog before, is it a new one?

January 14, 2020 - 4:28 pm

Brenda (Gigi’s proud Momma) – I too love African violets. I used to have many around the home. Maybe you don’t remember them? Sometimes I overwatered them and that was disappointing. Mrs G had them too. xo

January 13, 2020 - 3:02 pm

Monica – I love the violets—so cheerful and old-fashioned. I’ve just been aware of this the past few months so I’m on the lookout for some. 🙂

January 13, 2020 - 12:01 pm

Paula – In the 1960’s when I visited my grandma, she had a violet. She took me visiting and we had afternoon tea and those ladies all grew them. So all these years later, I grow them. Back then you built your collection up via cuttings from friends. Frugal plus there were not many “nurseries” back then. When I look at my violet it brings all those memories back. Thank you for loving African violets.

January 13, 2020 - 11:10 am

Kristal – African violets are very beautiful. I agree, there is something about January that makes one yearn for growth and beauty. I do love the snow (a lot actually), but fresh sun and growth are a favorite too. I hope all is going great and the pregnancy is going well!

January 13, 2020 - 10:55 am

Regina Shea – I love African violets and I also have a violet teacup. You have me wanting to go to the nursery to get a couple of plants now.
How are you doing? How is your pregnancy coming along?

January 13, 2020 - 9:12 am

Sarah – Your African violets are beautiful! What a lovely assortment of colors. I have four African violets in my kitchen window. I have had them about five years now. They always make me think of my grandma, she kept a couple violets in her kitchen window too. I need to re-pot my violets, they have grown quite large now and one has grown an entirely new plant beside the original! I enjoyed all of your quotes. There is something so cheering about seeing flowers in the winter.

Family Traditions: A Little Women Brunch

Saturday, December 28, 2019

“Eventually beloved customs stretch like a golden ribbon
over long years to bind generations together tenderly in memory.
Simply stated, what more in life could any of us ask?”
– Mrs. Sharpe’s Traditions

With many changes occurring in our extended family- which includes one set of grandparents recently moving across the country and no longer within an easy driving distance for visiting – things have changed for our family over the holiday season. We can either sit and pout and wait for someone to cheer us up or we can find something cheerful to do and add some coziness and lovely atmosphere to our own home.

Is this not the mother’s task?

Yes, it is up to a mother, so it seems, to hold up traditions, to create those family memories and to bond the children and parents together in tiny little rituals that weave the hearts together over the years.

In the void of certain family gatherings and traditions, there was indeed a hole. However, I think our family may have started a new tradition just this year. Recently, the girls & I were delighted to attend the Little Women musical on stage at a local theatre. To celebrate the occasion, we decided we would have a Little Women brunch the day before the show. As it turns out, we wanted to also include the Father of the House – and so, our brunch evolved into a candle-brunch-dinner {we did, however, take the photos during the day time}.

During the day, some of the girls did the baking and cooking, while the others excitedly set the table, decorated and helped prepare the simple meal.

The chattering children happily met their daddy at the back door, as he wearily returned from a day’s work at the funeral home, and led him through the dark house into the candle-lit kitchen. Decorated gaily and with festive treats, the table was all laid and ready for an evening of gentle celebration. With soft music playing in the background and the gentle light of candle flames and oil lamps, the evening was certainly charming and lovely.

Our Little Women menu consisted of:

~~~~~~~~

Several varieties of homemade jams and jellies
Fresh oranges
Devilled Eggs
Gingerbread cake, sprinkled with icing sugar
A hot pot of tea
Turkey sausages
Fresh-from-the-oven popovers with butter

~~~~~~~

Eating together around our candle-lit table, chatting away, passing a pot of hot tea around the busy table, I do believe happy memories were made all while genteel manners were fine tuned.

After we cleaned up, we also treated the children to watch the older 1949 version of Little Women (featuring Elisabeth Taylor and June Allyson). We just love this version and it’s just absolutely charming to watch.

“Traditions are like recipes. Some we don’t alter a bit because they are perfect. Others need a dash of this or that to suit our family’s taste. As with any new dish, you’ll know soon enough whether the new custom suits your family and should become part of your repertoire. Did they enjoy it? Did you? Was the activity worth the effort it took to do it again?”
-Mrs. Sharpe’s Traditions

Have you found new traditions that help your family bond?

Here is the popover recipe, in case you would like to try it, from the Paula Deen website:

{Little Women Popovers}

4 eggs
2 cups milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Grease 12 large muffin tin cups or 12 custard cups. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat well. Add the milk, flour and salt, and beat until just blended. Fill the muffin tin cups or custard cups three-quarters full with the batter. Place the pan on the center rack in the oven. Set the oven at 450 °F and turn it on. Bake for 30 minutes without opening the oven door.

Serve the popovers hot with butter, jam, syrup, or honey.

Post Script: Sadly, the actual live musical we attended was a horrible, changed version of the original Little Women. Modernized with worldly values and selfish values, it was certainly not as a good as the original writings of Louisa May Alcott. In my opinion, sometimes, the best things are old things.

Around the Home

by Gigi

3 comments

December 30, 2019 - 5:43 pm

Debby in Kansas, USA – It’s all so perfect! And you have your own lovely Little Women! I didn’t attend my first tea until I was in my 30s and it was then that I realized just how much I missed out on.

December 29, 2019 - 10:08 pm

Lynnea – It looks like such a lovely time with your loved ones….working together with, and for them, creating warm and happy memories! Thank you for sharing… it’s very inspiring and makes me want to do something special for my loved ones!

December 29, 2019 - 8:45 pm

Regina Shea – That cake sure looks scrumptious! I’ve never made popovers before I will have to make it. There’s a new Little Women playing in the theaters and though I want to see it, I shudder at what they have done. I have bothLittle Women and Little Men books. I need to finish Little Women but I’ve never read Little Men before. I think we may still have a copy of Jo’s Boys on the shelf too.

I’ve seen the 1949 version but I like the even older version with Katherine Hepburn because they 1949 version a small but minor change was made.
That’s too bad about the play. I was hoping it was going to be good. Do you have the recipe for gingerbread cake?

Gingerbread Blessings

Monday, December 16, 2019

“Fathers, mothers, remember this:
and if you would not have your children lost to you in after-life —
if you would have your married daughters not forget their old home in the new one —
if you would have sons lend a hand to keep you in the old rose-covered cottage,
instead of letting you go to the naked walls of a workhouse —
make home happy to them when they are young.
Send them out into the world in full belief that there is
‘no place like home, eye, ‘be it ever so homely.'”

-The Royal Path of Life

The back screen door slammed and the sounds of snowy boots being kicked off could be heard.

“Mommy …. mommy … you should see Katie’s gingerbread house,” my youngest daughter called with great enthusiasm, as she pulled her short legs out of her restricting snowsuit. “She has so many candies on the house! Pink and red and green!”

Her little freckled cheeks were rosy with the flush of outdoor play and, more than likely, tinged with the merry excitement of seeing the next door neighbour’s fantastic gingerbread creation.

“Oh yes,” I mumbled, while picking up stray mittens and clipping them to the makeshift drying line we have strung near the woodstove.

“Can’t we make one?” questioned the five year old sweetheart, looking up innocently at me.

Oh dear, I thought, silently cringing inside.

Gingerbread houses.

For eight children?

While I have fond memories of making candy-loaded, super-topped-iced gingerbread houses with my grandmother in her cozy home as a child, the world of gingerbread houses is completely different now that I’m wearing the other motherly-worn slipper.

This mother of eight … in the family way … not feeling up to the monumental task of creating gingerbread houses, knowing sugar will abound without limits and the actual cleanup of such an endevour would require all household cleaning apparatus’ on deck … all these thoughts went speeding through my mind as my little girl chattered on about the neighbour’s lovely little gingerbread home. Yes, a broom, rags with cleaners for sticky surfaces, a mop with hot soapy water, the vacuum for stray sprinkles stuck under baseboards … yes, it would be a big endevour to just clean up from eight gingerbread houses …

Swiftly avoiding a melting-snow-puddle on the floor near children winter boots, I quietly returned to my workplace in the kitchen, hoping my enthused daughter would forget her jolly experience of candy and gingerbread dreams, just over the fields at the neighbour’s house.

Not more than half an hour later, two more excited daughters marched into the kitchen. “Did you hear? The neighbour’s made this amazing gingerbread house …”

“Uh-huh,“I mumbled, pretending to be very interested in the creation of dinner. “Did you hang up your mittens to dry?”

Maybe they will forget …

Around supper time, all the children were called to the kitchen for a routine cleanup when the seven year old decided to add her opinion to the neighbourly visit.

“Mommy, did you know the neighbours made a …” she began.

Rather snappishly, I rudely interrupted her: “I know, I know. I heard already from everyone else. That’s nice.”

As soon as I answered, I was ashamed of my own selfish, lack of love attitude.

“She was just excited to tell you,” my 15 year old said quietly, almost rebukingly, as she shredded the cheese for our dinner meal.

Dropping my head in shame, I realized I had been too short with the little children. Yes, perhaps I did not want to actually make gingerbread houses and would rather skiff through December without having pressure put on me from what other families are doing …. but, was I also being selfish, not wanting to give up my morning or afternoon (let’s face it- all day) to help the girls and boys in my charge make their little gingerbread creations?

Perhaps, indeed, I was.

“And the King shall answer and say unto them,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.”

Matthew 25:40

The next morning, I resolutely got up extra early and, with love, began preparing for the giant batch of gingerbread dough. A recipe that would make six gingerbread houses (one for each of the girls and a purchased gingerbread train to share for the boys – as I did not have the mold for this) would certainly be quite the task. In fact, it did indeed take all day but the dough was made and careful pressed into the gingerbread house mold six different times, slid into the hot cookstove half a dozen times. Slowly the house began to smell delightfully warm and cozy and my mood began to improve as I felt my heart fill with pleasant unselfish love for my eight children, anxiously awaiting their gingerbread constructions.

“Ohhhhh … are we making gingerbread houses today?” Lavender questioned, standing on tippy-toe to peer at the counter and see what creations were coming out of the warm oven.

“Yes,” I said, smiling. “We’ll put them together tomorrow, after they are all baked.”

She clapped her hands with joy and danced out of the kitchen to tell her siblings the good news.

Once the gingerbread molds were filled and baked, it was time to make up all the large batch of snow-like icing that would cement the little cookie houses together. Another monumental task! Anything done around this family is always quite the large job as most things need to be doubled, tripled and more in order to stretch it throughout the entire cast of children. Mounds of whipped icing was made up and carefully slotted into icing bags, all ready for the next day’s creation.

My mood was improving and I felt I had answered the call of duty. It was my job alone to be the mother to this large group of energetic children – no one else was going to make gingerbread houses with them – and if I did not create the memory, then who would? I would not shirk this little (large) duty just because I was pregnant, not in the mood or tired.

[As it happened, it was to be a birthday week for one of my son’s, so we used the gingerbread house decorating as a birthday activity for him on his special 4th birthday. It made his day extra special and he enjoyed creating his little gingerbread train.]

Being a mother that is fully there is not a role we can put on when we feel up to it; sometimes I have to force myself to do the right thing, to give up my afternoon of pre-planned chores or activities in order to fit something into the day that will make a memory. Slowing down, being intentional with the days, creating memories and smiling at my children minute by minute, instead of rushing around, getting chores done and over-working myself (as I tend to do)…

Grateful for the day spent together in the warm cozy kitchen, I allowed myself to enjoy the sticky-candy-moments and the delicious smell of gingerbread wafting through the house. Sitting beside my youngest, who was just thrilled to be eating some of the candy rolling his way, I realized how blessed I was – blessed to have all these lovely children that need me, blessed to have the home to make cozy for them, blessed to BE AT HOME to create these memories…

… blessed to have the time and energy (although waning) and health to be active with my children … blessed to have my 15 year old help her two year old brother stick his candies on his gingerbread creation …

Let me never be so busy with my daily tasks that I cannot slow down enough to help my little [and big ones] make a few messy, sticky-candy-overloaded memories.

“Every home should be cheerful.
Innocent joy should rein in every heart.
There should be domestic amusements, fireside pleasures, quiet and simple it may be,
but such as shall make home happy,
and not leave it that irksome place
which will oblige the youthful spirit to look elsewhere for joy.
There are a thousand unobtrusive ways in which we may add to the cheerfulness of home.”
-The Royal Path of Life

Around the Home, Homemade is Best, Homeschooling Adventures, Large Family, Old Fashioned Living, personal

by Gigi

8 comments

December 17, 2019 - 11:21 am

Debby in Kansas, USA – I smiled through this entire post. I used to beg my mom to make a gingerbread house, but she worked full time and was always too tired. I swore I’d do them when I had children, but that wasn’t to be, either. Thank you for sharing this wonderful activity with me! I’m sure I could smell the gingerbread myself!!

December 17, 2019 - 7:36 am

Claire – I love everything about this post Gillian! xoxox

December 17, 2019 - 6:15 am

Gigi – Oh, Linda, you are a great grandmother! What a fun day, making chocolate truffle balls (something I have never done! It sounds challenging!). What a great memory you have made with your precious grandchildren! It’s a wonderful idea to write it into your journal. So sweet.

December 16, 2019 - 11:15 pm

Linda – Oh sweet surrender 🙂 I made chocolate truffle balls with my grandchildren this week and there were only three helping…but still, the mess !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thankfully mama was there to help clean up all the grated chocolate. It was a day of fun, laughter, one initial tantrum, and memories made. There’s always one child that will get over excited and have a vision how it will all go. When that doesn’t happen, tears quickly follow. I write these moments in my journal…and one day these little girls when grown up may read those journals and laugh at their younger selves and be thankful (I hope) that Nanny felt to jot these things down on paper. I loved every bit of this post Gigi. I felt those feelings myself when the children were small. Sometimes I probably did say no to what they wanted to do, but when I surrendered to make a memory, it was always sweet (and messy too) 🙂 Merry Christmas to you xo

December 16, 2019 - 5:10 pm

Monica – The houses are beautiful! Truly memories made that will never be forgotten.

December 16, 2019 - 4:21 pm

Gigi – Katie, so nice to hear from you! I will send your our mailing address…

December 16, 2019 - 3:38 pm

Katie Taylor – Thankyou so much for sharing! Looks like lots of fun 🙂 and I completely understand and agree the feeling of hesitation to make them haha! What a wonderful mum you are, very inspiring and encouraging! On another note we are a family of 6 from New Zealand, and I have four daughters 9,6,3, and 1. My 9 year old was wondering if one of your daughters would like to try be pen pals?

December 16, 2019 - 8:26 am

Shirley – Beautiful…and the work of your hands will be blessed

Setting the Stage: The Morning Routine

Saturday, December 7, 2019

[I have been asked to write about my routine and time management. A lot of my time management begins in the morning, before the house stirs. Here is an account from this morning.

Note added: My usual rising time is anywhere between 4:30 and 5 a.m. Yes, I had to train myself to wake up early – however, strange as this sounds, I found it came easier as I had more babies – as they tend to wake one up at 5 a.m. for a feeding. I would just stay up from that point. I was once a night owl in my younger motherhood years and would stay up very late, past midnight. Now, I have just reversed the clock and get up earlier. Yes, I am dressed before I come downstairs for my quiet morning hour. I lay my clothes out the night before so I can find them in the dark as there is a sleeping toddler and a sleeping husband in our room. I have a little nightlight in the bathroom so I can get ready without turning on a bright light. ]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You don’t bake? Oh, I love baking… I love to come downstairs, in the morning … while the house is quiet, sit and have my cup of tea and look out this window at the fresh new day … bread dough rising by the cookstove … there’s nothing that smells so good as fresh bread, just baked, wafting through the house, you know.”

-Janet King, Road to Avonlea

The black and ivory cookstove creaked as she warmed up with the embers from last night’s fire, still warm in her firebox. Opening the firebox door, I added a small bundle of dry kindling sticks to help urge the fire along. My father in law had just delivered a large crate of dry small wood for me and for that I was truly grateful. One needs good wood to get my cookstove going these cold December mornings. Located just outside the back door, the burst of fresh air as I retrieve the little wood pieces wakes me up quickly smartly each morning. Stopping to notice the sparkling stars twinkling in the dark, December morning sky, the tranquil, peaceful sight provided a fresh outlook on the day unfolding.

In the inky blackness of the horizon, I could hear a few straggling coyotes howling in the distance. I shudder thinking of our poor chickens – hoping they are warm enough in their little coop. The sun would soon be up and the house would be stirring, brimming with activity, but for now, it was unruffled and still.

With a small fire finally showing signs of life in the Elmira kitchen cookstove, I moved on to preparing my morning coffee. Using a French press, I make a small pot of coffee for just myself. No one else is up in the house this hour of the morning. A cup of coffee and some Bible time by a soft lamplight is bliss with only the ticking of the clock and the soft crackling of the fire to keep me company.

I’m reading through the Psalms right now, so I opened my Bible to read my daily passage…

“Thy voice shalt hear me in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”
Psalm 5:3

The morning.

What a perfectly calm, beautiful time of day. When I wake up (usually by the cry of our family cat, needing to go outdoors – she only comes to my beside in the morning to ask for the door to be opened – she must know I want to get up anyways), no one else stirs. Slipping downstairs to the main floor of our old home, I find peace in the quiet, a balm for my soul in the stillness. Our days in this filled to the brim home can be busy, dotted with random, various activities, various needs, unending chores and everyday tasks that need to be tended – but this morning – this delicate calm of the break of day – is all mine.

After my Bible time, I will set the table for breakfast and put on a pot of cinnamon-speckled oatmeal to cook on the now-warm-cookstove. Yes, like days of old, a pot of oatmeal is a staple in our house when it comes to breakfast. No one grumbles about it, for which I am grateful. Some mornings, we will be splurge and have poached eggs on toasts, a quiche on Sunday, homemade croissants (still working on this recipe) or potatoes and eggs. But a simple every day morning means a copper pot of steaming hot oatmeal, sweetened with brown sugar and enjoyed with a glass of creamy milk. Gingerbread tea is offered in the winter time for the children, as well. Most of the little ones mix their tea and milk together to their delight.

Setting the stage for a good day begins in the morning, I find.

A good solid Bible reading.

A short prayer time.
A good hot coffee or perhaps a cup of tea…

A quiet sermon to listen to as I putter around the kitchen, preparing for the day ahead of me.

Maybe a piece of toast with jam to nibble on as I take a break and sit for a bit.

Shall I set out the dough to begin a batch of fresh bread for the day? … Yes, is there anything cozier than waking up to the smell of bread baking? Yes, a batch of bread would be just the thing to begin the day on the right foot.

Breakfast has begun and lunch will now be prepared, as well. We usually have warmed up leftovers in the winter or a big pot of soup for lunch. This is simple to prepare before too long (another benefit of home canning your soups!). By breakfast, I should also know what is for dinner and have that prepped as well. With my double role as mother and homemaker and home school teacher, I find it challenging to go between the kitchen and the school books, so I try to keep the food meal preparations to the early morning. Everything flows so much smoother if I do not have to worry about lunch time or dinner. Sometimes, you may find me peeling potatoes while a little one reads to me or chopping carrots while someone asks a question about their grammar, however, the goal is to have lunch ready for the oven before school even begins.

I also challenge myself to drink my litre of water by breakfast time; this helps me stay on track with my goal of drinking enough water during the day. I use a simple mason jar to measure my water intake.

By 7 a.m., I hear the footsteps of little ones upstairs as they begin to tumble slowly out of bed. Sleepy eyed and still warm from their little beds, they will wander downstairs to find me in the kitchen. I always try to greet each child with a warm “Good morning!” and a hug. By this point, the breakfast table should be set and ready for the children. I have learned, as they have morning outdoor chores, it creates a rushed morning if I wait for them to set the table. I generally try to set the table ahead of time, even laying out the placemats and such the evening before.

Let’s start the day with cheerfulness, they will often hear me encourage them. If someone wakes with a sour mood, they are often sent back upstairs to enter the warm kitchen with a better, sunnier attitude. Everyone is encouraged to have their beds made, be neatly dressed with their hair properly combed for the day before they are welcomed to the breakfast table. [That may seem strict to some, but can you imagine chasing down eight children to get dressed each morning after breakfast? Food on an empty stomach in the morning is a great motivator to start the morning off right – dressed and looked clean for the day.]

Once the breakfast is served and eaten by eight hungry children, we pull out our Bible and review our Bible passage for the day. We like to memorize a chapter a month. We simply recite it every day until we can say it from memory. It works, it’s not a fussy system, no bells or whistles but it works.

After the Bibles snap close, everyone is hustled off for their morning chores …but that is another post and another story …

Around the Home, personal, Time Management

by Gigi

10 comments

December 15, 2019 - 7:13 am

Gigi – Ruthie, it is amazing what you can do if you force yourself! My body naturally wakes up now and it amazes ME every morning that I wake up on my one! Keep trying!
I make the bread from scratch all in the morning. I have done dough at night before but only for sour dough.

December 15, 2019 - 7:12 am

Gigi – Bobbie, thank you for the sweet note. I will work on the rest of the day notes soon! I am due first week of April. I feel great! Are you expecting? When are you due?

December 13, 2019 - 8:58 pm

Ourhomeofmanyblessings – I cant wait for more of your day!!!How are you feeling these days?When are you due?You routine is similar to mine alot!Would love to know more of how you manage your day and childrens chores,evening chores,etc.

December 13, 2019 - 6:50 pm

Ruthie – P.S. I forgot to mention I love the Bible reading and prayer first thing and insisting your children have cheerful spirits over grumpy to begin their day. Makes such a difference!

December 13, 2019 - 6:38 pm

Ruthie – Wow! I’ve always wanted to be an early riser, so I find your ability to transition like you did from night owl to your current schedule nothing short of amazing. My scheduling abilities are weak. It’s been a problem area for me, so this is an encouragement to hear of others that are able. On your bread making early in the morning… do you have your dough premade the night before and in the icebox or do you start from scratch during this time?

December 9, 2019 - 12:01 am

Monica – This is wonderful! I love the mornings. One reason (and I’m not sure you mentioned this but I know it’s true for you as well!) is because I have so much energy in the mornings and at night=zero energy! My body just dies at night, haha. So opposite of younger days. So it only makes sense to get up and at ‘em. My mornings start a bit later, in the six am hour. I would rise earlier but our baby is always, always in the bed with us at that time and I’m afraid he would wake up while I was out of bed and roll off of the bed while trying to look for me (nurse). So I wait until he wakes up….sometimes I will slip out of bed and wait in the room, sitting in my rocking chair, reading, so I can still keep an eye on him. Can’t depend on husbands to watch them as they are sleeping, oblivious! Haha!

PS. The picture of Loyal….

December 8, 2019 - 6:55 am

Gigi – Erin, sure, I will look at doing a post about chores. Thanks for the ideas. 🙂
Oh, regarding later nights … I just try not to have them … sometimes it is nice to try to sneak a 20 minute nap in the afternoon (as I call it, rest time!) but it is usually unsuccessful. On a very late night, yes, everyone would be encouraged to go to their rooms around 3:30 and rest and read and if they (or I) fall asleep for a short cat nap, then that is what we needed. I don’t usually stay up past 10 p.m. I will retire to my room around 9 p.m. and read for a bit and then go to sleep. It’s heavenly to read before falling asleep! One of my favorite times of the day! We share a room with our little Loyal still (2 years old) so I use a small flameless candle to read at night without waking him up. For years, I could not think of how to read at night when the light would keep people awake, but now, with those flameless candles, they provide the perfect amount of light for reading without bothering anyone.

December 8, 2019 - 6:51 am

Gigi – Kristal, thank you for your encouragement. I have added some of the answers to your questions in the original post, but I will also answer them here. Yes, I am dressed before I come downstairs. I lay out the clothes the night before so I do not have to stumble around and wake anyone up while trying to locate my outfit!
Yes, I had to train myself to get up early – I once loved to stay up late – past midnight – and it was lovely and quiet then as well, but now I have just trained myself the opposite way, starting with when I had nursing babies – as they wake you up early to feed, I would slip out of bed at that point and use it for my Bible time.
Don’t feel silly asking questions! We are all learning together! We have a lot of distractions as mothers and sometimes, there is not practical training (sadly) for this role before we are all of a sudden mothers to many and needing to know how to manage a busy day and still have time to drink some tea! Keep working at it!

December 8, 2019 - 12:00 am

Kristal – Gillian, I am so, so excited for this series! Thank you for taking the time and thought process to encourage us! May I ask a few questions? What time do you wake up? I suspect you get up much earlier than I do. Do you have any helpful tips on waking early? Were you always an early riser, or did you need to train yourself? Also, you mention your kids needing to be ready for the day when they come for breakfast. Are you also getting ready for the day when you first rise, or at a later time? Sorry, I feel silly asking these questions, but I need some serious encouragement. This has been my biggest struggle and one I have been praying for continuously. God has worked a great deal in me already, but I know I have a ways to go.

December 7, 2019 - 4:55 pm

Erin Lynn – I love this! Please do your morning chores routine! I am really working on my disciplining myself to get up earlier, and I am so thankful you posted this. On later nights, do you still get up at the same time time or take a nap later?

A Visit to L.M. Montgomery’s Home

Thursday, November 21, 2019

This is an unusual post for me – but one of our favorite little adventures is to take a peek into other people’s homes.

The girls and I love to notice a home that has been decorated particularly pleasant, perhaps individualized for the owner’s personality, with a little whimsical touch here and there, something out of the ordinary. It’s also always fascinating to also view an older home – and one in particular that is filled with authentic antiques!

A little while ago, the girls and I, along with some dear friends, went to a nice little visit to Lucy Maud Montgomery’s home in Leaksdale. One of her residences is just an hour away from our home – we have visited this particular home before and enjoyed it so much, we went back for a second visit. I failed to take an outdoor photo of the residence, but have found one from a Toronto newspaper to view.

After a little tea time in the church across the street – where Maud’s husband was the pastor – we went for a tour of the Montomgery’s manse across the country road.

The foyer was very welcoming – and I just adored that sweet oil lamp. Etched on the glass are the words “Home Sweet Home”. Isn’t the wallpaper pretty, as well?

The parlour featured some lovely antiques …

In the dining room, there is a lovely lamp – we have a similar one in our home. It is so pretty!

The girls listening to the tour guide in the dining room …

The cookstove nestled in her tiny kitchen- made me feel right at home! 🙂

The sewing corner in the upstairs hallway where Lucy would sit and watch her children across the road at the school house …

In the corner of the master bedroom, one would find this sweet little baby crib where her son slept. On the wall was a sentimental quote, portraying Maud’s love for her son … I thought it was completely endearing. This is how I feel right now – as Loyal still sleeps in a small crib in a corner of our room … every night, I hear his little chatter and baby talk as he falls asleep…

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of Lucy Maud’s home. Not only is it interesting to view a century home fully decorated, it was also fascinating to learn more about the women and author behind the famous Anne of Green Gables novels.

Around the Home, Old Fashioned Living, personal

by Gigi

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