Christmas Tea at Carol's

🎶We Wish You a Merry Christmas🎶 

The Take Joy Society got together yesterday for a Christmas Tea at Carol's house.  Here is her lovely table set for our festivities.....

Take Joy Society Fifth Anniversary

The anniversary of Tasha Tudor's 105th birthday is next week on the 28th.  It's gotten me to thinking about the beginning of the Take Joy Society which began as the Maryland Chapter of the Tasha Tudor Museum Society six years ago.  The Museum sent out emails to its followers about the various celebrations the Chapters were holding.  This is how I came to meet these lovely ladies, some of whom continued on with the Take Joy Society.....

You can read about our celebration HERE.  

❤️ of the Home - December

❤️ of the Home - November

Susan Branch's illustrations capture Autumn at its best.  By November Autumn is well on its way to becoming winter in the northern climes.  We start thinking about Thanksgiving, making our menu, preparing bedrooms for our guests. . . .

❤️ Of the Home - October

❤️ of the Home - July

 July 4th is a BIG holiday in America--our Independence Day.  It represents all that we hold dear about America--our freedoms for ALL.  Susan proudly hangs her flag. . . .

❤️ of the Home - June

June is the month you get out of prison--otherwise known as school.  Even as a parent I looked forward to the end of the school year so that I could have my children home with me.  What I didn't look forward to was the heat and humidity.  Susan Branch writes about how she dealt with hot summer days when she was a child. . . .

❤️ of the Home - May

❤️ of the Home - April

Now that March winds have simmered down we can look forward to April showers bringing May flowers. . . .

❤️ of the Home - March

March is a transition month.  It's the month that can't make up its mind between Winter and Spring!  Susan Branch's March 2017 calendar page encourages us to keep a diary, which is a good way to deal with fickle March because it gives us a way to express our feelings. . . .

❤️ of the Home - February

    

          

February is the L❤️VE month because of Valentine's Day.  Susan Branch shares her recipes for a romantic dinner for two HERE.  Click on the recipe title to go to it.

❤️ of the Home - January

How do you bring in the new year?  This year on the first of each month I'm featuring Susan Branch's ❤️Heart of the Home❤️ sensibilities using illustrations and quotes from her calendars and books.  She is an author/illustrator, and whether she intended to be or not, a lifestyle maven for her many followers, affectionately known as Friends of Susan Branch (F.O.S.B.)   She keeps in touch with her "friends" via her BLOG, FACEBOOK page, and TWITTER.  Do not be surprised if she responds to your comments because she values hearing from us all.  You will soon feel as though you ARE a friend!

Besides her many cookbooks and memoirs she has calendars, scrapbook pages/stickers, journals, stationery, and a host of other things which can be found HERE on her website's shopping page.  And while you're at her website print out this year's Full Moon Bookmark found on her FREE STUFF page. . . .

German-Themed Get-Together

The Take Joy Society Christmas celebration this year was in keeping with our foreign travel theme by lunching at the Schmankerl Stube Bavarian Restaurant in Hagerstown, Maryland. . . .

Simple Abundance - December

"Simple Abundance"

Simple Abundance - November

Simple Abundance

November is the pause between Autumnal color and Winter white in many parts of the country.  It can look bleak and dreary oftentimes.  Perhaps that's why November was chosen to celebrate Thanksgiving--to give us something to look forward to that encourages us to be grateful for what we already have.  It is also a time to gather family near and far and celebrate the bond of kinship.  I've hosted Thanksgiving for so long that the few times we've been invited to another's home it just did not feel like Thanksgiving to me.  Tradition carries with it heart memories.

My menu is always the same except I like to try different vegetables every year.  Sometimes I add soup.  I also like to vary the way I make the sweet potatoes.  I've not changed the Sausage Sage Dressing or Shaker Corn Pudding I've made for many years now.  I've always made Heavenly Hash (also known as Ambrosia) and pumpkin pie--two things my mother always made.  And of course the Turkey!  But we did try Splatch-cock Turkey one year.  Since this is the only time of year we have a whole turkey, it is special.  I love making the table look festive and always use the tablecloth I made many years ago.  Last year I added name tags with my own illustration. . . .

As a young child we always went to Mamaw's and Papaw's farm in Mississippi for Thanksgiving.  I remember going along to pick out the turkey at a farm down the road.  There were always lots of cousins to play with.  By the time I was a teenager we'd moved north and we'd usually go to my other set of grandparents.  One Thanksgiving, however, my mother hosted her parents and four siblings and their families.  There were cousins galore that Thanksgiving.

This month Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests these Joyful Simplicities from "Simple Abundance". . . . 

🦃   Write your own personal grace and offer it for the first time on Thanksgiving.

🦃   Fill a basket of food and take it to a shelter the day before Thanksgiving.  If you have children, let them help you shop, load the basket, and deliver it with you.

🦃   Don't rush out the day after Thanksgiving to do holiday shopping with the rest of the world.  Instead, make a pot of homemade turkey vegetable soup, write out a shopping list for the Christmas pudding ingredients, create an Advent wreath, and start listening to holiday music.

The Thanksgiving before my mother died I had everyone write what they were thankful for on the back of an artificial leaf.  I put them in an arrangement that I bring out each year.  Her leaf is always there to remind me of that Thanksgiving.

We often still have family the day after, but once they leave I will start thinking about Christmas.  I'll put away my autumn decor and bring out the winter things.  Then I'll start making lists of what needs to be done when for Christmas.

If you need a Turkey Soup recipe here is one I posted last year from Mary Mason Campbell's book, "The New England Butt'ry Shelf".  Drag it to your computer desktop to print. . . .

What about you?  Do you have Thanksgiving traditions?  Would you rather host the dinner or let someone else host it?  Do you have any special memories from your childhood Thanksgivings?

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Take Joy!

Simple Abundance - September

In Sarah Ban Breathnach's book "Simple Abundance" she gives us suggestions each month for ways in which to enjoy the month.  Here are a few of Sarah's Joyful Simplicities for September:

🌻   L' été c'est fini, as the French say, so end summer on a high note.  Make a really big deal out of the last cookout of the summer.  Serve your favorite summer recipes with a final flourish.  Linger in the twilight, watch the sun go down, and bid summer a fond adieu.

🌻   On Labor Day weekend take 15 minutes to write down all the things you wanted to do over the summer but never got around to.  Put your list in an envelope.  When you get your next year's calendar, paperclip the envelope to the first day of June and open it then.  Try to block in some time on your calendar to make postponed pleasures a priority when summer returns.

🌻   Celebrate the autumn equinox (22nd) with a festive dinner of homestyle cooking.  Do this especially if you live alone and rarely cook a descent meal for yourself.  Bring home a small pot of mums for your dining table.  Draw hearthside and light the candles, pour the wine or cider, and enjoy the simple pleasure of comfort food.  Have you ever tried an English "fidget pie," a traditional harvest meal?  It's composed of potatoes, onions, apples, and ham pieces in a vegetable stock seasoned with a little brown sugar, salt and paper.  Pour into a pastry shell, cover with a top crust and bake as you would any filled pie.

🌻   Observe the autumnal festival of Michaelmas (29th), which is the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel.  This ancient English harvest festival dates back to the sixth century.  Legend has it that on this day the devil was driven out of Heaven by St. Michael and landed in a patch of blackberry brambles.  It's traditional to have blackberry treats--pies, tarts, or jam on scones for tea on this day.

🌻   Start making your Christmas list this month so that you won't be frantic in December.

🌻   Take a walk under the huntress moon (16th).

I always buy potted mums in September for my porch then plant them in the garden before winter. . . .

Sarah writes, "Since ancient times, September has been viewed as the beginning of the new year, a time for reflection and resolution....... It seems to me that January resolutions are about will;  September resolutions are about authentic wants."  Sarah asks this question:

What do you want more or less of in your life, so that you can love the life you're leading?

When my children started school September became the beginning of my year.  It's been hard to break the habit even though it's been seven years since my last child went off to college for his final year in September.  I always felt bittersweet this time of year.  I was glad to see the worst of the heat and humidity come to an end, but sad to no longer have my sons about, even as I was glad to have more time to myself. This time to myself allowed me to reflect on my life.  Making new resolutions would always come out of it.

September is also special for me because it's my husband's birthday month.  We spent a wonderful week on Martha's Vineyard in 2012 for his birthday.  We stayed in a carriage house that had a small garden behind it where I'd write in my journal each morning before we went off to explore more of the island.  You can read about it on Morning Musings starting with this Post and clicking on the next one for a total of eight more . . . .

And September is the month Gabriel came into my life in 2008. . . .

What about you?  What does September represent to you?  Do you have certain rituals or celebrations like Sarah suggests?  Special memories?

How would you answer Sarah's question?


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Take Joy!

July Celebrations

Illustrated by Tasha tudor

Mary Mason Campbell writes in her book, "The New England Butt'ry Shelf Almanac" illustrated by Tasha Tudor, "On the Fourth of July, we tug at the bell rope in the barn and put up the flag to wave in the hot breeze, remembering that after John Adams signed the Declaration of Indepen- dence on the first American Fourth of July, he wrote his wife Abigail that he hoped Americans would always make this day one of rejoicing and merry- making.  We follow his wishes willingly."

Ms. Campbell tells us that the Fourth of July signals the start of the clambake season in Rhode Island.  Here is her recipe for Clam Fritters. . . .

Drag to computer desktop to copy

Tasha Tudor shows us how her family celebrated in her book "A Time To Keep" with the traditional firing off of fireworks as well as watching them being set off at the fairgrounds in the village from the vantage point of their high pasture.   A picnic on a little island in the Black River reached by canoe was also part of their celebration. . . .  

In Tasha Tudor's "Around the Year" she celebrates the 4th of July. . . .

When I was a child we'd always go to my grandparents' farm to celebrate the 4th.  The cousins would be there and we'd have sparklers and firecrackers.  The cats would hide under the porch and us girls would cover our ears.  Watermelon and homemade ice cream could be counted on being a part of our celebration. . . .

How did your family celebrate the 4th of July when you were growing up?

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Take Joy!

Midsummer's Day

Today is Midsummer's Day.  I wrote about Tasha Tudor's Midsummer's Eve celebration earlier in the month.  Sarah Ban Breathnach wrote about Tasha's festivities also in her book "Simple Abundance," then goes on to tell us how she, herself, celebrates Midsummer's Day. . . .

I wander out into the backyard very early in the morning and pluck a blossom from the garden heavy with dew.  With my fingers, I’ll pat the dew upon my face, for legend has it that any woman who washes her face in the dew of Midsummer’s Day will grow more lovely with the passing year.  Fairy cakes are made for tea, midsummer’s syllabub (a delightful concoction of cider, lemon, berries, and whipped cream) is prepared for a moonlit picnic, and personal dreams are renewed.

I think it's a lovely idea to find reasons to celebrate the seasons.  There was a time when Summer was all about children home for school vacation, finding activities and trips to keep them busy and enrich their young lives.  Now Summer is about enjoying my garden.  Things are growing and therefore my garden must be tended:  weeding, watering, fertilizing, deadheading.  But I also take time to just enjoy it. . . . .the fragrance of Lavender as I harvest it. . . .

The sight of daisies and evening primroses rioting together. . . .

Climbing roses creating bowers over my garden path. . . .

Hearing the high-pitched croak of the frog as I startle him back into the pond when I draw too close. . . .

But I think one of the most joyful beauties of the place where I live is the sun filtering through the tree tops. . . .

Anne Shirley in "Anne of Avonlea" says it best. . . .

I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls sipping off a string. 

May you find Joy in every day!


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Take Joy!