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| Side yard at the Aldrich house, Plymouth Notch, VT. (July 2025) |
In the old days, there was much productive work to do in the home. There were gardens and flowers to tend outdoors. Inside, there was sweeping, washing, cooking, baking, and laundry. The work made one tired enough to sleep at night. The family slept with a sense of peace and rest knowing the time had been well spent.
Before the introduction of convenient food into supermarkets, Mother would make all the meals from scratch. She would bake break, cookies, and cakes. She would make hearty soups and stews. Husband and children would love Mother's home-cooking. They would help her with the work of harvesting, canning, and preserving food. They would help her set the table and do the dishes. Mother was not entirely worn out because she had helpers with the work. This was how they spent time together and learned the skills of home. This was how the beautiful work of homemaking was passed down through the generations. It used to be considered a life-long calling and a precious vocation to be a homemaker.
Sadly, there has been a change in the way homes are being managed. This became very clear to me this week. I had been watching a program on DVD. It was a reunion episode of The Waltons. All the children had grown up. Mother, Olivia, had a job outside the home. The kitchen seemed almost empty compared to earlier days. I used to love seeing Grandma and Olivia bake break, make all the meals, mend, clean, and iron the clothes. It was comforting for the family. They presented a common way the family-home used to function. It inspired peace and stability.
But after Grandma got sick, things seemed to slide on the program. Olivia did not continue on with the work of homemaking from the heart. She seemed discontent and restless. By the time the children had grown up and the grandchildren started to arrive, we find Olivia going to college to seek a degree. We see her working at a job, teaching school. Back at home, the kitchen looked like an empty room. I mourned for the example that had been lost of her working alongside the younger mothers (her daughters) as she used to do with Grandma. Something had slipped in the next generation. Olivia, as the new grandmother, did not keep up with the old ways, as the generations before had always done.
Towards the end of the television program, we see John sitting at the kitchen table one evening. He and Olivia were having apple pie as they talked. John was happy as he said something like, "I didn't know you had time to make a pie." She stood up from the table, began to clear the plates and explained that she did not, in fact, make the pie. She had bought one ready-made at the local mercantile. She told him, "Times are changing." When I heard this, it made me sad. I thought of how we, as God's children, do not change with the times.
I believe Olivia Walton lost that sense of joy, that sense of an anchor, which is necessary when doing the Lord's precious work.
This is what is missing in homemaking today. It is the joy of doing the work, passing it on to our children and grandchildren and continuing it each day, to the best of our ability.
Please do not get weary in well-doing. There is a rich blessing in taking care of a home and family all the days of our lives. Please do not lose the joy.
I want to be the grandmother who is always home for grown children and grandchildren. I want to be here for great-grandchildren. I want to be found faithfully keeping house for the family. This is a gift that must be practiced each day so that the skill of old-fashioned homemaking is never forgotten.
Blessings
Mrs. White
From the Archives -
My Mother's Example - Housekeeping All Day.
A Blessing to Be - Just a Housewife. (With a little history)
Four Generations in the same house - In Pursuit of Christian Duty.
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For happiness and cheer in the kitchen:
Mrs. White's old fashioned cookbook focuses on serving meals and setting the table in a humble home.
"Serving in the Kitchen: Cookbook with Recipes, Advice, and Encouragement for the Christian Home"
152 pages, paperback.
