Vintage Holiday Devotional

Hello, lovely friends!
I have been saving something very special to share with you for the Holidays...As you may recall, my sister has recently been shipping to me boxes of my mother's things. That is how I came to own...

my mother's bible, gifted to her by my maternal grandmother.
As you can see from the dedication page, my grandmother presented this Bible to my mother and father, Kathleen & Jim, and then signed her name "Mimie" (pronounced "Mimmy"). The date says "Feb 15, 1953".

Saved within the Bible's pages is a yellowing article from a Wilmington, NC newspaper, entitled "Millions Read Same Bible Passage Daily".
According to this article, Thanksgiving Day was the first day of "Worldwide Bible Reading", an annual period in which Christians from all over the world read the same verses.

"The custom was started 11 years ago in World War II when a lonely Marine on Guadalcanal wrote his parents suggesting that he and they read identical scripture passages, a different one each day.

"The nondenominational American Bible Society took up the idea, and it has spread to 40 countries with the suggested list of passages for the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas period, going to more than 15 million persons and groups requesting them.

"President Eisenhower said the custom is the kind of act needed to feed 'the flame of our faith' in a time when that faith is under materialism.

"I prayerfully hope its success this year will be greater-that its imprint in the hearts and minds of the peoples of the world will this year be more pervasive - than ever before," he said."

The suggested readings were as follows:

• Nov 25th: Psalms 1
• Nov 26: Psams 23
• Nov 27: Psalms 27
• Nov 28: John 1:1-34
• Nov 29: Psalms 37
• Nov 30: Psalms46
• Dec 1: Psalms ??
• Dec 2: Pslams 91
• Dec 3: Psalms 103
• Dec 4: Psalms 121
• Dec 5: Isaiah 40
• Dec 6: Isaiah 53
• Dec 7: Isaiah 55
• Dec 8: Matthew 5
• Dec 9: Matthew 6
• Dec 10: Matthew 7
• Dec 11: Luke 15
• Dec 12: John 3
• Dec 13: John 10
• Dec 14: John 15
• Dec 15: ???
• Dec 16: John 17
• Dec 17: Romans 8
• Dec 18: Romans 12
• Dec 19: 1 Cor 13
• Dec 20: 2 Cor 15
• Dec 21: Eph 6
• Dec 22: Phil 4
• Dec 23: Heb 11
• Dec 24: Rev 21
• Dec 25: Luke 2:1-2

I have decided that I am going to use this daily devotional. Anyone else interested in joining me?

God bless,
Elizabeth

Wonderful Mashed Potatoes

• 1 medium head garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Drizzle garlic with olive oil, then wrap in aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool and chop. Stir in butter, milk, salt and pepper.
4. Remove the garlic from the oven, and cut in half. Squeeze the softened cloves into the potatoes. Blend potatoes with an electric mixer until desired consistency is achieved.

Courtesy of allrecipes.com

A Perfect Turkey!

I got the following from allrecipes.com. It is easy and works beautifully!

• 1 (12 pound) whole turkey
• 6 tablespoons butter, divided
• 4 cups warm water
• 3 tablespoons chicken bouillon
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 2 tablespoons dried minced onion

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Rinse and wash turkey. Discard the giblets, or add to pan if they are anyone's favorites.
2. Place turkey in a Dutch oven or roasting pan. Separate the skin over the breast to make little pockets. Put 3 tablespoons of the butter on both sides between the skin and breast meat. This makes for very juicy breast meat.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the water with the bouillon. Sprinkle in the parsley and minced onion. Pour over the top of the turkey. Sprinkle seasoning salt over the turkey.
4. Cover with foil, and bake in the preheated oven 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C). For the last 45 minutes or so, remove the foil so the turkey will brown nicely.

Don’t Be fooled my dear –angels are everywhere!
—Faye Diane Kilday

Blessings!



Love,
Elizabeth

Show and Tell Friday

Kelli, at There is No Place Like Home, is hosting Show and Tell Friday...My Show and Tell today is...my antique purses..
I got the one above about 30 years ago at a thrift store in Provo, Utah. I routinely found antique items back then at this one particular store (not so much anymore).
The bead work is very lovely.
This purse was given to me by my sister, Jeanie, who knows my affinity for very feminine things and for pastel colors.
The beadwork on this bag is much more intricate.

I love to wonder about the ladies who carried these bags before me. Were they in the bloom of youth or were they older ladies like I am now? Did they make a special memory, meet a special someone, while holding them? Did they pack them for travel and visit some far-away place with them? Did these purses ever hold hankerchiefs that dried a tear or were given to someone as a remembrance?

I, myself, carried both of these purses in the bloom of my young womanhood. I held the flowered one in my lap when I went to the ballet to see the Bolshoi and another time, the Kirov. They went on special dates with me when I felt young and beautiful. Now, they grace my bedroom wall, now that I am older and rarely dress up the way I use to. Someday, I will pass them down to my daughter, while she is a young woman. Hopefully, they will help her to feel feminine and pretty, because beautiful things affect the way we feel about ourselves.

Love,
Elizabeth

Adorable Snowman!

Isn't he a cutie? Tomorrow, I am getting together with a friend to work on our different craft projects together and this little guy is what I will be making!

Where did I get the idea?

Dawn, over at The Feathered Nest (HERE), has a wonderful group of tutorials for craft originals she has created and which you can buy and then create for yourself at home. (Click HERE for her tutorial blog and scroll down to see the snowman.) You will be surprised at all the wonderful things she has offered on her site and they are perfect for holiday gift-giving, especially this year when many people's purses are very tight. Homemade gifts go a long way.

Have a wonderful day!
Elizabeth

Christmas Giveaway!

Yvette, over at The Charm House, is having a Christmas Giveaway. All you have to do is enter a comment HERE. Tell her your favorite Christmas song to win this beautiful set of Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus!
Blessings,
Elizabeth

Visit my friend, Alexandra, at Happy Hearts at Home, for her link to free vintage Thanksgiving (and Christmas) clip art.

Love,
Elizabeth