Celebrating a Special Birthday with Friends -- Lynzie is 17!

Welcome to the Homemaking Party! It's been a happy week with one big event---Lynzie turned 17! We had a couple fun celebrations for her---kicking it off with this sweet party, hosted by one of her dearest friends. Lynzie (in blue) and Lucia (in purple) were the guests of honor, turning 20 and 17 in 2017!

Our friends really made the party special with lots of sweet tea treats...

...and napkins in these gorgeous flower and peacock designs. Lynzie loves peacocks!

More sweet treats for the girls to enjoy....

...and tea and petit fours to top it off!

The girls gave one another gifts and then did makeovers and photos. It was a fabulous day Lynzie won't soon forget!

Thanks for stopping by The Homemaking Party! Hope you're having a beautiful week!

Before you go... Have you seen the new Christian Home Magazine? Our first issue released on Friday. Check it out and let us know what you think!

The Christian Home Magazine Issue #128

Hello Readers!

I'm so excited to announce The Christian Home Magazine is back in print! Several years ago, The Christian Home Magazine was hosted by Mrs. White from The Legacy of Home. It featured encouraging articles by homemakers, for homemakers. With Mrs. White's blessing, we've revived it here at Classical Homemaking and I think you're really going to be blessed!

Each Friday, you'll be treated to several encouraging articles from Christian homemakers and young women at home. As you visit the blog of each contributor, please be sure to comment as well as pin and save articles from their sites, rather than this main magazine page. That way, you'll have easier access to the articles you want to reference in the future and those writers will have the blessing of repeat traffic from your pins.

Let us know how you like the new magazine!

Blessings,
The Christian Home Magazine Team

Stewardship and Finances

Stewardship and Finances writer, Laura Lane, is sharing some excellent ideas for partnering with God for financial peace. Check out, What Do You Have In Your Hand? at Harvest Lane Cottage.

Young Ladies at Home

Young Ladies at Home contributor, Lynzie Coller, shares her heart and future plans in Why I Choose to Be a Stay At Home Daughter and Wife.

Homesteading and Healthy Living

Our homesteading and healthy living contributor, Heather from Marine Corps Nomads, shares an excellent recipe for Gluten Free Fried Chicken Drumsticks this week.

Pretty Thrifty Fashion

Pretty Thrifty Fashion blogger, Emily from Teen For the Lord, introduces herself and shares her vision in Pretty Thrifty: An Introduction.

Entertainment

Entertainment contributor, Laura from Harvest Lane Cottage, reviews an encouraging devotional study for women in Now: Purposeful Steps Toward a More Abundant Life by Mrs. Sarah Coller.

Homekeeping

Homekeeping blogger, Sarah Coller of Classical Homemaking, shares her thoughts about Writing an Heirloom Cookbook.

Would you like to be featured on The Christian Home Magazine? Send your submissions for our consideration to sarah@classicalhomemaking.com.

We are linking up with:

The Fabulous Party

Writing an Heirloom Cookbook

Welcome to the Homemaking Party! Today I'm reviving an article I wrote for Raising Homemakers last year about writing an heirloom cookbook.

Do you have a book wish list? I do and one book at the very top of it is the modern version of Martha Lloyd's cookbook. Martha Lloyd was the close friend of Jane Austen's family who lived with the author, her sister, and her widowed mother before eventually marrying Jane's brother, Frank. She kept a handwritten book of recipes that has recently been published for Austen fans to enjoy. When I was in England in September, I spent a day in the village of Chawton where Lloyd and the Austens lived in a not-so-little cottage owned by Jane's wealthy older brother. It was my second time visiting the cottage, but this time I noticed something on display that I hadn't before: Martha Lloyd's cookbook.

In my opinion, there are few things more special a homemaker can leave for future generations than recipes written in her own hand. I've mentioned several times on my blog that my family gave me a box of my great grandmother's recipes and cookbooks when she passed away. There were things in that box that even came from my great-great grandmother. They're very special gifts to me--a legacy that she left without knowing who would benefit.

In our techy, 21st century world, it's so easy to type up our recipes, add a staged, beautifully edited photo, and pin it to Pinterest for the whole world to see. As a homemaking blogger, I've shared countless recipes this way. However, I want to leave my family more than a link to a Pinterest board, so I've begun writing an heirloom cookbook. It's very simple---but so was Martha Lloyd's and so were my great grandma's. In both cases, these women used a simple bound book and filled in the pages with things that came to mind. Martha's contains recipes at the beginning and household tips toward the end. My grandma's books are not organized by recipe type and even feature the same recipes more than once throughout.

My heirloom cookbook is simple on purpose. I tend to be a perfectionist but with my big family and busy life, I've found that perfectionism leads to procrastination. Therefore, rather than waiting for a trip to Hobby Lobby where I can spend $40 buying supplies to make a fancy, color-coordinated notebook with paper flags and ribbon bookmarks, I chose a notebook from my kids' school supply shelf. In fact, I just grabbed one right from the top of the pile. I might snazz it up later on with pretties (that's what my other great grandma would call them) but for now, I'm going simple. Simple means I'll actually get the job done while I'm still here to do it. Whenever I have some time while waiting for something to bake or boil, I jot down a recipe. Sometimes they're family favorites that are requested over and over---other times they're simple lists of instructions I've memorized for making basic things. The point is that these recipes now exist somewhere besides my memory---somewhere my children and grandchildren can access.

Writing a simple heirloom cookbook is a beautiful way to preserve your personality, thoughts, quirks, and handwriting for generations to come. I even include notes like, Jamie (my husband) loves this or I made this for Selah's 7th birthday dinner. It's exciting to know I've joined with generations of homemakers before me in preserving special family memories.