Holidays and Seasons

Jun

Yeah for Summer!

2010 at 12:05 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

In case you hadn’t noticed, we get excited about the change of seasons here at girltalk. I guess it's because Mom—who grew up in Florida—never got over the wonder of how different each season is in Maryland. Some of that delight must have rubbed off on us girls. And we haven't lost it yet.

So as each season changes, we find ourselves writing about it on the blog. In fact, we started girltalk in June of 2005 and before the first week was up we wrote about—you guessed it!—summer!

Since then we’ve shared our favorite summer salads, summer shopping, summer pics, summer reads, simple summers, and even some interesting summer classes for men.

Two years ago, you all sent us enough summer ideas to fill a book!

Summer Meals

Summer Vacations

Summer Schedules

Summer Activities

Summer Goals and Projects

We love summer because, as John Piper says, “Jesus Christ is the refreshing center of summer. He is preeminent in all things (Col. 1:18), including vacations, picnics, softball, long walks, and cookouts…. The summer sun is a mere pointer to the sun that will be: the glory of God. Summer is for seeing and showing that.”

In all you do, may you see and show the glory of God this summer.

Apr

Good Friday

2010 at 2:07 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

May thy cross be to me

as the tree that sweetens my bitter Marahs,

as the rod that blossoms with life and beauty,

as the brazen serpent that calls forth the look of faith.

By thy cross crucify my every sin;

Use it to increase my intimacy with thyself;

Make it the ground of all my comfort,

the liveliness of all my duties,

the sum of all thy gospel promises,

the comfort of all my afflictions,

the vigour of my love, thankfulness, graces,

the very essence of my religion;

And by it give me that rest without rest,

the rest of ceaseless praise.

--The Valley of Vision

Apr

God’s Wonderful Surprise

2010 at 1:06 pm | by Kristin Chesemore
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

In preparation for Easter, here's a wonderful video for children from the much-beloved Jesus Storybook Bible:

(HT:Justin Taylor)

Dec

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

2009 at 10:35 am | by Janelle Bradshaw
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

Dec

Gloria!

2009 at 2:10 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

A Christmas song for you from Jack and Tori. Merry Christmas everybody!

gift tree

Dec

The Promise of Christmas

2009 at 10:13 am | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

Meditate on this truth today and rejoice in the faithfulness of God:

blurry tree "The incarnation is the supreme example of fulfilled prophecy, the supreme example of God’s faithfulness to his promises….

What God did when he sent his Son into the world is an absolute guarantee that he will do everything he has ever promised to do.

Look at it in a personal sense: ‘All things work together for good to them that love God’—that is a promise—‘to them who are the called according to his purpose’ (Rom. 8:28, KJV).

'But how can I know that is true for me?' asks someone.

The answer is the incarnation.

God has given the final proof that all his promises are sure, that he is faithful to everything he has ever said. So that promise is sure for you.

Whatever your state or condition may be, whatever may happen to you, he has said, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee’ (Heb. 13:5, KJV)—and he will not. He has said so, and we have absolute proof that he fulfills his promises.

He does not always do it immediately in the way that we think. No, no! But he does it!

And he will never fail to do it.”

D. Martyn Lloyd Jones
from Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, ed. by Nancy Guthrie

Dec

Tale of Two Christmas Cookies

2009 at 3:16 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under Fun Stuff Girltalkers Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

cookies Recently, a myth has arisen about Grandma Mahaney’s Christmas cookies. Dad thinks—believes with all his heart, actually—that the cookies with green icing taste better than the cookies with red icing.

That’s absurd, since the only difference is the food coloring. But try telling Dad that. You won’t get anywhere. Common sense reason doesn’t penetrate this illusion.

After many exasperated explanations as to how it is not by any means possible for the red and green cookies to taste different; even after Grandma (his own mother!) told him the truth to no effect, we changed tactics.

He doesn’t believe us? Fine. We’ll prove it to him.

Time for a taste test.

Last Christmas, we all crowded around the kitchen table, set a plate of Grandma Mahaney’s Christmas cookies in front of Dad, and blindfolded him.

We fed him the first cookie.

“Red,” he said.

He was right. Lucky guess.

Next cookie.

“Green,” he said.

Right again. Oh, this isn’t good.

Third cookie.

“Red,” he said.

“Gotcha!” we cried. The cookie was green.

Finally, we thought, proof they taste the same.

Not so fast. We forgot this is Dad we were dealing with. This is the boy who, as permanent quarterback for all the pick-up football games on Hodges Lane, long ago honed the skill of spinning every defeat into a victory.

Two out of three, he insisted, is a win.

So, here we are, another Christmas, and Dad still insists the green ones are the best.

And some kids still believe in Santa Claus.

Dec

Grandma’s Christmas Cookies

2009 at 4:25 pm | by Janelle Bradshaw
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons Recipes

On Saturday we were snowed in with 22 inches of snow! I couldn't have ordered a more perfect day to make Grandma's Christmas Cookies with Caly. I went to our blog to pull up the recipe and re-read Nicole's post (from 2005) about these special cookies. It made me cry, and when I read it to the fam at breakfast, they cried too. So, I thought it was worthy of a re-post. Besides, you really have to try these cookies!

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Grandma Mahaney’s Christmas Cookies

2005 at 10:03 am | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

This year, on December 26, the Mahaney clan will descend upon Grandma's house—all loud, laughing, thirty-six of us. And this year, as with every year since my dad was a little boy, there will be Christmas cookies next to the punch bowl on Grandma’s sideboard in the dining room.

But these are no ordinary Christmas cookies. No siree! Just ask any Mahaney who is old enough to talk (and we usually start early)—these are the original Christmas cookies. All the rest, they’re just cookies.

The Mahaney Christmas cookie starts with the softest, chewiest, nutmeg flavored sugar cookie, slightly undercooked. Then pinky-red or soft-green frosting is lathered over the entire surface. But what really sets them apart are the red-hots (fresh, not stale, mind you) strategically placed on top. The key to eating one of these cookies, as every Mahaney knows, is to plan each bite to include icing and at least one red-hot.

And if these cookies still sound ordinary to you, it’s simply because you’ve never tasted one.

Several years ago, Dad asked Grandma why she had started using smaller cookie cutters. The almost-face-sized cookies he remembered weren’t as large as they used to be. But Grandma told him that these were the same cookie cutters she’d used since he was little. It’s just that he got bigger.

It’s a small thing that Grandma does, really. She makes Christmas cookies. And she makes them every year. But simply by doing it year after year, she gives her children, and now her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a special memory.

Sometimes, we try to make adult size memories for our children, and we exhaust ourselves doing it. We forget that the cookies that seem small to us seem really big to them. Little acts make a big impact. Especially when done year after year. We would do well to keep that in mind this Christmas.

Today I’m making Grandma’s Christmas cookies for Jack. They’re about the size of his face right now. One day he’ll probably ask me why I stopped using those big cookie cutters. And I’ll tell him they are the same one’s I’ve always used. It’s just him. He got bigger.

By the way, if you want to make a big memory with little work, here’s the recipe for Grandma Mahaney’s Sugar Cookies:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg slightly beaten
¼ cup sour cream
½ tsp. nutmeg
3 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Work butter until creamy. Stir in sugar gradually, then beat until fluffy. Stir in egg and sour cream. Mix well. Sift together flour, nutmeg, soda, and salt; stir into mixture. Mix thoroughly. Chill one hour. Set oven for 350 degrees.

Roll out a small amount of dough at a time, ¼ inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cut with Christmas cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool. Decorate with colored frosting and red-hots.

Frosting:
In a medium bowl, stir together until smooth:
4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons water

Adjust the consistency as necessary with more powdered sugar or water. Color as desired. To store, cover the surface of the icing with a sheet of plastic wrap. This keeps for up to 4 days at room temperature or about one month refrigerated.

Dec

A Good Meal

2009 at 4:01 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

plate “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42

This week, I’m planning Christmas dinner. I went to the grocery store yesterday. I’m going again today. And tomorrow. And Christmas Eve.

Actually, it’s a dinner that Jesus is referring to in Luke 10:42. The Greek word for “portion” here means “meal.”

He tells Martha--who is busily preparing a meal that fed the body--that Mary has chosen the good meal. Mary was eating a meal that fed the soul.

But not only that—Jesus said it was a meal that would not be taken away from her. Wow! Now that’s a really good meal!

It might take us twenty minutes to eat Christmas dinner. It will take our body 24-32 hours to digest that meal. The benefits won’t last for long.

But when we make the Lord’s teaching our meal, when we feast on His Word, the benefits from that meal will last for a very long time.

So long in fact, that Jesus said, it will not be taken away from us. Not in 24 hours, not in 24 years, not even in eternity.

Think about that. Every time we read, study, meditate or memorize God’s Word we are ingesting truth that will never be taken away from us.

That’s astounding!

That’s a meal we don’t want to skip!

Dec

The Gift of Peace

2009 at 4:55 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

Sitting says to God: I need you!

Often, we don’t feel our need for God as much around the holidays. We might get a little anxious about all we have to do, but we figure—with a little help from family members—we can handle the Christmas baking and shopping and decorating pretty well on our own. I mean, what to get our father-in-law for Christmas hardly seems important enough to bother God with.

Come to think of it, wasn’t that what our friend Martha was doing?

She lost sight of her need for the Lord’s help. She was just bent on getting the help of that sister of hers!

Yet the Lord lovingly reminded her that needed His help. She needed His grace to serve. She needed to hear His voice to not be anxious.

Martha, Martha He tenderly chided her. I am the one you need to come to for grace and help in time of need – any need, no matter how small or great!

Notice that God didn’t wait until Lazarus’ death to encourage Martha to come to Him. He didn’t tell her to sit and listen only in time of great trial or difficulty. He spoke these words to her in the midst of the general busyness of her home.

present "Take one step at a time, every step under Divine warrant and direction.” exhorts Charles Bridges. It’s holiday advice we’ve shared with you before, but worth repeating:

“Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without his counsel. He loves to be consulted...Consider no circumstances too clear to need his direction. In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative, temporal or eternal, let Him be supreme. Who of us has not found the unspeakable 'peace' of bringing to God matters too minute or individual to be entrusted to the most confidential ear?"

No circumstance is too clear. No matter too minute or personal or temporal to bring to God (even your father-in-law’s present!). God is not bothered or offended by our ordinary, mundane requests. He loves to be consulted about the ordinary matters of our days, and our holidays!

Let’s bring our anxious souls to Him and receive the gift of “unspeakable peace.”

Dec

Sitting Says Something

2009 at 4:24 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

chair field Did you wake up this morning and say to God: “I don’t need to read your Word or pray or listen to your voice today. I am competent on my own. I can do this all by myself, thank you very much.”? 

Of course not! We would never dare say these frightfully arrogant words.

But if we neglect God’s Word and prayer over the holidays (and when is it more easy to do!), we are saying with our hearts and actions: “I can do it all by myself.”

Jesus has a different perspective: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” He says in John 15:5.

We can’t ice one cookie, trim one tree, sing one carol, shop one minute, sew one stitch, or wrap one gift without Him. None of these things—no matter how hard we work at them or how beautifully we pull them off—will have any “eternal value or…produce spiritual fruit” without God (ESV Study Bible).

To bear fruit, we must sit at His feet.

We must renounce our self-sufficiency.

We must repent from our arrogant independence.

We must come to the God of mercy who is eager to forgive.

And we must sit.

When we sit at Jesus’ feet, we are saying: “I need you! I can’t obey you without your help. I can’t serve you in my own strength. I can’t walk in a manner worthy of the gospel by myself. I need your grace.”

And you know what, He will give it! God didn’t correct Martha’s self-sufficiency to push her away. He wanted to draw her near to sit and listen. He wanted to speak to her, to teach her, to give her grace to bear fruit.

So let’s say—with our words, our hearts, and our actions—I need you, Lord, today!

Dec

Celebrate Santa?

2009 at 6:13 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

“What about Santa?” has been a recurring question from our readers through the years: “Is it right/wrong to celebrate Santa?”and “If you choose not to celebrate Santa, how do you help your children relate to family and strangers?”

Last week, Thabiti Anyabwile, a wonderful pastor in the Cayman Islands and a dear friend of CJ’s, published two thoughtful posts in answer to these questions.

He shares why Santa is not a part of his family’s Christmas celebration, and gently answers some of the common defenses for keeping Santa in Christmas:

Our children have grown up to have a wonderful, imagination-engaging, fun Christmas without Santa Claus. And scores of children whose parents make Santa Claus a part of their Christmas celebration have also grown up to have wonderful memories of Christmas and to serve the Lord faithfully….I'm not arguing a dogmatic causality here. I'm simply asking the question, "Why include Santa Claus at all?"

Thabiti follows up with a very helpful post on how to lead children through the difficult questions that arise when Santa is not apart of your family’s celebration.

1. Prepare your children before they're in the situation.

2. Don't leave your children hanging; model the response you're hoping for.

3. Teach children to take an interest in the traditions of others.

4. Finally, we have to teach our children how to handle objections.

As Thabiti notes, “there’s precept and there’s practice.” Whatever your practice, we hope God will give you much grace to lead your children in a Christ-centered celebration this year.

Dec

A Christmas Story for Adults

2009 at 3:56 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons Series Resource Recommendations

I’ve never outgrown my love for a good Christmas story. Problem is, good Christmas stories for adults are much harder to find.

But this year, we can happily recommend a new book for your personal Christmas story time. The Unfinished Gift is a new novel by author Dan Walsh—who also happens to be a Sovereign Grace Ministries pastor in Daytona Beach, FL.

Despite the author’s balmy writing weather, this book has the authentic feel of a bitterly cold winter in 1943. Patrick, the seven-year-old main character, faces sudden grief and an uncertain future with his crotchety grandfather (who, most notably to me, never keeps the house warm enough!).

Old judgments and bitterness linger long in this family, and the evil of prejudice still infects the community. But the brave charity of strangers comes to Patrick’s rescue. And the kindness, long-suffering, and forgiveness of two women who loved their family bring restoration, long after they are gone.

This book’s redemptive and godly themes stand out against the cynical and raunchy holiday fare peddled for adults. Not only can you read this book without feeling yucky or depressed, you’ll find hope that springs eternal, grace in unexpected kindness, and a harvest of righteousness for peacemakers who sow in peace.

So, treat yourself to The Unfinished Gift this Christmas season. I dare you to read it through without crying

Dec

A Christmas Story for Kids

2009 at 4:38 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons

christmas gift When we were little, my mom read us Christmas stories she’d ripped out of Christian magazines, or borrowed from the library. These story times remain some of my most vivid and cherished Christmas memories.

So this year, I’m carrying on that tradition with my own kids. Instead of just telling them that “it really is better to give than receive” and “Christ is the reason for the season” I’m reading them stories that I hope will capture their imagination and affections.

Each night, by the light of the advent candle, we read a story.

One of my favorites so far doesn’t even have any pictures! It’s a story John Piper wrote for the children of his church. “A Kind of Christmas Tale” is about a man named Job and his daughter Jemimah. It was a tad above my children’s comprehension level (well, more than a tad above Tori’s!); but the story is encapsulated in two short rhymes, which, when repeated often, will remind my children and me to trust God’s plan and to obey Him always. Here's the first one:

“When things don’t go the way they should
God always makes them work for good.”

To learn the second one, you'll have to read the story.

Dec

The Girls’ Christmas Picks

2009 at 7:53 am | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under Homemaking Holidays and Seasons Series Resource Recommendations

christmas present This Christmas, why not give the gift of “sitting and listening” to a mother, sister, grandmother, aunt, or friend? (Attention husbands who read girltalk but are too manly to admit it: if your wife has small children, we recommend this gift come with the promise of a few hours of alone time.)

Here’s our “Five Days of Sitting Out Christmas” gift list. Choose one from each category. Tie with a pretty ribbon. Slip in a babysitting coupon or a Starbucks card. Give the “one thing” they need the most this year.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

FIVE GOOD BOOKS

1. "Preaching the Gospel to Yourself"

gospel primer