I have 3 daughters and they all love to create a beautiful atmosphere in our home.
They bring in flowers from their nature walks and meanders through the farm, and I love the special little handfuls of wild flowers that nestle in little glass vases on windowsills.
They help set tables and create flower arrangements for the living room and guests bedrooms.
Tea times outside are a special pastime. Sometimes the girls and their friends bake something, set out tea with pretty linen and invite us to join them under the trees.
Sometimes we have tea and poetry. We read, discuss, recite and enjoy several poems and drink tea out of our special tea set instead of our usual mugs.
When we clean house together, they love to select lively music and we “dance” through the sweeping, mopping and dusting. But we also love to listen to classical music while we craft or cook. My youngest children love their music appreciation log pages for our music appreciation lessons. At the moment Vivaldi’s Four Seasons plays in the background. This year I took the plunge and subscribed to Naxos for our classical music appreciation and I enjoy access the seemingly endless classical music.
Art appreciation is another source of beauty in our home. We use our kitchen cupboard as our art gallery. Sketch Tuesday paintings and art appreciation pictures fill the doors as the term progresses. Currently our Gauguin pictures of M Loulou stand out with their bright colours and contrasts.
The girls love to sew, make stunning cards and create lovely homemade gifts. They love to light candles and set attractive tables for dinner time.
But beauty is not all a girl thing!
Charlotte Mason inspires me to encourage the family in the love of nature, great literature, living books, great art and classical music. Her philosophy teaches us how to appreciate real beauty.
As a Christian mother, I am constantly conscious of cultivating the beauty within each of us.
Jesus’ Beauty.
His character.
And again, Charlotte Mason reminds me to train habits.
God’s word teaches me to instruct and train my children in His ways.
Often I fail here.
There are days where ugly sprawls out, when tears falls, words hurt.
When we want to be and do Beautiful, but don’t. Can’t.
We all fail to stay in Beauty.
I pray more fervently, because this hidden work is not mine to create.
May He take away more of me and fill me with more of Him.
When Jesus fills our hearts and spills out in words and deeds, our home atmosphere becomes truly beautiful.
May our lives be like wild flowers,
like inspiring art,
like soothing music,
like tea in pretty cups.
A beautiful atmosphere.
Blessings,
Practical Pages 
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Great post! I definitely feel inspired after reading this. Thanks for your thoughts!
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Nadine- what a beautiful inspiring blog post. I have two daughters- one who is 19 & to be married in June and one who is 5. I can’t wait for the weather to warm up a bit to have tea outside with my little one. We have had tea inside often- but have never done a tea party outside. Thanks for the idea
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Beautiful post, Nadine.
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“There are days where ugly sprawls out, when tears falls, words hurt…When we want to be and do Beautiful, but don’t. Can’t. We all fail to stay in Beauty.”
beautiful words. 🙂
I’m so thankful for mercies new every morning.
Oh, and I have to agree that ‘girl beauty’ is so distinct from ‘boy beauty’! We all have such different ways of expressing and enjoying art and beauty don’t we?! but rocks are beautiful too, and so are the things boys build, and the way they would fight to protect the people who are beautiful to them.
🙂
amy in peru
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That was beautiful! Thank you – I loved reading about the God-honoring atmosphere in your home.
Ring true,
Nancy
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The picture of the decorated jars is beautiful. Could you perhaps share how those were decorated? My daughter would enjoy this as a handicraft. Thank you for your post!
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@Lanaya, we posted our gift tutorials, ideas and photos here at – Making Gifts. Enjoy!
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Your love of beauty is so inspiring.
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This is a lovely post in pictures and thoughts both. And thank you for the link to the music appreciation log page!
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What a beautiful post!
And so much truth to be found:)
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Beautiful Nadene! My girls love doing all those things too – we currently have a flower arrangement on our table consisitng of flowers picked by our five year old girl.
We struggle most with the beauty of character too!
We have four girls and one little boy, who is the youngest. It is very interesting seeing the differences in him as he grows. Girls can be very messy too – especially when they are being creative, it’s a matter of finding a balance between allowing a messy creativity and the deesperate need for order and being able to find things in the home!
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I would love to come to one of your tea times. Beautiful setting, beautiful food, and beautiful company…perfect. Love your atmosphere.
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I don’t know. My four boys 9 and under make my home a mess, not beautiful. They bring rocks in the house, not flowers. I wouldn’t let them light a candle. I don’t own linens for a table and have no outside table to sit at anyway. I can’t imagine them discussing poetry. We can listen to music, but can’t do it in the background. They are too noisy to hear it. Maybe beauty will come with age.
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@Lee, You’re so right! I am stepmom to 2 sons, now grown up, and they did add lots of noise and mess! My one son now loves to cook and create meals for the family. I know of other boys who build tree houses and decorate them and enjoy tea in tea cups. Many boys are artistic, they sing and play musical instruments and love poetry. Some of these differences are temperament types and other boys change as they mature.
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Oh, I have to jump in and agree with you all about boys! I have 3 girls and 3 boys. My two youngest boys (twins) are the noisy type that Lee talks about. And yet, we are trying to get into the habit of Sunday afternoon tea where I read a good missionary biography. The boys love to sip tea and listen…however, it does last only about 10 minutes before toy cars are being launched off a stack of books accompanied by boy-toy-noise. But they are only 6, and the tea-sipping lasted 10 whole minutes! Quite an accomplishment for them, I say.
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@Diane, congrats on developing an appreciation for tea and read alouds – who knows, they may beg for another chapter and finish the pot! 🙂
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Very inspiring! The outdoor tea parties are something my daughters would love doing. What wonderful memories to give your daughters. The candle holders are lovely.
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This makes me miss my big girls (now married and creating beauty in their own homes!), but you’re right – it’s not just a girl thing. I think I’ll take my boys outside for some (iced)tea and poetry tomorrow. Beauty is for everyone 🙂
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Your post is absolutely beautiful, Nadene!
First time I’m commenting here but wanted to say I’ve enjoyed visiting your blog the last few days. I’ve appreciated – and taken advantage – of some of your free downloads. Thanks so much. My boys and I were busy yesterday cutting minibooks from your site which we are eagerly anticipating using for our next unit study. Thanks so much for your generosity!
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@Diane, Thanks for your first comment and you are so welcome! Enjoy!
@Debbie, you have a wonderful legacy when you can see your adult children continuing creating beauty! And I agree, boys love beauty in many forms!
@Ann, enjoy your tea parties – outside or in! Ours started with a cheap, small China tea set I bought for the girls when they were still very young. They came up with the rest of the ideas!
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I love this post. You have put into words exactly what I am working on especially this week! Thank you for your lovely reminders.
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