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Bookswithtea
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I just bought this book and am about a 1/4 of the way through it. Its called The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love. So far, I am loving it and I am very inspired.
Do any of you have plans to help your daughters begin a hope chest? What kinds of specifically Catholic things might you include? This book is protestant but so far, I haven't caught anything uncomfortable.
http://www.visionforum.com/search/productdetail.aspx?search= hope+chest&productid=95732
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MarilynW
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We are gathering information about hope chests. I will share with you soon - need to go to bed now as the "morning" sickness is tough right now. There are some resources on www.pearables.com - these are Protestant too.
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Erin
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Yes I just haven't decided when to start.
I had one, I think my parents bought it for me when I was 20. I was thinking of starting sometime before then.
I have read some lovely stories in the Above Rubies magazine (a Protestant mag.) on this topic. I remember one story where a family had a beautiful 13th party for their daughter and all the aunts, grandmothers, close women friends came and gave gifts to the birthday girl for her chest. The mother shared how she intended to add to the chest yearly. I was wondering about doing it at 16.
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KellyinPA
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I bought this book last year at our homeschool convention haven't really gotten a chance to read it yet. Our only dd will be 16 this summer and I hope to implement something by then.
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I really like the idea of Hope Chests and requested one when I was younger, I got a black footlocker which is what my Mom has too but at the time I wanted cedar/cherry/pretty wood style but I bucked up and it is my first memory of putting others before myself really, as in Mom and Dad really had to search to find that in the rural area we were in and I knew that so swallowed my disappointment at not getting exactly what I wanted...
Anyway, I vote for age 13 - it makes the turning a teenager very special plus it gives the girl more time to stitch those cool towels, pillowcases etc...Goodness knows I needed all the time I could get! 
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Mary G
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I'm with Jennifer -- I really like this idea especially as my younger daughter (who will turn 7 in March) is such a girly-girl -- my older daughter (who will be 16 in June) could also benefit from this and it's not too late  !
Isn't it too bad that all the really feminine things for girls are never Catholic -- they're always Protestant? Where are all us Catholics and why don't we put a book together? 
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JennGM
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I had my own "hope chest" of sorts. It wasn't an actual chest, but I got things together for my future.
Was there a discussion on CCM list about some Catholic things to make or put into the chest? I can't remember where....but some ideas for your daughter to make over time would be tablecloths and napkins for the liturgical year (or table runners), perhaps a small "altarcloth" for the family altar. Blessed candles, candlestick holders or votive holders for the family altar....
This suggestion isn't necessarily "making" things, but if there are items in your household that your daughter loves, like kitchenware, tableware, Christmas decorations, etc. but you're not ready to pass it on, or too many in the family to share with just one, I suggest some hunting on eBay for some of those vintage items, like a Nativity set, favorite religious picture, special statues, crosses, candles.
Before I got married I had this plan to make an altar cloth for my wedding. I was lookign for some vintage linen and then wanted to add crochet border and use at the nuptial Mass, and then take it back home for our use. I thought this cloth could be saved and used for various sacramental and liturgical celebrations throughout the family's life -- weddings, funerals, first Mass. I didn't get to make it because our Church's altar was so large I couldn't get the dimensions. But I also thought a smaller cloth that could be used for the sacraments -- credence table to hold the gifts for the Mass, baptism oils and candle and such, etc, and then used at home for the family altar...a closer unity with the Liturgy of the Church and our domestic church.
And learning to sew altar linens, with mitered corners and such is a great step in the process of sewing....and later embroidery, wow. It's such a lost art, but I love thinking of how many women down the centuries worked on the altar linens.
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oh, and books...that is a must fill in hope chests.
ETA: I'm thinking of the books that help you raise your family, help them medically and spiritually, and those that help you be a better wife.
Secular, something like Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Book and Home Comforts. Favorite or family Cookbooks.
Compiling a family cookbook or recipe box) of passed on recipes.
Religious, some of those hard-to-find books on the liturgical year, like "Around the Year with the Trapp Family", Mary Reed Newland, Helen McLoughlin...and newer ones.
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Mary G
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JennGM -- these are great suggestions; I hadn't even thought of books! DUH!
and the liturgical cloths, etc is a wonderful addition too.....
I'm getting excited about this and hope my almost-16yod feels the same!
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Mary G wrote:
| Isn't it too bad that all the really feminine things for girls are never Catholic -- they're always Protestant? Where are all us Catholics and why don't we put a book together? |
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Why don't we? I think there is interest, at least among our group! Look at how Kim and I were looking at The Girlhood Home Companion. Immediately someone chimed in with fact that it is Protestant, but I've never found anything similar that is as lovely that is Catholic. 
(I'm not linking all this to be name dropping, etc...just using a recent example)
It seems like Protestants have a large system for publishing things like this, do Catholics? I really don't know and am curious. I've never been approached by Catholic Writing Conferences, Workshops etc. but have by Protestants. Do we have such a support group and I've just never noticed as I'm not in the right area at the right time?
Jenn, I really like the idea of including books too, you've listed some great ones. I wonder what some other good ones would be? Here's an example aimed at girls, again Protestant though. Can we support our Catholic friends by buying a similar book? There is Alice's Sewing with Saint Anne any others that would be great for a Hope Chest?
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Mary G
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marihalojen wrote:
Mary G wrote:
| Isn't it too bad that all the really feminine things for girls are never Catholic -- they're always Protestant? Where are all us Catholics and why don't we put a book together? |
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Why don't we? I think there is interest, at least among our group! Look at how Kim and I were looking at The Girlhood Home Companion. Immediately someone chimed in with fact that it is Protestant, but I've never found anything similar that is as lovely that is Catholic.
(I'm not linking all this to be name dropping, etc...just using a recent example)
It seems like Protestants have a large system for publishing things like this, do Catholics? I really don't know and am curious. I've never been approached by Catholic Writing Conferences, Workshops etc. but have by Protestants. Do we have such a support group and I've just never noticed as I'm not in the right area at the right time?
Jenn, I really like the idea of including books too, you've listed some great ones. I wonder what some other good ones would be? Here's an example aimed at girls, again Protestant though. Can we support our Catholic friends by buying a similar book? There is Alice's Sewing with Saint Anne any others that would be great for a Hope Chest? |
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Well, CHC published the Sewing with St. Anne, and I've talked to Theresa about doing one for knitting but whenever we "talk" about it, she's too busy -- altho she has shown interest. Ecce Homo Press published my Glory of America Knits! but I'd sure like to do a more general knitting book....
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JodieLyn
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Funny you should mention the Sewing with St. Anne book. There's a page in there on hope chests I wanted to mention here. Because it talks about how in different cultures and different eras parents might start the collection soon after a girl was born.. others at 11 or 12.
A big thing is that it was not always some seperate chest.. any container will do.. in England it was called "the bottom drawer" for instance.
One suggestion is a cookbook.. not only finding a good solid basic cookbook (I find the Good Housekeeping Cookbook 1973 - or earlier to be a good choice, too many later ones use too much convience foods for it to be what I'd call basic).. but also writing up the family recipes for her own personal recipe book.
Boys also, the items may well be different, but they certainly would have tool chests to fill.. not to mention basic household goods if they move out and don't marry right off.
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I've also seen things at http://www.domestic-church.com that sounded intersting.. what I'm thinking of was Christmas ornaments.. I'd have to go and look again.. but it was something about a traditional set for brides.
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ah ha.. here's the direct link to what i was talking about The Bride's Tree
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Mrs.K
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I don't quite understand the 'hope chest' idea for young girls. How do we know that our daughters are not going to be called to religious life or to remain single? Is it proper to set them 'hoping' for family life when we don't know if that is going to be God's will for them? Of course our girls will naturally hope for children and families, but isn't part of our job in fostering vocations to always be mentioning the alternatives? Perhaps that is why Protestant's are writing these books, because they do not have the option of the convent. But even so, wouldn't a collection of home making items just increase a girls' disappointment if remaining single is what God has planned for them? I don't mean to be a spoil sport, because it does sound like a truly lovely and tempting idea. Perhaps a small chest could be filled with items useful to any state in life, such as the family cookbooks.
Just offering another view, and as I've 'heard' others say on this board, no tomatoes please!
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Mrs.K wrote:
I don't quite understand the 'hope chest' idea for young girls. How do we know that our daughters are not going to be called to religious life or to remain single? Is it proper to set them 'hoping' for family life when we don't know if that is going to be God's will for them? Of course our girls will naturally hope for children and families, but isn't part of our job in fostering vocations to always be mentioning the alternatives? Perhaps that is why Protestant's are writing these books, because they do not have the option of the convent. But even so, wouldn't a collection of home making items just increase a girls' disappointment if remaining single is what God has planned for them? I don't mean to be a spoil sport, because it does sound like a truly lovely and tempting idea. Perhaps a small chest could be filled with items useful to any state in life, such as the family cookbooks.
Just offering another view, and as I've 'heard' others say on this board, no tomatoes please! |
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A young woman remaining single is addressed in the Hope Chest Legacy book. A woman setting up a home by herself would want many of the things a married woman would want. Fine linens, china, family cookbooks, etc. Of course, a woman entering a convent would not need these things, but if she had a hope chest, perhaps she could pass the contents on to her sisters or neices.
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aussieannie
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Hope chests, I have never heard that term before. When I was a girl Mum and Dad bought be a beautiful, carved wooden chest to put all my linens, embrodiery and other collected things for when I would one day marry, and it was called a "Glory Box" - do you use that term at all?
JennGM wrote:
oh, and books...that is a must fill in hope chests.
ETA: I'm thinking of the books that help you raise your family, help them medically and spiritually, and those that help you be a better wife.
Secular, something like Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Book and Home Comforts. Favorite or family Cookbooks.
Compiling a family cookbook or recipe box) of passed on recipes.
Religious, some of those hard-to-find books on the liturgical year, like "Around the Year with the Trapp Family", Mary Reed Newland, Helen McLoughlin...and newer ones. |
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Jenn, I have two daughters aged 7 and 9 - I haven't got them their boxes as yet but I had thought books too. When I recently bought "Cooking with the Saints" I loved it and have been cooking from it already, so when I saw Jennifer selling her copy, I bought it too (it is still on the slow boat over) as I thought the girls could have one each for their boxes eventually.
I now keep an eye out for second hand liturgical cooking/craft books that I have found useful, so that they can have a few books of that nature as a part of their collected 'treasures.'
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Kathryn UK
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JodieLyn wrote:
| in England it was called "the bottom drawer" for instance. |
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I remember the daughter of a neighbour had a "bottom drawer", and I used to love looking through it with her. She must have been about 10 years or so older than I am. I don't know anyone my age who had one .
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Mary G
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Lorri wrote:
Mrs.K wrote:
I don't quite understand the 'hope chest' idea for young girls. How do we know that our daughters are not going to be called to religious life or to remain single? Is it proper to set them 'hoping' for family life when we don't know if that is going to be God's will for them? Of course our girls will naturally hope for children and families, but isn't part of our job in fostering vocations to always be mentioning the alternatives? Perhaps that is why Protestant's are writing these books, because they do not have the option of the convent. But even so, wouldn't a collection of home making items just increase a girls' disappointment if remaining single is what God has planned for them? I don't mean to be a spoil sport, because it does sound like a truly lovely and tempting idea. Perhaps a small chest could be filled with items useful to any state in life, such as the family cookbooks.
Just offering another view, and as I've 'heard' others say on this board, no tomatoes please! |
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A young woman remaining single is addressed in the Hope Chest Legacy book. A woman setting up a home by herself would want many of the things a married woman would want. Fine linens, china, family cookbooks, etc. Of course, a woman entering a convent would not need these things, but if she had a hope chest, perhaps she could pass the contents on to her sisters or neices. |
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I think the point of a "hope chest" was that the girl would be ready to set up house when she married. However, all of these things are just as valuable (if not more so) if she stays single or enters the religious life -- it used to be that girls entering the convent came with a dowry of materials and linens to add to the convent's common closet -- materials to make the habit and linens for undies and table, etc. So the hope chest would be just as applicable. It's a great way to show "right of passage" in a very memorable way ... particularly if you have family heirlooms included
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Bookswithtea
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I'm really excited about this. There are some great ideas here. I'm already mentally composing a list of books that have been so influential in my homemaking/parenting and in love for God. Some of these books might not even be in print when our daughters are of marrying age...I was even thinking about a book like Dressing with Dignity? Or Dr. Sear's parenting books, for instance? Who knows what will be the latest in baby parenting. I'd like to have copies of these books for all of my dd's (3 so far).
Dh and I have agreed on age 13 at the end of 8th grade, to signify moving into a different stage of life. This is the age that the Jews have their bar mitvah, I believe, and when Jewish boys were first considered men in the community. For our boys, dh is in charge of finding an excellent Craftsman tool box (the big kind on wheels) and filling it with the best of the basics before graduation. I'm in charge of ideas for filling the hope chests. We have 2 already...on my fil made for me when dh and I got engaged, and the other was given to me by my grandmother. Dh has plans to make one for our third daughter, so that all of them will have some kind of family history attached to them, even if they aren't old. Right now they both just hold extra blankets. We haven't told them about this yet because we want it to be a big deal for the first children and then something to look forward to for the younger children.
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Topic: Hope Chests for our daughters
