Why yes, the appetizer does match my dress!!
Home Economics High School Text Book, 1954
(to see my response to this list click here)
Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal, on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.
Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so that you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.
Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the home just before your husband arrives, gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.
Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair, and if necessary change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer, dishwasher, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad he is home.
Some don'ts: Don't greet him with problems or complaints. Don't complain if he is late for dinner. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day. Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.
Listen to him. You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.
Make the evening his. Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.
The Goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal, on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.
Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so that you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.
Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the home just before your husband arrives, gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.
Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair, and if necessary change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.
Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer, dishwasher, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad he is home.
Some don'ts: Don't greet him with problems or complaints. Don't complain if he is late for dinner. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day. Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.
Listen to him. You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.
Make the evening his. Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.
The Goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
Hungry for more? Scroll down to the next post.
Please stop by my blog to pick up the helping hand award:
ReplyDeletehttp://iwhispertogod.blogspot.com/2009/01/helping-hand-award.html
Blessings,
Lorna
Ah, for the good ol' days. I remember them well and fondly.
ReplyDelete(male reader, obviously)
My poor husband, he was obviously born in the wrong generation. You know, I wonder how many of those 50's wives actually followed through on this advice?
ReplyDeleteThis is great!!
ReplyDeleteyeah, WHATEVER!
ReplyDeleteMy appetizers NEVER match my dress. But sometimes they do match my heels, my pearls and my vacuum cleaner. That counts, right?
ReplyDeleteI want a wife I think!
ReplyDeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think of a pamphlet my husband's grandmother was given by her OB/GYN when she was pregnant...one of the suggestions was:
In order to keep from overeating while pregnant, eat some carrot sticks or smoke a cigarette!
Will all of this guarantee that I'll get the hot, sweaty, steamy sex that I've been anxiously awaiting all day?
ReplyDeleteRight now, my husband is lucky if I get out of bed in the morning. Fighting a cold while growing a baby isn't the easiest task.
ReplyDeleteI did have supper in the oven today when he got home, though. Score one for me!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo funny!
ReplyDeleteDearest Vanilla (male reader, obviously), would I be correct in guessing that you were the one earining all the money, paying all the bills, and doing every bit of the outdoor work? I try to imagine a life like that sometimes, and I find that I'm unable to imagine a spouse taking care of me in that way.
I've never had kids, but I've been the one doing all the earning, and all the everything else. Just odd to think of having a life like that. :-)
In response to Tasty,
ReplyDeleteYes, that was the way it was.
(I do know it is a different world in which we live now.)
I figured that's what it was like. I'm happy that those are fond memories for you!
ReplyDeleteNo wonder my mother's nuts. She actually ironed my dad's underwear.
ReplyDelete*gasp* She ironed his underwear!?! Good grief! I just throw his in the drawer. But I did have dinner ready by 8, does that count? And we don't even have kids yet!
ReplyDelete55, single, and still waiting for that ever-elusive, evidently-riding-in-on-a-lame-snail-instead-of a-charging-stallion prince for whom I could "Be A Good Wife"... (sigh!)
ReplyDelete