Recipe for a Happy Day

This week I’ve spent some time going through some of my mom’s old cookbooks and came across this handwritten recipe for a happy day in a 3-ring binder cookbook.  The recipe describes my former kindergarten teacher mother perfectly.  These weren’t just words to her.  She lived them.

The recipe is a bit quaint.  We could probably use some quaint.  We’re a bit shy on it in our society.  Everything is serious, serious, serious and we spend our mornings gawking at the rumor mongers pointing their fingers at the latest official or agency at fault for problems we didn’t know we had.  We take this trait into our home lives, being quick to blame and hoard grudges like gold, fearful of letting them go, lest our so-called “loved one’s” (so-called because we rarely do!) be let off the hook for offending us.  “I-ain’t-gonna-take-no-crap” is our mantra and is it any wonder no one in our house wants to give us the time of day.  Well, dah….

So, yeah, a bit of quaint might not be a bad thing.  Quaint means “old-fashioned attractiveness and charm.”  Okay.  Let’s go with that:

Recipe for a Happy Day

A measure of Christian faith.

Leavened with morning prayer.

Seasoned with hope and a dash of song.

And mingled with pure fresh air, the fruit of a cheerful heart.

And added without delay.

Then seasoned with wonderful love,

And you have a perfect day.

Ella Bryant