The Happiest Millionaire

I love old Disney movies, and I have passed down that love to my children. Yesterday after a rough morning, we decided we needed to step back, get calm and regroup! So we all gathered in the living room ( we have christmas lights all over the ceiling of our living room, it just makes it festive and cozy ) and we read from our current literature book, The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. We read for about half an hour, then we popped in a new to us, old Disney movie, The Happiest Millionaire. The movie is full of bright, cheery songs, and hilarious hijinks! I can’t even begin to choose my favorite part, possibly the fact that Fred MacMurray’s character, the dad, the happiest millionaire, teaches the Biddle Bible Class in the stable, which basically involves them wearing matching shirts and boxing!!!!

I was surprised while watching the movie yesterday at a certain line in the film. Fred’s character is sad because his daughter Cordy ( pictured above) wants to go to a college for girls. He basically says to his wife “ She won’t like it! Why would she want to leave this special world of ours?”  That hit me hard. As parents, we try hard to create a happy home, a haven for our family, and basically, a special world for them. Now, of course the special world in the movie is quite, umm…. movie special? They have a conservatory full of alligators ! The Irish servants burst into song and dance with the family. The dad decides to go on a chocolate cake diet, because he feels it has all the best “elements”. What kinds of things do we do to make our home a special world for our families? Do we concentrate to much on making sure that everything is “perfect” ? That we as mothers and fathers do the right thing all the time? Guess what folks! We are not perfect! But we can be the “Happiest Families” on the block!! One of the greatest parts of being a momma to me , is getting to be silly and laugh a lot. I get to create the dream home I’ve always wanted… nope, my house is not a mansion, in fact it’s a tiny little three bedroom manufactured home. But it has a huge yard full of nature and wonder. The living room as I’ve mentioned has our christmas lights up on the ceiling still because they just make us happy. We like to throw ‘parties’. One time we decided to watch “The Wizard of Oz” and the girls wore their red sparkle shoes and while we watched the movie and sang along, we colored rainbows and then put tape on them and taped them to the ceiling. Lot’s of people comment on them when they come to visit. I tell them to lay down on the couch and look up and tell me if they don’t smile!!!! I love to create that “special” world for my family. Another thing that is important to me in our special world, our happy home, is that we have the Gospel. At night we love to gather on momma and daddy’s new bed ( what a blessing!) and we read the Scriptures. There is always music on in the house. We love the hymns and other LDS music. There are so many ways to have the Gospel in our special world. Our home has many pictures of Christ, and pictures of our family. It is truly a happy home. So, tell me, what do you do to make your home a special world?

Did I mention that the Happiest Millionaire has alligators in their house??