Mardi Gras at Family Home Evening

MENU

Jambalaya

Salad

King Cake

and whatever other people bring.

(This is a party where I supply the main dish, and everyone brings the fill ins.)

Every month, a few couples in our ward (church congregation) get together for Family Home Evening (FHE). All of our children are grown and gone, and so we thought it would be a fun idea to get together and have an FHE/dinner. The hostess usually comes up with what we are having for dinner and everyone brings something to share. The host gives the lesson which is the First Presidency lesson of the month. Hopefully, then if our Home Teachers visit us, we will get this lesson twice.....and we all probably need to hear it more than once.

So, what is Family Home Evening and what are Home Teachers? Well, FHE is a special time set aside each week to bring the family together. It is a time that allows us to strengthen our love for each other and for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Usually, we start out with a song, prayer, lesson and activity. Sometimes we might just have an activity. In this case, we just have a prayer and lesson.

Home Teachers are when two men watch over individual families. Each month, they come to see if the family needs anything, and leaves with a short spiritual message. I have seen home teachers help out in many ways. Besides just being a friend, they have also helped when a widow needed some lawn care, or when a family's roof caved in, or when a tree in the yard fell over during a storm, or when someone in the family is sick, etc.

Our group always has FHE on Monday's. We had it on the 2nd Monday this month, and since it was the day before Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. We just moved to Kentucky from Louisiana this summer, I thought maybe I would give them a little bit of the Mardi Gras spirit. No one in our ward knows much about Mardi Gras, except for one gentleman who served his mission in the Jackson Mississippi Mission, which was our mission while we lived in Louisiana.

First thing I did was decorate around the dining room area. I have a few fun Mardi Gras decorations, and thought I would share them.

I love the way it came out.

Then I baked a King Cake. No Mardi Gras party isn't complete without one. Click here for an easy recipe.

Then I had to make some good ole Jambalaya. You can find the recipe here.

Everyone loved the food and enjoyed hearing a little about Mardi Gras. It was fun visiting, and I look forward to the next Family Home Evening!