It’s Preparation Day once again! Soon we will get to enjoy another Shabbat!

I thought it would be fun to share a bit about what we have planned and then give an opportunity for you to link up, too!

Menu

On Friday night, we always have burritos with homemade refried beans. Why do we always have the same thing? Because I don’t have to think about it, and prep day is busy enough as it is. 🙂

I make my beans in the crockpot. I cook 6 cups dry beans on high for a good part of the day. Then I turn them off mid afternoon to let them cool a bit. They get drained, then I add some onion powder, garlic powder and salt. I mix it all up with a potato masher, because I like some beans still intact. Any beans we don’t use for dinner get put into little tortillas and frozen. This gives me a lunch that just needs heated up in our little convection oven, and I have no excuse for skipping a meal.

We also make a few batches of popcorn for Friday night. We enjoy watching a movie together. Tonight we may watch One Night with the King. Love that movie!

Shabbat breakfast is still undecided for this week, but in the past we have had coffee cake, homemade donut holes, muffins, granola, etc. I just have to figure out which one we want this week.

Lunch is another meal that we keep pretty standard. We usually have crackers and homemade garlic dip, flatbread and turkey sandwiches, finger veggies, cheese, and dried fruit.

Dinner has been working out quite nice lately. We don’t do any cooking on Shabbat, but we do use the crockpot. I chop up a bunch of carrots, onion, and celery on Friday and put it in a bag in the fridge. On Shabbat, I throw a frozen piece of chicken with bones in it, the veggies and some water into the crockpot and turn it on high. Late in the afternoon, I throw in a cup of rice and some salt, sage and cayenne pepper. Depending on the piece of chicken I threw in, it’s usually pretty easy to pick out the bones and enjoy! And boy, does it taste good!

Activities

We say some traditional prayers before we eat on Friday night. It’s not required, but we like it. I say the blessing over my one battery operated candle, and we all sing the priestly blessing together in Hebrew. We get dinner music on Shabbat, usually some Messianic music.

We like to watch a movie in the evening, once all the animals are tucked in for the night. And it has become a tradition for the kids to camp out in the living room on Friday night. They love it, and do a great job of getting their blankets put away in the morning.

We have a pretty lazy morning. The kids often play outside, or on cold days, they often watch a Shabbat appropriate movie. I often chat with my mother in law on the phone as she celebrates her Shabbat.

After lunch, we have our Torah time. I’m the stronger reader, so I usually read the Torah portion out loud, or occasionally another passage that I feel led to share. I love how Doug and I have learned to pause to share, explain a passage, give an example, etc. He has great insight that he wants to share with the kids, and then I’ll bounce off it, the kids will ask a question. It makes the time very dynamic.

After Torah time, our day varies. Sometimes Doug has a further study he would like to do with me. Sometimes we have a teaching to watch together. Sometimes we just go outside and take a walk together.

Doug and I often end the day looking at the stars and discussing Scripture.

How about you?

How do you spend your Shabbat? What will you be eating this week? Do you have a favorite website, or a teaching you plan to listen to this week? How about something for the kids? We would like to invite you to share some Shabbat links below. You can either share in the comments or link up. We look forward to seeing how you do Shabbat!