A Snack From The Shire: Mixed Berry Scones!

Last summer, my mom began reading through The Hobbit with my sisters and I. The plan was to read it together as a family over the summer and do fun activities to go along with the story, such as learning to write our names in Dwarvish runes, printing and weathering a copy of the map to Erebor, and trying our hands (and taste buds!) at some of the different foods that are mentioned throughout the book.

One of my favorite scenes in both the book and the film adaption is when Bilbo is just sitting down for a nice, relaxing meal, and is suddenly burst in upon by no less than thirteen very intrusive Dwarves and one very tall grey wizard. As my sisters and I have already seen all three films based on the book (extended editions, in fact), we easily remembered the stacks and stacks of mouth-watering dishes that the little hobbit brought out for his unexpected guests. Now I’ve always loved the idea of the food of Middle-earth, and hope to eventually get around to trying out as many as I can. But there is one item that is explicitly mentioned several times in the book and shows up pretty distinctly in the film, as well: buttered scones.

What I Learned From Bilbo and Thorin’s Company: Lessons from The Hobbit

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

Nearly a year ago was the first time I read those words and began the discovery of what is now one of my favorite books. More recently, I also had the chance to watch the movies based on the book. Both are amazing adventures in themselves, but one of my favorite things to do with any book or movie is to find things that point to God. The story means so much more when there are eternal things like Love, Hope, and Truth included. Since J. R. R. Tolkien was a believer in Christ, it makes sense that his stories reflect that, even though they aren’t designed to be an allegory. Let’s go on an adventure to find some of the lessons from both the book and the movies. (Don’t forget your pocket handkerchiefs!)