#family-oriented

1337 – Day 3 – Townsend Farm

Months pass after the earl’s visit. An outsider might think that not much has changed since his astounding offer, at least at first. The Townsends do agree to it – they don’t feel they have much of a choice – but with plants still growing on their fields that will need to be harvested once ripe, Lord Petersmarch doesn’t expect them to leave their home immediately. So, they continue to tend to their land and their livestock and to live their lives as if nothing had changed, as they grapple with the fact that everything has.

The next big milestone in their household is Hugh’s birthday – he is turning six years old! ‘Already’, as his parents and grandparents would say, who can hardly believe that Malcolm and Hawise have been married for nearly a decade now. All those years seem to have passed in a blur, with every other year seeming to bring some other catastrophe to throw their world into chaos.

Regardless, the entire family gathers for the celebration, with Grandma Malika being granted the honours of helping Hugh reach the candles on his birthday cake. Usually, Hawise would do this, but Malika seems so delighted that she doesn’t regret letting her have this moment. Even if this is her first child. Who knows how much longer her children will have to make memories with their grandmother?

There is the usual cheering at another of their number cheating death for this long as Malika takes Hugh’s hands and demonstrates to him how to blow out the candles, before laughing and blowing out most of them on his behalf. She has always been an indulgent mother, but being a grandmother seems to be even more special to her. Hugh, Gemma and Maggie – and their cousin Marcella – are her babies’ babies, after all.

With the family due to move house at the end of the harvest season, there aren’t many gifts for Hugh this time. They have much to prepare, and don’t yet know how much the entire affair will cost them. What they do gift him is new clothes – of a finer make than they’d usually wear, but they can’t resist spending some of the money the earl has given them on this. Besides, Hugh will inherit the farmstead one day. It is only right that he looks the part.

With the five adults, John, and Hugh, besides Gemma and Margaret, there is much of the usual hubbub of everyone finding a place at table to eat their slice of cake. Hugh eventually gets so impatient with everyone walking around and squabbling that he just starts eating his cake standing. He even turns his back to the rest of the table, as if he wishes to make his annoyance patently obvious, despite the fact that this is his birthday celebration.

The Townsends are a (mostly) loving family, but they’re certainly a lively bunch.

Sadly, after the cake is eaten, it’s back to work for most of them. The money the earl has given them has taken some of the weight off their shoulders, so they aren’t as pressed to scrounge up the funds for the next tallage, but they still have their daily work to do. Hugh is quickly brought into the fold and taking over part of the work on the field, while his uncle John takes care of the chickens and their aging cow.

But it’s not all work, work, work all the time. There is still a lot to do, but with some of the pressure lifted and the harvest distributed over the entire season, they actually find some time for leisure. Which, to the surprise of some of the family, includes Malcolm teaching his son how to play chess. Even with him softening towards them over the years, he is still awkward with the children, and it is partly that which has him leave the care of them to the women. He doesn’t like feeling that way, so he simply avoids it.

Truth be told, Hugh is the one who asks to be taught, instead of Malcolm offering it, after seeing his father play with his grandfather. Malcolm is surprised, at first, but agrees after a moment of hesitation. Speaking to children can’t be that difficult, can it? They are only small people, after all. And with the chess board and the figures between them, they at least have something to focus on.

They play more than they talk to each other, in the end, but it’s still father-son-time, so Hugh, who doesn’t quite understand why his father is so keen on avoiding him and his sisters, counts that as a victory.

And then there’s the discussions Malcolm and his parents, sometimes joined by Frank, Adeline or Hawise, have after their evening meals, when the younger children have already gone to bed. They’re long talks, because while they may have taken the earl’s offer, all of them feel varying degrees of unease about it. Most of their conversations are solely about the logistics of the move, how they are going to carry their belongings there, the things they have to do before they leave their current abode, but they talk about the offer itself, too.

“It’s probably better this way”, Malika says once, in one of their early discussions. “The earl was so keen on that land, it’s possible he would’ve just turned us out had we refused. And you’ve seen it and agreed that it is a good plot.”

“I don’t doubt we’ll make a success of it”, Benjamin responds wearily. “But this is my home. I was born here. Malcolm and his children were born here. I don’t like being strongarmed into leaving it because of some nobleman’s whims.”

“It is his land”, Malika points out.

“Besides, I don’t think it was a whim”, Malcolm puts in darkly, arms crossed. “I think he heard about our miracle, concluded that the land must be special, nothing to do with us common folk, and decided that he is more deserving of it than we are.”

His parents stare at him after this proclamation, caught between differing emotions. They can’t deny that his accusation makes sense, or that they think a nobleman capable of simply not caring this has been their family’s home for generations, but that doesn’t make them want to admit as much.

“If that was his goal, he could have reached it at far smaller expense”, Benjamin says after several long moments. “Like your mother said, he simply could’ve turned us out.”

Malcolm shrugs. “He was nice about it. Possibly felt a little bad, too. But I still think that that is why he did it.”

“If that was why he did it”, Malika says slowly, “it was still kind of him. We’ll have a home, we’ll have more land than we do now, and with the earl’s financial aid, we won’t have to worry about the tallage, and your sister and Frank can both marry far sooner than we anticipated. Honestly, even if the earl’s motives weren’t pure, we should be grateful.”

“He didn’t have to do that”, Benjamin agrees, although his face is still troubled.

For a moment, Malcolm can only stare at his parents incredulously, before shaking his head. “I think both of you are missing the point where that nobleman decided to run havoc with our lives simply because he decided he wanted our home! We’ll have to move to an entirely different place because of this!”

“I’m afraid that’s just how the world works, son. Be grateful we’ve got a lord that actually cares somewhat.”

The conversation turns to arrangements for Adeline’s wedding after that. Contractual details for Frank’s marriage are still to be hammered out, but Adeline and her swain are, in essence, just waiting for permission from Benjamin to be wed. With Maurice staying in Tovar, they want her to be wed soon so she’ll have her mother’s support in the first few months of her marriage. It is hard enough for Malika to leave her younger daughter behind at a delicate time like that.

Malcolm participates in that discussion, but he can’t help stewing in his resentment over the avarice of the nobility all the while.

With the earl’s attention – and patronage – on the Townsends, their value as allies starkly increases for the Sterlings. Nathan Sterling privately draws similar conclusions to Malcolm, but the earl has given the family’s nectar business his personal support. That alone raises their prestige. Which means that if his daughter marries into that family, it could raise the Sterlings’ prestige in association.

The connection becomes so valuable that Nathan, not a young man anymore by any means, takes it upon himself to visit the Townsends at their home. The sight of it further pleases him; where most peasant homes are small and consist of only one room, the one he finds is comparatively spacious. From what the family tells him, their future home isn’t any smaller. Not that he intends to let his Catherine waste away her days out here in the countryside.

Thankfully, his conversation with the Townsend men proves fruitful. They conclude a formal betrothal between their children, to be followed by a marriage before the end of the coming year. After the marriage, Frank and Catherine will be settled in Praaven, where Frank can continue taking commissions as a painter, but he and Catherine will also keep a shop, selling, among other things, the Townsend’s nectar, with a part of the profit going to both them and Nathan himself.

It is a profitable arrangement for all of them, with the affection between the bride and groom being a simple added benefit.

I was tagged by @silverspringsimmer Thank you c:

Imagine, if you were a sim. What 6 traits and a life-time wish would you have? Feel free to tag 5-10 (or even more!) fellow simmers to keep this community lively ^^ Traits: 1. Book Lover 2. Clumsy 3. Family-Oriented 4. Creative 5. Art Lover 6. Ambitious  Lifetime wish:  Professional Film Editor  

Rome at Christmas is timeless, festive, and deeply meaningful for families. From a family-oriented stay at Hotel de Russie to private Vatican tours, …Christmas in Rome 2025: A Magical Family Holiday ✨🎄

Simone Rocha brand can be classified as family-oriented due to the importance of her family members’ part in creating the label. Her father passed down to her the knowledge of fabrication and craftsmanship, her brother used to create the soundtracks for her fashion shows, her mother controls the sales and production of Rocha’s brand and her husband-Eoin is cinematographer, who has shot some of her fashion films.