With our boys out of school for Christmas break, I’m taking advantage of time with them, with friends, with family. I’m choosing to savor this season, to bake and rest and find inspiration in the simple moments. And I’m honored to welcome everyday women with beautiful stories in the meantime so I can do just that. Today’s guest, Erin, is a tender …
Join Our Fam at ‘Home for the Holidays’
In July, our family got to go to Forest Home’s ‘Family Retreat.’ Basically it was a gift-of-a-week in regards to connection and laughter and God meeting us right where we were- depleted and weary. We left feeling filled in the most unexpected, beautiful ways. And then. Then we found out they do a mini holiday version right after Thanksgiving and …
Does this Christmas carry Disappointment?
Last Sunday one of our speaking pastors asked a question all of us can relate to. “Does this Christmas carry some disappointment for you? Expectations for the perfect family gathering, missing a loved one, wishing there was a baby in an empty nursery, hoping for more?” he asked. You could feel the palpable crowd nods. Is there a hint of that for you? Wishing for more, …
24 Hour Christmas Ornament Giveaway
Anyone else wrapping last-minute gifts, watching Little Women while your husband’s glued to his phone, and inhaling reindeer chow by the handfuls, all the while in shock that Christmas is a mere 4 DAYS AWAY? No? (long pause) Pshhhh. Me neither. (eyes dart side-to-side) Friend, I know you’re doing your best to capture the magic of Christmas and offer it to your children, …
Mary, did you watch him Breathe?
We arrived back at our cottage hours before midnight. After a child-wonder weekend in Arizona – riding the Polar Express Train, throwing snowballs, creating snow-angels, visiting the North Pole – us lucky adults were so tired but still pinching ourselves at the excuse to chaperone boys on such an experience. (Thank you Mimi for a Christmas gift of memories and magic). Now home, Bry …
Feeling Blue This Christmas? A Re-Post: Holiday Panes
Beyond excited for Christmas this year, or feeling blue? It was around the dessert-heaped coffee table at our Downton Abbey marathon, that we talked of the upcoming holiday. Of anticipation and dread. Some eager, others just not feeling it. Megs chimed in about that morning at her church; how the pastor had spoke on joy. But before he did, he acknowledged …
How We Go About Gift-Giving
It’s not about the stuff, it’s about the experiences. I can recall one toy I received at Christmas. It was a My Child doll and I remember it for the very reason that my mom sat on the floor close, our faces lit by the cozy fire in the fireplace, and I watched breathless, as she sketched the face of my …
Holiday Panes
One of the reasons I’m drawn to windows is that no two are alike. Each has a story- where it came from, glass clarity, layers upon layers of paint, chipped wood, unique hardware- they are a hidden secret, these windows. From one side the glass appears unscratched, the wood clean and solid, but turn it around to see the bottom left pane loose, paint worn, wood shabbied, a chunk missing from the side.
The same window, but different in appearance depending on what side you view it from.
I’m finding the holidays to be like windowpanes.
Shopping for Giving Tree Gifts
As a parent, I struggle during the Christmas season with the balance of celebrating Jesus’ birthday, and encouraging my boys to bask in the wonder of presents and stockings. That fine balance of gently reminding our children that the reason we have Christmas is because Jesus was born, and the reason we give and get gifts is really to throw our …
The gift of empathy
September gives birth to Fall, with Halloween on it’s heels, and Thanksgiving around the corner, barely before Christmas decorations are out… It’s the holiday season! And with this season, comes talk of peace on earth, joy, cheer, and all the warm, fuzzy feelings surrounded by our Savior’s birthday! And it’s great! But it’s a season! One that, if I’m honest, …