Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, friends! We’ll be celebrating, as has become our custom, with MLK’s favorite meal – an easy access point to talk about his legacy as a family. I’ve found for holidays like this, simply asking, “do you know why you have school off today?” is a helpful beginning to a conversation, too.
I’m much more likely to share about how we celebrated an occasion after the fact rather than in advance of it (because then I can report back with real photos and tips!), but thinking ahead to another holiday, I thought it might be fun to let you in on some of my Valentine’s Day preparations for this year. We’re trying something new!
After bringing home a sweet pink mailbox ($5!!) from a work photo shoot, it was begging to be the centerpiece of our love-day celebrations. Since our Advent calendar doesn’t involve little treats or prizes (just adorable sewn ornaments), and we don’t do Elf on the Shelf, I figured I should have the creative juice to make this happen, ha! The plan is to put the mailbox in a place of honor at the kitchen table, and tuck something inside for the kids to discover each morning. Here are the ideas I have so far (many free or very cheap!).
The absolute cutest Valentine’s Day charcuterie board, created by my friend Kayte!
— New pajamas. The biggest splurge! I got these heart construction ones for Shep and these adorable gingham ones for June. — A heart-shaped waffle maker (the other splurge at $10!). I haven’t been tempted by any other shaped waffle maker, even as they’ve made the influencer rounds over the last few holidays, but the idea of heart waffles is just too sweet. — A handwritten love note for each kiddo — A special after-school or lunchbox snack, like frosted animal crackers — The beginnings of a heart scavenger hunt. I’m picturing cutting out a bunch of pink and red hearts, taping them up around the house, and then letting Shep find the red ones and June the pink. I’ll put one of each heart in the mailbox to kick things off. — A muffin box mix and fun cupcake liners (already own!) — The Jesus Storybook Bible marked to a story about love — The heart bowls I mentioned. After they open the mailbox, we’ll put their cereal in them that morning! — Juice boxes. I never buy them, so this will be a fun accompaniment to an after-school snack! — A new Valentine’s Day book from the library — Printed off coloring pages from the internets (this one, these ones, this one, and these ones are cute!) — A bath bomb. As mentioned before, I find the most cost-effective way to go is this set of 12, which I can parcel out for occasions as needed. They’ve never stained our tub and make great colors! — Supplies to make heart garlands for their rooms (just craft supplies we already own!) — A game. Literally any game we own (basically, an invitation to play together :)) — A fancy hot chocolate mix – we bought it from a new local food store in our downtown a few weeks ago, but haven’t tried it yet. We’ll do cups in front of the fire after school! Swiss Miss packets would be just as exciting, ha. — A note to watch a show as an after-school treat. Lots of our favorites, like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Pete the Cat, have Valentine’s Day specials. — Candy or chocolate, of course!
If you have a fun idea to share, either from an Advent calendar or other similar undertaking, I’d love to hear! Whether you try this idea or not, I hope it encourages you to get creative with what you have, and to remember what I’m preaching to myself: kids get SO excited about the simplest things, and what they want most is my (and John’s) time and attention. I’ve heard it said that love is spelled T-I-M-E to kids, and that’s what I’ve tried to capture with our February fun.
Friends, I hope you had the sweetest Christmases, if you celebrated! We did celebrate and it was sweet.
Being the sole providers of Christmas magic, though, without family or church or friends to play supporting in-person roles, did leave me feeling a little unexpectedly nervous last week. My desire wasn’t for a perfect celebration, but more one that was satisfying and loving and hit the high notes of my own childhood. I think I was subconsciously afraid I was going to forget something, ha! (And forget something, I did – I didn’t realize until Christmas Eve that we do not own a copy of A Visit from St. Nicholas. Yikes! I recited it from my phone, which was unimpressive to my audience of two.)
One sweet moment that stands out? Drilling holes into the underside of our mantel on Christmas Eve afternoon for little cup hooks to hold our stockings. Since it was the first Christmas Eve we’d spent in our home, we’d never needed them before. It was our first year hanging our stockings by our chimney with care, but not the last!
Anyway, I wanted to take a minute and pop in to share our 2020 Christmas cards with you! Thanks to the postal service delays, it appears they are arriving to loved ones’ mailboxes about the same time as this blog post, even though I mailed them weeks ago, ha! So happy to share them with you loved ones, too.
It was hard to choose a greeting that felt appropriate for 2020, but I thought this one fit the bill. Our photo is a favorite from our Fourth of July backyard fun with Lisa and Christen.
As always, our card is from Minted. This particular design is by Alethea & Ruth, who I’ve chosen many times over for all sorts of projects (her lettering is perfection!). I am so grateful to my friends at Minted for gifting these to us – such a treat!
What a relief that the government is on HIS shoulder! That He is mighty, everlasting, and the prince of peace!
As always, we included our beloved Christmas newsletter! Loyal readers will recognize most of these notables from the last year of posts (and how about that tomato stat!!).
Planning to be back later this week with recaps of the books I read this year, my goals, and the year as a whole! Hope you love year-end reviews as much as I do :)
I find the divergence around stocking traditions to be fascinating. Take, for example, the stocking itself. My family uses ones that are hand-knit by a family member – the same ones, year after year. The first time I realized that some people buy new stockings every year, I about lost my mind – it just did not compute. Or that a family keeps the same stockings, but that they’re not assigned to any one person, and which stocking is filled for whom changes from year to year. WHAT.
To be clear, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either of those scenarios – just that they were so outside the realm of my experience that they were hard for me to grasp, ha!
And then there’s what goes in the stockings. My family’s traditions include small trinkets, candy, and basic toiletries (new toothbrush, sunscreen, etc.). Other family traditions I’ve encountered over the years have been as far apart on the spectrum as socks and fruit… and a designer bracelet.
Finally, there’s the opening: free-for-all? One at a time? First thing in the morning? Final event of the day?
Whatever your stockings look like, whenever you open them, I hope you find a few things on this list to help fill them! (I’ve mostly linked to Amazon here, but this is an instance where I love to pick up little treasures throughout the year — a great opportunity to shop small and local.)
Plus we always include snacks and sweets! June specifically wants a candy cane this year (which I NEVER would have chosen on my own, so I’m glad she mentioned it, ha!). Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy creating a little Christmas magic at the end of this month – one of the most magical nights as a parent, too, I think :)
Hello, friends! I hope you had wonderful and cozy Thanksgivings! I was thinking about this old post this weekend, and how we lay down the richest memories in novel circumstances. If you celebrated in a new way – with different people (or without the usual people), in a different place, with different food – maybe we can take comfort in the fact that this holiday (and the December festivities to come) will be one we’ll remember with great clarity… and hopefully great gratitude. I know I will.
I had plans to deliver several more gift guides last week, but a few bumps in the road got the best of me (a theme for November, as you will see in tomorrow’s goals update post). But I do have this one to share – a rundown of what we’re actually getting our kids for Christmas this year. This works out okay, because this was your favorite of last year’s gift guides anyway, so I guess we’re just cutting to the chase :)
A few disclaimers: I consider the want / need / wear / read philosophy of gift giving, though we don’t officially subscribe. Some years we give more gifts than others. I’m not too concerned about matching amounts spent or number of gifts given at my children’s current ages. This year, Santa will bring our stockings and everything else will come from Mama and Daddy. (Santa has been hard for me to navigate as a parent – maybe a future post in the making!).
One final note: as I was wrapping up purchases in prep for this post, several of the items I had earmarked in weeks past were sold out when I returned to hit purchase. I can’t ever remember this happening to me in years past, and it was frustrating! So from one mama to another — this might not be the year to hem and haw over decisions.
June (who is almost 5) will be receiving: — A light-up bike helmet (her one and only request) — A homemade card making kit, because she is obsessed with (you guessed it) making cards. I bought a cute box and plan to fill it with blank cards and envelopes, lots of stickers, washi tape, fun pens, and *real* stamps. — A rainbow wall hanging sewing kit. I came across her lacing a string through the slats of her doll house’s bed the other day, so I think this will be a hit! *Shipping is international, so order ASAP! Sweetest seller! — An IOU for a mama + mini date to Fearrington for pedicures and afternoon tea, sometime in the spring. I predict she will lose her mind over this (once she figures out what it actually means, ha!). I got her a trio of Olive & June nail polishes to wrap up – she will love seeing her name on the bottle! (Use this link for $10 off your first order.)
Shep (who is about 2 1/2) will be receiving: — This MagnaTiles expansion set, as he makes a beeline for our bin every day after school. (Related: if you don’t have it already, I HIGHLY recommend this MagnaTiles cars duo – the most played with pieces in our house!) — This fire chief dress up set, as everything is a fire hose and everyone gets sprayed with water right now. — An adorable needlepoint triceratops ball cap (40% off plus free shipping when I bought it earlier this week!) — The firefighter playdough kit from Young, Wild, and Friedman. Happy to support a small business! (I suspect June will ask for one for her birthday after she sees Shep’s…)
A relative little birdie also told me he will be receiving this Squigz set – fun!
Finally, June and Shep will be receiving a joint gift: the Theolaby box set (another beloved small business!). They’ll get the keepsake box and the first volume under the tree, and then the other four books as they ship throughout 2021 (a gift that keeps on giving!).
Below, tell me what you’re getting your kiddos this year — I love hearing your shopping lists!
Last year’s post if you’d like ideas for a 4-year-old and a 1.5-year-old! Affiliate links are used in this post!
