Christmas Friday was marvelous in theory and mediocre in practice – owing to my own execution. The date I chose (the best option in November) turned out to be a day I had an appointment scheduled and June was home from school for a teacher workday. So, I did not get to complete as many tasks as I had hoped (and some tasks were just not possible with a little helper in the vicinity), but it was still a great kickstart to the Christmas season.
And now here I am, a few weeks later, typing by the light of my Christmas tree. We’ve had it up since Sunday and strung lights on it immediately, but tonight we’re planning to kick off December by hanging the ornaments, drinking sparkling cider with dinner, and breaking out the Christmas pajamas. I think we might have a new tradition on our hands, pals. Wishing us all more of this everyday magic as the season unfolds.
The beautiful Duke Chapel decked out for the Christmas concert earlier this week. Always one of my favorite nights of the Christmas season!
On my calendar this month: — Dinner out with John for our 2022 review and celebration. — Hosting my family twice: for a trip to the Nutcracker earlier in the month and over Christmas proper! — A viewing of About Time, one of my favorite movies of all... time. Can’t go more than a few years without letting it wreck me emotionally.
What I’m loving right now: — My PowerSheets prep work. The best chance to reset and dream! — This episode about “otherness” as a Christian family on the Family Discipleship podcast. I think Jen Wilkin is the patron saint of young moms and I love her for it. — This white v-neck tee from Quince. I saw my friend wearing it a few weeks ago, promptly asked her where it was from, and then promptly ordered my own. If worn with a nude bra it’s not at all see-through, the quality is great, the vee depth is just right, and the price is very right. I also bought this dress in the pretty dark olive and am excited to break it out in the spring!
As a reminder, you can find alllll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!
What I read in November: — The Common Rule | I finally finished this slim book after poking away at it over several months and friends, I LOVED IT. I’m desperate to get our small group to read through it together in 2023, as it’s rich for discussion and experimenting with in community. — Between Two Kingdoms | This memoir of a 22-year-old diagnosed with leukemia and eventually requiring a bone marrow transplant was recommended by Emily Oster as her favorite read last year, and about 3/4 of the way through, it has not disappointed. Harrowing, gripping, moving.
A little update on my reading list for 2022: it’s been a joy! So far, I’ve read 13 of the 24 books on the list. It doesn’t seem like I’ll get to all of them before the end of the year, but I hope to finish 2-3 more before December 31st!
Revisiting my November goals: Sew the tree onto the backing for my Advent calendar (DONE! It’s hanging on our wall!!) Finish organizing the garage (I don’t think it’s the right season for it, and as this requires John’s assistance, it’s hard to schedule when I can work on it. Tabling for now!) Edit Sheptember, Volume 4 (No, but it will be completed in December! Chose a song!) Complete Christmas Friday! Cull and organize six months of my 2021 photos (This got bumped from a Friday due to a schedule reshuffle.) Order final kitchen details on BFCM
December goals: — Prepare well for my family’s visits. With such a large group, I’ve learned that advance (somewhat intense) planning is key to being able to fully enjoy our time together. — Cull and organize 2021 photos — Complete the final six ornaments for the Advent calendar (!!!) — Edit Sheptember, Volume 4 — Write 9 blog posts, including the final part in my part-time work series, a recap of our anniversary trip and marriage summit, a Highlands recap, a look at the completed Advent calendar (!), and my traditional end-of-year posts (some of my favorites!) — Savor the Christmas season by focusing on loving the ones I love most, and loving those who need it the most. Even to me this sounds somewhat trite, but also the best way I know to celebrate the arrival of a tiny baby king who did the same.
While I have you, a question: what are your favorite Christmas movies to watch with your kids? Family movie night will be Christmas-themed in December, and I think mine are still too young for some of my favorites. The Star is on our list, as well as How the Grinch Stole Christmas (old) and A Charlie Brown Christmas, but I’d love to hear what else your family has loved! We tried The Muppet Christmas Carol last year but they lost interest fairly quickly. The Santa Clause, Love Actually, Elf, and It’s a Wonderful Life are some of my favorites :)
I am particularly excited about my plans for this Friday. In truly original fashion, I’m calling it Christmas Friday, and here’s how it’s going to go: I’m going to put on Christmas music, and then I’m going to do all the Christmas prep possible in six hours. An incomplete list: gift planning and buying, ordering Christmas cards, designing our Christmas newsletter, figuring out Christmas Eve outfits, filling out gift info for both sides of the family, making our end-of-year dinner reservation, looking up holiday dates and making sure they’re on our calendar, and reading through the family Advent devotional we’re planning to use. In previous years, I’ve sprinkled these tasks over many evenings and weekends; this year, I’m grateful to get a jump start on a very festive Friday.
Here’s what else is on the docket this month!
On my calendar this month: — Voting. I have never voted a straight ticket in my life, so researching the candidates and issues is so important (and truly a privilege). — Thanksgiving with the Thomas side of the family! Planning to make the pumpkin pie from our favorite kids baking book. — Beginning my 2023 PowerSheets. I chose Bluebird!
What I’m loving right now: — Have you ever shopped the flash sale site Zulily? I most often snag Boden and Joules pieces, but saw they have a great book offer right now! I grabbed the Penderwick boxed set for June and a cousin but they have LOTS of our favorites – Sophie Mouse, Critter Club, Magic Tree House, Little House on the Prairie. A great chance to snag some early Christmas gifts! — I know Halloween is over, but we can still have pumpkin things, right? These pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes are SO good. So moist, so fluffy! I doubled the recipe and it made a huge batch that we’ve been pulling out of the freezer for school mornings. — This song has captivated my whole family’s heart. Reading the lyrics makes me teary every time, as does belting it out in the car.
As a reminder, you can find alllll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!
What I read in October: — Crossing to Safety | Finished it! Again, this book felt categorically different than most modern novels. Published in 1987 by a writer and English professor with characters who are writers and English professors, it felt literary from top to bottom – but it was still an engaging story of friendship over many decades. — Skincare | Caroline is apparently a big deal online, though this book was my introduction to her. I learned some new things, especially about the order to apply products, and though I very much skimmed, I enjoyed her fun and irreverent vibe. — The Rose Code | I put this book on hold at my library in January when I put it on my 2022 reading list, and I was number 600-something. Well, 8 months later, it showed up on the holds shelf and friends, it was worth the wait! It was a great example of a very popular genre: World War II stories centered around women – this time the code breakers at Bletchley Park. If you loved The Nightingale, you’ll love this one!
Revisiting my October goals: Organize our garage (I made some progress, but there’s more to do! Most significantly I took a load to the dump with some old paint, a pallet, and a broken trike, which made a dent in clearing things out.) Sew the Christmas tree for my Advent calendar (I made great progress!! I sewed all the sequins around the edge of the tree, which was painstaking but a huge win to complete.) Join Ben’s October challenge for a little Peloton pick-me-up (Ugh. The flu and travel totally derailed this.) Send care packages to our college babysitters (Yes! Such a joy.) Finish final kitchen details once work is complete (Everything is back in cabinets and feels great, and I narrowed down a rug for the kitchen, artwork for the bathroom, and a dining room light fixture to pull the trigger on BFCM. Want to vote on a rug? Pick from the Cambria, Serina, or Sarrah!) Edit Sheptember, Volume 4 (No progress… moving to next month!) Create our family Halloween costumes (Yes! At the beginning of the month we were on a Beauty & the Beast track, but pivoted halfway through when it began to feel overwhelming. I loved where we ended up, as seen above :))
November goals: — Sew the tree onto the backing for my Advent calendar — Finish organizing the garage — Edit Sheptember, Volume 4 — Complete Christmas Friday! — Cull and organize six months of my 2021 photos — Order final kitchen details on BFCM and stick a fork in this project!!
As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2022 goals!
Feel free to leave your rug opinion or chat about anything else on your mind! Happy November!
Happy October, friends! The most exciting news around here is our kitchen project, which is well underway – I had to include a photo of some of the progress for this month’s update. The backsplash is complete (love!), the microwave has been removed and hood added, lots of little painting details were taken care of, the light fixture was switched out, and perhaps most excitingly, our fireplace has had a MAJOR glow-up. It all already looks so different!
And today, as you read this, a crew is back at our house hammering away, building out around the fridge before refacing and painting the cabinets later this week. It’s a bit stressful (I’m so nervous to see the paint color go on!), but I am very grateful.
Aside from a completed kitchen and cleaned-up dust, let’s see what else is on tap for October…
On my calendar this month: — Our annual fall trip to the mountains. We absolutely loved our trip to Black Mountain in 2021 but are returning to Highlands this year! — The 6th anniversary of Articles Club! Recap of what we read this year coming to a blog near you soon. — Lots of hikes. Fall, with its changing leaves and cooler temps, is my very favorite time to get out in the woods as a family!
What I’m loving right now: — Ever since Father of the Bride at age 7, it’s been Steve Martin for me. Loved this recent profile of him. — It’s hard to classify this as something I’m “loving,” since it was certainly a sobering episode, but this conversation with Jenny Black on the RB&G podcast has stuck with me weeks after I listened to it. I consume a lot of content around kids, parents, and the effect of technology on both, and there were still points she raised that were totally new for me. — Random, but we have found these waterproof pads to be so helpful when kids are transitioning out of pull-ups overnight. We lay it over the sheet and if there’s an accident in the middle of the night, we can just whisk it off without remaking the whole bed. And they go in the washing machine, too!
As a reminder, you can find alllll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!
What I read in September: It’s been a strange month of reading for me!
I finished Take Back Your Family, and though I liked it, it mostly felt like ideas I already knew – and the writing was a bit clumsy. This epic piece by David Brooks was basically a more sophisticated version of the first half of the book.
I started The Common Rule and am LOVING it. However, I’m only one chapter in because I committed to trying each of the habits he lays out before moving on to reading about the next one.
I started Great Circle and quit it about 75 pages in. The plot plodded, I didn’t care for the characters, and I found some of the content disturbing. Not for me.
I started Crossing to Safety and am enjoying it so far! It was published in 1987 and feels like it was published a century ago, in some ways. Very different reading experience than a modern novel.
Finally, I just started Majesty last night and am a quarter through it, ha. My Mom took it out of the library when she visited and I figured I’d zip through it before returning it!
Revisiting my September goals: All hands on deck for the kitchen project! Order mirror and hand towel for powder room (Done! We decided on this mirror – I think it looks far more high-end than its price – and a hand towel from the JB x PB collection. Love!) Edit June in June Volume 7 Film Sheptember, Volume 4 Complete June’s baby book Prepare well for and enjoy our anniversary trip (Yes, although due to Hurricane Fiona it took a COMPLETELY unexpected turn. More about that soon…) Clear the backlog on my “Friday list.” (I completed about 1/3 instead of the half I was aiming for, but good progress!)
October goals: — Organize our garage. It is the stuff of (my) nightmares right now. — Sew the Christmas tree for my Advent calendar (back at it!) — Join Ben’s October challenge for a little Peloton pick-me-up — Send care packages to our college babysitters — Finish final kitchen details once work is complete (organizing stuff in cabinets, order rug, artwork for bathroom, etc.) — Edit Sheptember, Volume 4 — Create our family Halloween costumes (Nothing, and I repeat nothing will (ever?) beat last year’s, but we’re still going to have fun!)
Last quarter of 2022, here we go! Grateful for you all!
I’m one month into my new work rhythm, we’re back from two weeks in New England, June is back to school, Annie is walking, and fall is around the corner. And this month? This month, John and I celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. I am grateful and in awe, and included a nod to this milestone on my PowerSheets: “If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.” Taking care feels effortless some days and a tall order others, but every day, I feel sure we’ve found a treasure in each other. We will be celebrating big this month, and I can’t wait!
On my calendar this month: — The first day of fall! We’ll bake apple cider scones for our family and June’s teachers, a tradition we started six years ago. — My very favorite kids consignment sale! — Our tenth wedding anniversary and trip to Bermuda!!!
What I’m loving right now: — When in Maine, Kate introduced us to the card game Dutch Blitz, and I. could not. get. enough. It’s addicting in a similar way to solitaire (maybe I’ll win if I play just one more time!), but is played in a group. SO FUN. (You can buy an expansion pack to play with more than four, too!) — Martha Stewart was the topic of our most recent Articles Club, and this podcast episode was in the bonus material. As a very longtime Martha fan, I felt seen (and even learned some new info!). A very enjoyable hour! — This clock was included in our kitchen refresh design plan. I ordered and hung it back in May (for $8 less than it’s now listed for, sob) and it’s kept my hope for this project alive through many months of no progress. Aside from being a beacon of hope, It’s so nice to be able to see the time from almost anywhere in our downstairs without needing to have my phone on me.
As a reminder, you can find alllll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!
What I read in August: — I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet | Hoo boy. I know I have many Shauna Niequist fans reading (I count myself among them!), but… this was not my favorite of her titles. The subtitle – “discovering new ways of living when the old ways stop working” – is important here: I realized pretty quickly that her “old” ways and my “current” ways are very similar. She speaks very compassionately about her old ways (not in a disparaging way!), and there are extremely valid, difficult reasons why she needed to find new ways – but I don’t have those reasons, and so this book just wasn’t what I needed for this season. And that’s okay!
Revisiting my August goals: Enjoy our time in Maine and Connecticut Edit June in June Volume 7 (I finally picked a song!! Progress to come!) Plan and enjoy our back-to-school dinner Make kitchen decisions and order things (Met with handyman and Callie! Tile, cabinet hardware, hood vent, lights have been ordered!) Make powder room decisions and order things (Light has been ordered but I can’t really say this is complete…) Complete June’s baby book Adjust to my four-day work week rhythm
September goals: — All hands on deck for the kitchen project! This is the big month when work will start and (hopefully!) be finished!! — Order mirror and hand towel for powder room — Edit June in June Volume 7 — Film Sheptember, Volume 4 — Complete June’s baby book — Prepare well for and enjoy our anniversary trip — Clear the backlog on my “Friday list.” In the weeks before my schedule shifted at work, I began to put tasks on a “Friday list” – things I’d get to when I was no longer working on Fridays. There are currently 32 items on it (some big, some very tiny) and I’d love to clear at least half of them out this month!
I’d love to hear: what are you celebrating these days? Big or little – all good things welcome :)
As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2022 goals!
