2 December 2024
Hello, friends! I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings. We were in Virginia with John’s family and the week left me feeling full and happy. We decorated sugar cookies, we played cards and Do You Love Your Neighbor, we went on a hike, we went into DC and had tea, and our Thursday table was full of all the usual favorites plus buttered noodles, a Thomas family tradition. Perhaps my favorite part, though was the walks. Every morning, any adult siblings who were available snuck away for a brisk walk, 30 minutes to an hour. Not only did it feel great to move my body throughout a week that is more often known for lounging and eating, but the power of walking and talking was on full display. We filled each other in on jobs and home projects, kids and parents, travel and health and plans for next year. I am grateful for the siblings I married into, and relished the opportunity to catch up with some of my favorite people in this way. I hope you were able to find moments of connection this week, too. And oh yes, I did a little shopping along the way :) Some of my favorite purchases included this blue floral dress for me (50% off!), an embroidered C.S. Lewis banner for our loft/playroom (30% off!), curtain rods and rings for our dining area, and two of these quilted pullovers so my Mom and I can match (15% off!). And several items from my gift guides: gifts for Em, favorite gifts for loved ones, and what we’re actually getting our kids! To wrap up this year’s gift guides, I thought I’d share a few of the items I’ve squirreled away for my family’s stockings. Linking is a bit difficult, since I prefer to
17 April 2024
Something simple today! A few years ago, I began a new holiday tradition: filling in a Christmas memory book. This checks out, right? Holidays, traditions, and intentional memory making are kind of my thing (or, one of my things, anyway!), so this wasn’t a surprising development. What may surprise you, though, is how poorly I stuck to the tradition in the years since. I filled in about half of the questions the first year, and then a handful the second year… but always a bit half-heartedly. The prompts felt repetitive, and my answers weren’t capturing what actually mattered to me about the Christmas season. This past year, I never pulled the book out of the Christmas boxes. And wow if this wasn’t Cultivate What Matters 101: if a goal (or a tradition, or project, or memory book) doesn’t really matter to you, you’re unlikely to follow through. (Cut to me, not following through.) So I sat with that for a minute. On the surface, this memory book seemed to be checking all the boxes: I love Christmas and value celebrating it in a meaningful way. I love writing. I love records that add up over time. Still, this book wasn’t doing it for me! As I packed away the Christmas boxes, though, I hit on something that I thought actually would be meaningful to me… As longtime readers know, I pour significant time and effort into creating our Christmas cards and newsletters each year. It’s a project that connects me to my grandmother and to fond childhood memories of sitting around a table with my siblings and parents, adding our signatures one by one to the year’s letter. It scratches my creative itch, it connects me with people I love around the country, and it satisfies my desire to tell
13 December 2023
Just a quick post today to share a few scenes from around our Christmas home! With the way our house is laid out – one main open room on the first floor, so only a few walls and corners – we just don’t have that many surfaces to decorate. While our nativity may be clustered around our TV instead of luxuriating on a foyer table or piano top, I think this year more than ever we made the most of what we do have. Come on in! Before we step inside, let’s pause on the porch. I envisioned Christmas wreaths on our front gates before they were even built and they live up to all my dreams! Wreaths are from Trader Joe’s and the bows are from Etsy. Our cheery red front door never shines more than at Christmas. Wreath is from Jordan Lake Christmas Tree Farm and the bow is from Etsy. My beloved Advent calendar! These cardboard gingerbread houses were a very fun after-school project last week! I cut shapes from a delivery box and we all used white paint and white paint pens to add detail. The paint pens made it easy to achieve an elegant look even for our five year old. We didn’t trust Annie with them, but she had fun going to town with the white paint – the kids decided her houses were in the midst of a snowstorm, ha. Popping a few bows in unexpected places was a new addition this year. We had a German Christmas pyramid growing up and it was one of my very favorite decorations. I asked for the exact same one as a gift the first year we were in our house – this is it! The tablecloth is from HomeGoods. All dressed up for Articles Club
17 November 2023
Stocking stuffers! I love them! After all, what’s better than miniature-sized gifts designed simply to delight, and an excellent opportunity to shop small businesses, to boot?! I’ve done the legwork for us and rounded up some of my very favorite stocking stuffers for kids, women, and men. Of course, depending on how you distribute your budget, some of these would make excellent under-the-tree gifts, too. You get to choose! Items marked with an * are ones we own. Stocking Stuffers for Kids: My philosophy for kids’ stockings (and, really, stockings in general): I’d rather spend a bit more money to stuff with things I know they’ll need, use, and keep over trinkets that don’t cost much but will be quickly tossed. Add something sweet and/or consumable and a little dash of silly fun, and you’ve got yourself a stocking! — Liberty-print headband* | I put one of these in June’s Easter basket and it is a favorite. The only hard part is picking a pattern! — A resin flower keychain or a colorful tassel version — The sweetest magic wands for imaginative play — New socks. These* are my favorite, since the size is printed right on the sole, making them easier to pass down! — Harry Potter magnetic bookmarks* — Any felted ornament from this most delightful shop — Animal sticky notes*. These are going in June’s stocking this year and I predict she’ll go nuts. — The perfect family game* for on-the-go. Or this one*! — Colorful streamers* for a bike or scooter — Mini Squishmallows! I’ll give one to each child in their stocking, share a few with my sister, and save the rest for Easter baskets and friend birthdays throughout the year. — A new water bottle*, since they always seem to break or go missing