By about the 20th wrapped present I needed the reminder that sometimes joy is a thing we often have to step toward. The excitement I feel in the beginning of December always begins to get a little worn a few months in as I try to find parking, and...
I had a little idea the other day, and asked my girls what they thought. “What if we decorated the mailboxes?” I asked them. “No one will even know it was us.” By their scrunched up faces I could tell they didn’t understand why we would do such a...
I had been going strong for weeks. Decorating, and shopping, and generally making things happen the way that moms do. The push to make Christmas feel extra, well, EVERYTHING this year has been strong. Whereas we may have always done 6 strands of...
It was late and I just wanted to be home. It had been a really long day. I was frustrated as I neared the front-end of the store to notice only one checkstand open yet again. My daughter, Tessa, stood beside me and I gave a withering smile and a bit...
Last week I received a message from, clearly, a very high quality friend alerting me to the fact that Petsmart had a sale on Guinea Pig Christmas outfits and I had better act fast if I wanted in. Immediately I got online to search this obvious...
Like many people these days I’ve been feeling a little numb. Ready for some tomorrows to be over before they even come, checking the clock much earlier than I used to, allowing my kids to do things that 8 months ago I would have never let them do...
For months we had looked forward to our family trip to Sedona, Arizona, and were nearing bed time on our very first night there, when Paige, my youngest, cried out from the bedroom, “My bunny! Where is she? I can’t find her, and I have looked...
Any time one of my favorite authors, Jen Hatmaker, mentions her horrifying Jr. High hair experience, (which is often) I am transported back to Jr. High, myself. I wanted two things between 1987 and 1989, and those were one of those phones that...
My mother came for a visit. It was her first one since her stroke. She’d done well with texting me her location every 20 minutes, as I’d instructed, for the entire 4 hour drive. I knew that it had seemed kind of bossy. I just wanted to know she was...
My Middle School girls, ages nearly 12 and 13, are deep in the throws of their Constant Embarrassment Phase. Reasons they could be horrified can range in cause from anything from a nearly invisible oil stain on their shirt to someone else spotting...