EVERY MOMent COUNTS!
I love this time of year and everything about it! The tree, decorations, and parties! If you were here in person, I’d fix you hot chocolate and your choice of flavored marshmallows or whipped cream with Christmas sprinkles and chocolate chips. You’d hear Christmas music blaring and smell my Christmas candle burning! I try to [...]
December can be a busy, frantic season full of last-minute shopping, parties, baking, gift-wrapping, recitals, and get-togethers. While these things can all be memorable and special, it’s important that we not lose sight of what’s most important at Christmastime: celebrating the birth of our Savior and savoring the moments and memories. Here are three ways [...]
Some people look forward to the holidays. Some dread it. Some can’t remember what day it is in general. As a mom of two—one “neuro-typical” and one with autism—a cancer survivor, a wife, a former perfectionist, and a person with chronic pain issues, I fall into all three, depending on my amount of sleep. I [...]
For the holidays every year we have very specific traditions in our family. For Thanksgiving we load up the kids into our minivan and drive 14 hours to Michigan, where we celebrate with Jeff’s family. Every Christmas we make the 11-hour trek to Virginia to celebrate with my family. And whenever we tell people this, [...]
I’ve spent a lot of time down in my basement recently in an attempt to get rid of stuff. I have a lot of stuff. I have a lot of Christmas stuff. I think I counted about 8 boxes and 3 shelves of Christmas paraphernalia. That’s nuts! At first I couldn’t help but think that [...]
I’ve never heard Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow talk about Christmas. But a few weeks back, as I was watching the controversy he sometimes attracts, I realized there was a reason for the controversy that I had never seen before. A reason that provides a powerful lesson for those of us who are trying to [...]
“This Christmas is going to be so hard, really hard. I’m already dreading it.” I vividly remember this heartache of a few years ago. It was to be our first Christmas without any kids. Our twin daughters had both married the summer before, and now that all five of our kids were married, it meant we [...]
Christmas is a funny thing, isn’t it? Take the other night at my house: Christmas decorating night! We hauled out the boxes of decorations from the attic while Pandora churned out a wonderful blend of Christmas music. Our pre-lit tree somehow made a decision within the last year to have the top lights go on [...]
Have you ever thought about family traditions? As I helped my 1-year-old place ornaments on the Christmas tree this year I imagined her doing the same thing with her children—and maybe even grandchildren—one day. Traditions are beliefs and customs handed down through generations. By sharing meaningful moments with your kids you’re sending yourself into the [...]
After losing my mom just a little over a month ago, having my dad come stay with us two weeks, lots of company for Thanksgiving (most of them staying in our home)and preparing for our first college graduation, things have been a little hectic for this mommy. Hectic would be okay if the everyday chores [...]
