Our Christmas “Card” for 2020 {+ Snippets of Holiday Decor}

How do I sum up this year? Do I even try? A pandemic. Two moves. An election. Protests. Living apart from my husband due to his work. An earthquake. Living with family. Buying a new home. Selling our old one. Saying goodbye to the place we’d called home for over a decade. Saying hello to …

Thoughts on Tantrums and Tree-Gazing (as a Distraction)

I think sometimes people (myself included) forget that even though you might have an “easy” (or a “happy” or “good-natured”) child, that same child is still entitled to her fair share of hard moments, toddler meltdowns, and general whiny-ness. And that those moments are okay. They are normal. They are part of growing up. As …

First Christmas with a Baby, In Pictures

Christmas with a baby– It’s like, to paraphrase Charles Dickens, “having…the lightest license of a child, and yet being [wo]man enough to know its value.” Our first Christmas with a baby was everything it ought to be–full of family, parties, gifts, giggles, and an occasional fussy fit or two when naptimes were ignored or pushed …

Christmas

“I Will Honor Christmas In My Heart, and Try to Keep It All the Year”

I read A Christmas Carol every year out loud to my students, and it never ceases to bring the light of the Christmas season into my heart. A few of my favorite lines for you now, and here’s wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year: “He became as good a …