1. Change Your Mindset. As soon as the temperature dips below freezing, there's a flood of snarky comments and memes online. "I hate winter", "I wasn't made for winter", "I don't do winter" and even "die die winter!" (picture: toppled snowman riddled with knives)....
Handmade ornaments are the most treasured holiday decorations in our home. Each one is a miniature time capsule that we dig up every December, reminding us of special moments in our lives. There are lots of ideas for making handmade...
Getting outside during the winter months can be a struggle with children. There's the initial challenge of convincing everyone that it'll be fun. Then there's the act of wrestling on everyone's winter gear while listening to the...
This post was last updated November 2021. A few years ago I invited a group of families into my home to make wet felted lanterns for Winter Solstice. I covered my living room floor in a large blue tarp and set out a few bins of hot soapy water. It was chaotic and...
The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, signaling the official start of winter. It’s a time when the rhythm of nature invites us to pause, reflect, and celebrate the gradual return of the sun. This guide...
Winter is a time for sledding, skating, skiing and snowshoeing! But what about hiking? Hiking might not be the first activity that comes to mind when deciding which winter activity to do with your kids, but it's actually a lot of fun to do in the winter. So from our...
We brought in our Christmas tree on the shortest day of the year. It is standing in the living room emanating a pleasant scent of fir. Tomorrow it will be dressed in lights and ribbons and it will shine and twinkle. It seems right to be bringing in this symbol of...
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. Hanging birdseed ornaments.My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse...
These St. Lucia buns are not authentically Swedish. For one I have no Swedish ancestry, but more importantly they don't contain saffron. It's not because I don't like saffron. I do! Saffron is fantastic in risotto and paella. To my surprise I even had just the right...
It was dawn. Teddy woke up to nurse and wasn't settling back to sleep. I suspected that he was getting sick. There is a cold making the rounds in our home. Even I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose this morning. I picked up Teddy and we tiptoed into the...
Advent has begun in our home. The Jesse tree is up and, unlike last year, I managed to make a wreath for our four Advent candles. Our children have noticed the changes around our home and have responded with curiosity and excitement. It makes me smile when I see my...
The power cable for my laptop broke over the weekend. Until the new power cable arrives I am blogging from my husband's computer. Unfortunately I'm not able to upload pictures from my camera so the pictures in this post are from my archives.---Advent is a...
December 6th is the feast of St. Nicholas and it's the perfect day to teach your children who Santa Claus really is. The St. Nicholas Center is a great place to find information about St. Nicholas and ideas for celebrating his feast day. Also,...
The advent wreath is a popular advent tradition. It is often used in Christian churches and homes as a way to prepare for Christmas.An advent wreath has two basic components: the wreath and four candles. The wreath is commonly made out of evergreens (real or...
This morning I took a picture of our Jesse Tree. It's looking a lot fuller but we still have many more ornaments to add on. I'm really happy with the way it's coming together, but we are having some structural issues with the ribbons holding the ornaments - some are...
We are now on Day 3 of our Jesse Tree reflections! The first night was hilarious (and frustrating) so we changed a few things and modified our expectations. Things are going a lot smoother now. We use a variety of books during our reflection time. Our main books are...