Last night, our older son started his usual Sunday night lament, detailing all the things he hates about Mondays (and Tuesdays and Wednesdays . . . and any day that involves school or interruption to his preferred routine). Glass-is-half-full person that I am, I tried redirecting the conversation to his[Read more]
My mother’s mother was my last living grandparent; she died last year, just shy of her 98th birthday. Because I was blessed to know her until I was well into my 40s, I felt like I knew most everything about her. But, when I helped sort through some of her[Read more]
The phrase heard most often, when it comes to Christmas cards, is, “This is just too pretty to throw away!” What follows is either 1) hoarding boxes and boxes of old Christmas cards, in your attic or under your bed, with no intent to do anything other than not throw them away;[Read more]
Time and time again, I’m reminded that my children are my first and biggest inspiration for upcycling and recycling. There’s the obvious parental urge to leave them a more sustainable world, which prompts frequent conversations about the footprint we create with the energy we consume, the trash we make, and[Read more]
Ah, the annual Christmas letter – beloved by some, mocked by many, and increasingly rare, thanks to the availability of easier, stamp-free mediums for sharing news, like Facebook, texts and Instagram. I started sending a letter with my Christmas cards the first year I lived more than a car ride away from loved[Read more]
One of the best parts about being pregnant with each of our sons was watching my husband’s enthusiasm grow as we prepared for each of their arrivals. My husband has very few, if any, good memories from his own childhood, so he reveled in the opportunity to plan and prepare[Read more]