This past weekend Joel and I hosted his office Christmas dinner. I love planning and putting these together! Some years we've booked a room at a restaurant and other years I've cooked the meal and had everyone come to our home. The last two years, however, the office Christmas party has been cancelled due to Covid, so Joel and I wanted this year's gathering to be a little extra special for his team and their spouses. He works with the most wonderful people, and we are so thankful! My dad and both of my brothers are all architects. One brother manages the Tennessee studio and my other brother and my dad are both here in Alabama at a fabulous studio which they converted from an old ... Read more
Dickens Christmas Tea
For several years now there have been three themes for Christmas teas that I've wanted to put together: Charles Dickens, Winter Wonderland, and The Nutcracker. This year I'm finally marking two of these off my list, one of which is a Dickens Christmas! One Sunday we were meeting with our mother/teen Girls' Club and the girls got to talking about a teacher that a couple of them have for a literature class at their co-op. "Fluffy", as she allows the kids to call her, requires all her students read The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Somehow the book came into our discussion that day so I said, "Hey, we should have a Dickens Christmas tea this year!" And since she has been such a fun ... Read more
Are You Overjoyed or Overwhelmed This Christmas?
I have a confession to make. You ready? Here it is: Christmas isn't always my favorite holiday. Now I promise I'm certainly not a Scrooch, but if I'm honest, for the last few years I've actually felt a little inner dread as December has approached. First, let me say that I LOVE the reason for the season! I desire to celebrate our Savior's birth! Plus I enjoy giving gifts, making memories, and baking alll the cookies. But it's the stress of Christmas being overpacked, over-commercialized, and just down right overwhelming that can suck the joy right out of the season. Earlier this fall I began to pray and prepare my heart for the holidays. I wanted so badly for it to be that time of ... Read more
Fluff the Nest Friday: Until Spring…
My front porch always starts looking pretty drab about this time of year, so I like to change out the wreath, give it a good sweeping, and put out a new doormat and flowers to spruce it up and hold it over until spring. It's still very much winter here, and I’m enjoying it, so I don't want it looking like Easter yet, but a little freshness and a little color give it a nice boost. It rained all day yesterday except for about one hour in the whole day. During the break, I ran out and quickly worked on the porch, getting it all done in less than 30 minutes. I've had this wreath since my last house--over 9 years ago! Some years I display it inside the house and some years outside. I ... Read more
The Love Language of Food
Oh, my friends! My HEART is so happy it’s the first day of February! My girl and I will be putting out our few little Valentine's decorations today. Nothing over-the-top, just some kisses of red and pink around the house. And since this month is all about love, I'd like to share one of my favorite love languages. I'm sure most of you are familiar with Gary Chapman's five "Love Languages": words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, gift-giving, and acts of service. I can most certainly identify with more than one of those languages, however, I'd like to propose another love language: FOOD! And maybe it’s not really it’s own separate love language but rather it encompasses ... Read more
Cranberry Orange Rolls
Hello there! I have one last holiday goodie to share with you today. For the six months before Christmas, I'd mostly given up gluten and sugar. I felt great! The cravings pretty much went away but every now and then I would tell my husband that I was really wanting to sink my teeth into a warm fluffy cinnamon roll and that it would be one of the treats I was going to enjoy making and eating during the holidays. Then, by the time Christmas rolled around, I was in a very cranberry mood and decided it was a cranberry roll I wanted! So, one day between Christmas and New Year's when my husband was out and the kids were down at the creek, I went into the kitchen and started to experiment. I ... Read more
Christmas Memories 2021
Hello, friends! I got behind in my holiday posts due to illness in December, so today I'm going to try and quickly wrap up Christmas and New Year's in one clean swoop of a post. We began decorating the weekend following Thanksgiving, but it took me a few days to really get into it and finish it all. I don't like to get too themey with Christmas--I mean, Christmas is a theme in and of itself, right?--but the last couple of years I've gone with more of a natural, woodsy vibe. I adore the outdoors and the woods behind our house, so it just felt very natural to use evergreen garlands, pinecones, and starry twinkle lights. Last year I used blue for my main accent color; this year I went ... Read more
Teach Them Tuesday: Thumbprint Angels and a Christmas Story
Yesterday I mentioned a Christmas party we had with our homeschool friends. My friend, Kelli, hosted the event and did an amazing job planning and orchestrating a rotation of activities to accommodate our large number of kiddos! She arranged areas around her home for four stations: story, craft, cookie decorating, and games. She took care of the story time and asked three more of us mamas to take the other stations. I was assigned the craft station, so I planned a craft that would go along with the book Kelli would be reading in her station. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, by Gloria Houston, is a heartwarming story about a little girl, Ruthie, and her parents living in the ... Read more