December Reflections - A Blog Circle

Hello! My normal posts are about my crafts, but today I am part of a Blog Circle - a group of amazing women bloggers who are doing incredible things with their talents. I hope you will take few minutes to follow the links through this circle.

A snowman made from my son's kindergarten hand print.

As a child each year I made a point to sit near the Christmas tree when the house was quiet and just enjoy its beauty with all the lights turned out. I could just stare at it, entranced, absorbing the peace. This time of year it is easy to become busy, especially now that I'm an adult and a mommy to my own children, but I realized now more than ever I need to slow down and savor the beauty around me.

I got to looking at our family Christmas tree and realized its a collection of our life stories and beautiful memories. Little trinkets and those most precious hand-made, straight-from-school ornaments. They are literally priceless.

A sparkly nutcracker for the tree.

As my children grow I am becoming more aware how fleeting their time at home, in our care and under our shelter, will be. There is so much to teach them, so much I am still learning myself. I find things that they love, like our collection of nutcrackers on the mantel, takes on special meaning because when we get them out I get to experience their uninhibited joy. It is a gift each and every time it bubbles over in the form of that sweet laughter and those funny expressions.

Santa on the Eiffel Tower - I got to visit family in Europe with my son this year.

As I make time to sit and reflect I am thankful for the gifts I have been given. A wonderful husband, two sweet children and all of the fingerprinted, misspelled mementos they offer so proudly. How could my heart not overflow with love and gratitude?

A hand-crafted gift box.

Like so many parents I have struggled in the last week. Trying to make sense of life in a seemingly crazy world. Navigating the delicate terrain of explaining excruciating topics in age appropriate ways. Hugging harder and snuggling more and trying to keep my own roller coaster emotions in check. Being a grown up is hard sometimes and its funny that these little people we raise have no idea how much comfort they can bring on a quiet night, when they are tucked into bed, and mommy sits in the dark by the tree and reflects.

One of my favorite keepsakes - a word that expressed something special to my preschooler.

Please enjoy my blog circle link to Juniper Goods.Pin It

Being Grateful - A Blog Circle



A sweet boy, a long time ago.



Hello! My normal posts are about my crafts, but today I am part of a Blog Circle - a circle of amazing women bloggers who are doing incredible things with their talents. I hope you will take few minutes to follow the links through this circle.

This month’s theme, fittingly, is gratitude. I’ve been thinking about what words of wisdom I could come up with and have realized as of late that there is so much I overlook in the course of daily life. As I try to balance working outside the home, keeping our family running, laundry, dishes, etc. I often find myself feeling annoyed when I don’t get into my sewing room and when I go a week or two between blog posts. As most moms will attest, our needs/wants are often last, last, last on the ever-growing family list.

Last night I went home determined to create something great for this post, finish up some purses for a craft fair I am doing this weekend and get all of the household chores squared away. Then, in the midst of all my “to-do thoughts” my little girl asked me if I would snuggle with her. She is three and at the moment had wild hair and was sporting one of her collection of sparkly dress-ups with an over-sized pair of cowboy boots she calls “high heels.”

For a moment I felt the familiar tug of war inside my head…then the heart took over. Who says no to that? So we snuggled and got reacquainted after our day apart, then her brother (the BIG KID) snuggled up too. He is closing in on ten and I know my future snuggles are numbered, but, for now, it is still okay.

I decided then and there to forget everything else. The crafting, blogging, certainly the laundry! It was so nice to just “be.” All the to-do’s will get done in their own time or get re-prioritized but I won’t ever get these years back… and so many of them have passed already.

I keep a quote on my refrigerator that says “With kids, the days are long but the years are short.” I don’t even know who said it, but boy does it ring true. I don’t have babies anymore and sooner than I want to believe there will be a teen in the house, but, today, right now I plan to soak it in. Make sure I am focused on what truly matters. I welcome the future and I plan to soak it in too…..but it can take its time. For my kids, for these sweet little reminders of what truly matters and for the foresight to do the things that will avoid regret later on I am ever GRATEFUL.

My BIG KID...

My snuggler...and future big kid...

My Blog Circle Link: Juniper Goods

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Being Brave

Hello! My normal posts are about my crafts, but today I am part of a Blog Circle - a circle of amazing women bloggers who are doing incredible things with their talents. I hope you will take few minutes to follow the links through this circle.

We will be doing this once a month and today's circle theme is "Being Brave." As I write this post I am in Germany for the first time in my life. I had the incredible opportunity to travel and see some of Europe with my 9-year-old son and this trip has been simply amazing. I have thought a lot about being brave and what I would write about in this post. For a long time I thought it would be about how much courage it took for me to get on a plane with my son, leaving my husband and small daughter 5000 miles behind me, and about teaching my son there is a whole world out there to explore.

All of that is true, but while here we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Anne Frank House Museum in Amsterdam. The power and raw emotion of this experience was life changing. When I thought about "being brave" before the museum my whole thought process was different than after.

The power of the human spirit, the will to survive and thrive and the adversity and injustice these people faced was incredible. And this was just one small group of people. One young girl with ideas and dream and imperfections - not so different from my own children.

I still don't know what it takes to "be brave" but I know that I am now a different person. Someone who has walked through the same rooms as Anne Frank, someone who saw her actual diary filled with a young girl's thoughts. I am someone who owes it to her and to my children and to the world to do my best and to strive to be brave every day. It would be a tragedy if I didn't. Do yourself a favor today and BE BRAVE.

My blog circle link:Juniper Goods

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