“To make bread or love, to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a stranger – these activities require no extensive commentary, no lucid theology. All they require is someone willing to bend, reach, chop, stir. Most of these tasks are so full of pleasure that there is no need to complicate things by calling them holy. And yet these are the same activities that change lives, sometimes all at once and sometimes more slowly, the way dripping water changes stone. In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life“.
~ Barbara Brown Taylor

Thank you, Charissa, for this beautiful quote.

I began my morning reading this, a beautiful piece by Anne Lamott, in Parade magazine.  I continued my morning smiling, pausing during housekeeping chores to read Tweets and scan Instagram photos of Americans expressing gratitude for their families, food, health, babies, traditions, and all these things we love to gush about this time of year.  I gush too.  It feels good to succumb to the vulnerability of holiday sappiness–a deep, deep inhale of goodness that will, over time, breathe out in an exhale affecting others.

Hunting for pinecones for her own little Thanksgiving table

I am a feeler, an analyzer, an overanalyzer, a sap, a fixer, a learner and a lover.  During not only this sentimental time of year but during this time of my life when I am young and healthy and aware that we are indeed blessed compared to so many others in the world that suffer and find happiness in dismal circumstances, I try to make sense of how to be grateful and aware and proactive and compassionate all at once. 

In our country tomorrow, there will be many prayers–whispers of thanks, sighs of awareness, pleas for help, and quiet breaths of recognition offered to higher powers, inner selves, the earth, God, family, and the great big universe that unites us all.

My simple prayer is this:

Take what I’m feeling right now–this abundant love, this awareness of good, this thankfulness for family and food and home and connection, this enthusiasm for life, this interest in people and their stories, this hunger to create, this pain for others’ suffering, this body that yearns to nurture and dance and do and see, this love for babies, this attraction for words and feelings and the desire to string them together and put them on paper, this silly joy for colors and textures and pretty things, these beautiful questions about faith, this painful vulnerability, this ability to learn, this past, this present and this future…and let me make something beautiful of it, every day.  Let me find meaningful ways to use it, share it and give it away.  Let me never ever waste it.

That felt good to write. So, a Selah for good measure. 

She spotted a bird.

And I am ever so thankful for the moment last night when I caught Brett eating a taco and watching a Hallmark Christmas movie with Florence Henderson…I mean a football game.   Oh God, I am so dead.

This little blog community…whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, thank you for reading and sharing and being a part of this space. What a great big Thanksgiving table scene this community would create.

Pass the stuffing.

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In celebrating community, motherhood and creative sharing, I’m happy to introduce our new sponsor, Isobel of Holden On Baby. 

First time mama, graphic designer, writer, sharer, style curator, you name it–Isobel pours her creative heart into her blog and her work, leaving an inspiring impression.  The first time I found her, I scrolled through post after post, bookmarking new discoveries for baby boy and creative living.

Her graphic design portfolio is growing as well, so if you’re interested in streamlining your blog or website and making it stand out to express your style and personality, contact her about using her talents! 

Holden On Baby was also recently named one of Babble’s best blogs for beautiful baby photography. 
Check her out for some wonderful creative mama inspiration.  Sister’s got style and heart and many great ideas.

So many amazing women sharing what they have to give–I freaking love the way the Internet makes it possible for us to connect.

*****

Adding after several commenters asked: The teepee was a gift from a Florida mama.  Her Etsy shop is PlayHaven.  We haven’t had it for long, and it has already been loved; made magical moments.

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Friends…enjoy tomorrow.  Take all that gushy gratitude and make something of it.  Share what you have to give.

I had this post written, and it was full of nothing–well, lots of things but it all felt so nothing compared to things I have written and loved in the past.  I have noticed that I like my writing and the way I feel when I write when I am completely rock bottom, when I am confused and sorting things out, when change is defibrillating my brain (new environment, new circumstances, new people, new stories), or when a dirty-as-mud martini has turned the unfiltered dial up, and my fingers consequently float effortlessly across the keyboard.

Lately every day has been a bit of the same.  Routines drive our actions, and the in-between is filled with homey things like sorting through new baby clothes, guiding sound-it-out instructions to “How do you spell?” pleas and squeezing the goodness out of Nella when she wakes up (I’m a bit of a squeezer). 

Usually, when things are good and same-ish and smooth for too long,  I wait for the other shoe to fall.  Like that one year when I wrote about how happy and grateful I felt and then a brick hit me in the head and our life changed. 

I kid, I kid.  That brick was really a diamond, and it’s the best damn diamond/brick that could ever hit ya.

All this to say, I crave depth.  I love pushing further, I love deep, tearful, meaningful conversations where we are ripping our souls apart to grow and be more.  I like a good writing session when a screen purge has miraculously cleared up questions or made them so comfortable to exist, and I love growth and understanding that happens so significantly from an event, I need a yardstick to measure it.

But crops need resting seasons.  Tides pull back.  And part of contentment is learning that I don’t always need some electrifying, soul-transforming thing to make me think.  Or write. 

There are so many soul-transforming things that exist in our every day.  We might not realize they are soul-transforming because they lack the wow factor and their transformation powers are gradual and humble.  But they are there.

Tonight I took Lainey for a walk alone.  I asked if I could hold her even though I can barely manage to comfortably position her over the bump.  Her uncombed hair caught the evening sunlight just right, illuminating her profile, and for a moment I held her two-year-old self.  We stood there on the sidewalk, under the neighbor’s tree, and I listened as she told me how the skimpy fallen Florida leaves would make a great decoration for Thanksgiving. 

I’m not waiting for the other shoe to fall.  I am basking in the sameness that exists in our life right now–lessons to be learned right here in our home; growth that happens slowly and almost insignificantly.  That is what I have to offer right now. 

This weekend, I…

Wiped noses.
Read books.
Drank tea and played music when I felt edgy.
Ate fresh strawberries.
Brought one teeny Christmas decoration into the house.
Brought another one in five minutes later.
Reevaluated what I do (as in a line from one of my favorite movies: “What is it that I do?”  “You…are a lone reed.”)
Sat outside with Nana Kate and watched my kids play.

Sat inside and watched my kids sleep.

Took my girls out for a cappucino.

Laughed at Nella’s interest in the mirror next to us.

Mama’ed littles who mama’ed theirs.

Stated “I love this weather” redundantly.

Washed serving dishes, pressed napkins and became deliciously aware that the holidays are here.  That fact makes me giddy.

We have a new ear infection this morning and another day of school missed.  So there is lots of squeezing and holding and loving…our favorite thing to do.

*****

A past favorite sponsor, Okllo, is returning this holiday season.  My girls are still wearing last year’s Great American tees (Amelia Earhart, Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin…), and we always get asked about them.  Okllo combines inspiring quotes and positive role models with quality fabric and modern designs to make these great tees for kids and now mamas and papas. 

My Eleanor Roosevelt shirt; Lainey’s Eleanor Roosevelt shirt has a secret quote hidden on the inside, under her heart: “Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one.”

Okklo also offers a range of eco-friendly art products and a select collection of high quality kid supplies to keep your little one creatively engaged.

Use Code KHTHANKS20 for a generous 20% off all shirts on your order!

*****

As my fortune cookie read tonight, Keep on keeping on.

The girls were under the weather yesterday, and we have taken stock in Puffs Plus.  They are already on the mend, thank goodness, so we should be back to business in no time. 

A couple things promised.  Feel free to print these labels if you are doing a reindeer food buffet this year.  For last year’s North Pole party, I arranged the ingredients on a low table, accessible for kids.  We used inexpensive disposable bread pans to hold everything, and the kids were each given a small jam jar to make their reindeer food.  The ingredients are mostly self-explanatory other than “flying powder.”  Of course, that’s a magical ingredient, but I can tell you that it looks like flour.

I included a few blank labels if you’d like to create a new concoction. You should be able to click on the labels (there are two sheets), scroll over the photo in Photobucket, and “File” will appear.  From there, you can dowload original file).


Also, while Santa controls the elves that may or may not show up at your party, I’ve been told Party City has elf costumes this time of year for elves who show up without proper attire. 

I’m working on making things a bit more sharable for you. In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!