Uncategorized Archives - Page 121 of 437 - Enjoying the Small Things

Christmas Memory

December 2, 2015 By Kelle

This post is sponsored by Pinhole Press.

One of my favorite things about this time of year is that we make extra efforts for special family time. Brett always saves a lot of his time off to take at the end of the year to simply chill out at home with us during the holidays, and we fill that time with movies, games and a few traditions we’ve repeated every year. There’s nothing I love more than seeing my family all together, lounging in p.j.s around the fire–doing nothing really, but what was it that Kathleen Kelly said? “All this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings.”

This year, I took one of our favorite games to play as a family–one even the little ones can play–and added photos of our memories from Christmas past to create a holiday keepsake–our Christmas Memory Game, a spin off the original classic memory game, but with our own photos, thanks to Pinhole Press (the same folks who brought you that adorable Mini Book of Faces a few weeks ago).

We keep it out now and play it almost every day, sometimes a round before school, with cookies in the afternoon, with hot cocoa in the evening.

And during the holiday season, it’s so much fun to look back at old pictures–the Santa’s lap photos from over the years, the kids snuggled together in bed on Christmas Eve, the glitter-covered driveway from the reindeer food mess.

We’ve also invented a cool way to play Go Fish with the cards.

The Memory Game is a perfect gift for kids (fits in a stocking too!) or a great gift for grandparents so that they can have something fun for the kids to play with at their house–with all the best photos of grandparent moments. You can create a Memory Game with 12 photos in less than 5 minutes and can use photos from Instagram or Facebook. The cards are thick and durable. We used a peppermint stripe back for our Christmas set but also made an everyday set from our summer in Michigan photos with apples (we did a glossy finish on this set, and I love it!).

And the best part? Get $5 off your memory game with the code SMALLTHINGS (ends December 6th).

Merry Memories!

Enjoying: Thanksgiving

November 29, 2015 By Kelle

Let’s begin with this picture, shall we?

Since Thanksgiving, he–like his mother–has become obsessed with all things “Krimmif.” Krimmif tree, Krimmif lights, Krimmif movies and music and decorations. Let the fun begin.

Krimmif pajamas for a round of Duck, Duck, Goose.

And our first fire of the season, on Thanksgiving morning.

We continued our Thanksgiving tradition of our pajama breakfast with our neighbors, one of my favorite mornings of the year. Coffee, Mimosas, pancakes, Christmas music, Macy’s parade and all the cozy feels.

(watching the parade)

And then back home to prepare pies and potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner at Heidi’s house this year.

We looked this put together for all of the sixty seconds it took to take a few pictures by the woods.

We’ve been talking for years about merging our Thanksgiving plans–so glad it finally happened.

This leaf was my favorite. Be grateful for the basics, man. “For my life. Also family.” The rest is just icing.

The rest of the weekend has been dedicated to decorating the house and soaking up family.

And cleaning up the 500,000 paper cootie catchers Lainey learned how to make.

Feeling grateful and excited for so many special things we love about this season.

Epic Stocking Stuffer Guide and more holiday fun to come. My inner elf is alive and strong.

Thanksgiving Grace

November 25, 2015 By Kelle

Growing up a pastor’s kid with both grandfathers who were also pastors, everything about Thanksgiving–the meal planning, the table setting, the family’s arrival, the kitchen hustle, the gathering to the table–was all simply a trail of stepping stones to the final destination, the main event of our holiday–the prayer before the meal. My grandpa delivering the Thanksgiving prayer? It was the State of the Union for our family. The prayer was long and covered all the bases from the hungry children of Africa to my little cousin’s upcoming violin concert. But what I remember most was watching my grandpa break down when he started saying thanks for his family–how much he loved us. He’d just stop and cry–shoulders shaking, no sound–and we’d all sit with the silence and wait for him to finish. Year after year after year. The love of family–it’s the jugular vein, man.

Thanksgiving Grace has evolved for me. A very long time ago, I used to wake up every morning at 5:00 and kneel at a couch for an hour begging God for answers because I was convinced that desperation was attractive to God. Then I discarded it all and replaced it with skepticism and confusion. Stopped praying completely. Tried to define it. Rebuilt it. And finally just let go.

Today prayer and Thanksgiving Grace to me look like dancing in my kitchen, running to my journal to scratch out some words in my head, crying through a poem, texting love notes to a friend, whispering thanks for this moment into the universe–to a higher power I believe in but can’t define, cuddling close to my kids while they sleep and feeling their breath, holding Brett’s hand when I feel a little bit far away from him but also perfectly in sync, tasting something wonderful, feeling proud of something I created, reading great words, hearing from someone that I did something to make life better for them, learning something new, looking at the moon, tapping out a caption to an Instagram post the night before Thanksgiving.
And watching my grandpa stop and cry and compose himself over talking about his family? I feel that every day. I think that’s called prayer.

Happy Thanksgiving. Say some kind of prayer–sing, dance, paint, text someone, hug someone, whisper an intention, write on a piece of paper what you are most grateful for and tuck it in a pocket of your purse. There’s no wrong way to do it. Of this, I am sure.

Amen.