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Traditions

No-stress Valentine’s Day traditions for families to help spread the love

Make Valentine’s Day special this year for your family without spending a lot of time or money with these simple Valentine’s Day traditions for families. No stress…just lots of love!

Make Valentine's Day special this year for your family without spending a lot of time or money with these simple Valentine's Day traditions for families. No stress...just lots of love!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. When you buy something through a link on my site, I may earn a commission, at no cost to you. See my disclosure to learn more.

Valentine’s Day is coming! Have you thought about how you’re going to celebrate?

Often people focus on romantic love on Valentine’s Day, but I also like to use the holiday as a way to shower a little extra love on my kids…and to encourage them to spread love to those around them.

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Fun Friday Activities: a simple family tradition for early out school days

Want a simple way to celebrate the beginning of the weekend and reconnect after a busy week of school? Try our favorite new family tradition: Fun Friday Activities!

3 boys posing during Fun Friday Activity

After a year (and then some) of homeschooling, my boys are back in public school this year. They are LOVING it (and so am I), but the downside is that during the week our schedules are much busier! My two older boys don’t get home from school until almost 4:00, and as much as I love my new-found freedom…I miss all the quality time I got with my boys last year.

While homeschooling was INCREDIBLY challenging, I loved all the time that we spent together exploring the mountains, playing at nearby parks, and visiting local attractions together.

Knowing that this year I wouldn’t have the same quantity of time with my kids, I started a new tradition to help us get some quality time. We call it: “Fun Fridays.”

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Simple New Year’s Eve Tradition for Families: Our Favorite Memories Celebration

This simple New Year’s Eve tradition for families is a fun way to remember your family’s favorite parts of the year in a meaningful way.

This simple New Year's Eve tradition for families is a fun way to remember your family's favorite parts of the year in a meaningful way.

I’m pretty sure everyone is in agreement by now: 2020 has been rough!

Our family, like so many others, has been turned a little upside down this year by pandemic-related challenges like cancelled family reunions, homeschool/virtual school, and going completely stir crazy from the isolation. Add to that the normal non-COVID-related challenges of life (like cancer) and I’m really looking forward to a fresh start for 2021.

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How to Make Christmas Meaningful for Little Kids

Presents are an exciting part of Christmas–especially for little kids–but if you’re looking to make Christmas mean a little bit more for your family, here are some ideas to set the tone for a more Christ-centered holiday.Presents are an exciting part of Christmas--especially for little kids--but if you're looking to make Christmas a little bit more for your family, here are some ideas to set the tone for a more Christ-centered holiday.

Note: This post includes affiliate links to the products discussed, but always feel free to shop around for the best deals. See my disclosure to learn more.

Can you believe it’s December? The weather has finally turned cold here, and we’re breaking out the hot chocolate and fuzzy socks. Christmas is nearly upon us! How is your Christmas season going so far? Are you reveling in the Christmas spirit or stressed out by your mile-long to-do list (or maybe a little of both)?

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Traditional German Stollen (Christmas bread)

This light, sweet bread dotted with candied fruit and nuts is a tasty Christmas tradition from Germany that our family has enjoyed for years, and I’m sure yours will, too! 

This light, sweet bread dotted with candied fruit and nuts is a tasty Christmas tradition from Germany that our family has enjoyed for years, and I'm sure yours will, too!

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links to the products mentioned. As always, feel free to shop around for the best deal! See my disclosure for more info.

It’s less than a week until Christmas. Almost all my shopping is done, and I’m excited to set aside all the “have to”s in favor of doing a little more holiday baking just for fun. Hooray for good food.

In our family, Christmas was filled with traditions from our German ancestry. I remember watching the blades slowly spin on our traditional German pyramid nativity, lighting a candle each Sunday evening on our advent wreath, and  opening one gift on Christmas Eve after acting out the nativity story….

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Gratitude Tree: A Thanksgiving Tradition

Got gratitude? This simple Thanksgiving tradition is a great way to bring your family together and get everyone thinking about what they’re grateful for this holiday season.

Got gratitude? This simple Thanksgiving tradition is a great way to bring your family together and get everyone thinking about what they're grateful for this holiday season.Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links to the products mentioned. As always, feel free to shop around for the best deal! See my disclosure for more info.

I love Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite holidays, actually. I mean, can it get much better than eating really good food and spending time with the people you love? Oh, and you don’t have to buy presents or any of the other commercial hoopla that often creeps into many of the other more popular holidays. Now, that’s a holiday.

I also love that Thanksgiving reminds us all to be grateful for the blessings we have in life. Did you know that grateful people have been scientifically shown …

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Bedtime Conversations on the Meaning of Life

Bedtime conversations with my four-year-old have become a cherished way to connect with my son and build sweet, simple memories together.Bedtime conversations with my four-year-old have become a cherished way to connect with my son and build sweet simple memories together.Most nights, about 15 minutes after putting Little Man to bed, he knocks on his bedroom door asking me to come snuggle him. (Don’t tell him he could just turn the door knob and come out himself.)

“Just 30 seconds,” he pleads with those big chocolate brown eyes.

Even though I’m tired, and I really want some time to myself after the kids go to bed, I say, “Okay, Buddy,” and we climb into his bed together….

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Three lessons re-learned this Christmas

Christmas has come and gone this year, and we had a wonderful holiday. We kept the celebration small this year, and I was grateful for that. Last year, we had 25 people in our house for Christmas dinner (pretty much my husband’s entire side of the family), which was wonderful, but total chaos, too. I loved having a small group of just six this year. I even got to take a nap in the afternoon (which pretty much never happens).

As I’ve thought back about Christmas this year, I’ve realized a few things–successes and failures on my part–that I hope I will remember in the future….

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Gingerbread Traditions


Growing up, my family made a gingerbread house every year. Actually, I think we only made an actual house one year. It became a challenge to see how creative we could get each year as we made a church (complete with stained glass windows made out of Life Savers), castle, log cabin, barn, library, theater, and more. Mom was the baker, Dad and my brothers were the architects, and my sisters and I mostly jumped in for the decorating. I have no idea how this tradition got started, but I’m grateful for the memories we created while gathered around the kitchen table gluing Necco wafers on the roof of our gingerbread masterpieces….

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