16 hours ago
When the air gets crisp in the fall, and the leaves start to drop from the trees, I always insist we go on some sort of fall hike. I enjoy the family time, I enjoy getting out in nature, I enjoy taking pretty pictures with the autumn colors.
But mostly I like the smell.
The main kind of deciduous tree we have in our mountains is the aspen tree, so I can't testify whether every tree produces the same type of spicy, woodsy smell that aspen leaves do when they fall. But I do know one thing - that is close to the top of my list of favorite scents in the whole world.
I always said if I could bottle that scent up, I'd be a happy lady. Well, a few years back I stumbled a scent mixture that, while not exact, is pretty close to my favorite fall-leaves-on-the-ground scent.
I had actually used a Bath and Body Works aromatherapy lotion, and then rolled on a little of a thieves essential oil blend. When I sniffed my wrists, I couldn't believe it! It was shockingly close to the scent you get when you clomp through a grove of aspen trees and disturb the fallen leaves. Success!
Anyway, ever since then, this combination has been my favorite scent to diffuse in the fall.
Aspen Leaves Essential Oil Blend
2 drops Bergamot essential oil
2 drops Orange essential oil
2 drops Germ Fighter blend (or any traditional thieves blend)
Fill your diffuser with water, and the above quantities of essential oils, and enjoy the spicy/woodsy scent that fills your room!
Disclaimer: I am not a big essential oil enthusiast, I just like to use them for air freshening in certain areas of my house. I make no medicinal claims of any kind. If you are pregnant or have young kids or pets in the house, be aware that not all essential oils are considered safe for everyone. Several oils in typical "thieves" type blends may not be recommended for kids under 6. Do your research and use your good judgement!
Since we discussed planning for a restful Christmas earlier this week, I thought I'd share a few posts from the archives about Christmas stress, and planning ahead for Christmas. I told you, this is something I've struggled with for a long time!
But it wasn't until more recently that I realized that if I'm too busy to spend meaningful time with the Lord during December, then I am too busy. A couple years ago I realized that was the missing piece, and that is when Christmas seasons really started improving in our house.
Still, there are some good tips in my older posts too, as I ironed out the mechanics of how to make room in my Christmas schedule, so they're worth a re-read!
In this post I give ideas for activities to add to your mom to-do list to add a little fun to your Christmas. Most of these are short and easy to add into the December busyness!
Five Ways To Destress During The Christmas Season
In this next post, I shared six common Christmas stress points, and how to ease some of the stress for each one.
This post was written at the height of Pinterest-perfect Christmases, and even though it was inspired by a sponsorship (I was heavy into the blog sponsorships back then), this was my little manifesto about what is and is not important to do at Christmastime. It was the first time I had really started to question the Christmas madness and try to think through a better way to do things. There are echoes of this one post in all the posts I've written about Christmas stress since.
Any tips you have for combatting Christmas stress?
One thing I would add to all these posts is that if you are in the baby/toddler phase, for goodness sake, don't try to do so much during Christmas! I think expecting too much during the little years was a big problem for me during that season of life, and it's what led me to write about the topic of Christmas stress in the first place.
Am I the only one that keeps tabs open in my internet browser way too long? Sometimes I find something interesting, and I don't want to lose the link or forget about it, so I just open a new window and keep going with whatever computer work I'm doing. This can become a problem, especially on my phone where windows can stay open indefinitely (or until I reach the "open tabs limit" which is quite high). I just cleaned out my browser on my phone, and there were some tabs I had left open from a year ago!
Instead of dealing with this ridiculous browser tab backlog, I decided to start a series sharing a peak into my digital "notebook" each season, as a chance to bookmark seasonal freebies, podcasts, blog posts, etc., that I have found and enjoyed. Hopefully this will be a fun source of ideas and inspiration each quarter for you - and saving things here will allow me to feel like I can close some browser tabs!
Blogs:
I found a homemaking/decorating website randomly one day called Home Made Simple, and I am a little obsessed with her fall decor choices. Even though she falls into emphasizing neutrals more than color, there is something so cozy about the way she puts items together. Will I ever be able to decorate my house like this for every season? Probably not, but it's fun to look and get ideas for little touches I could add. I am bookmarking her budget fall decorating tips to read later, and she also has a printable resource library with lots of good stuff in it, including a holiday planner I like.
I've also been browsing the literary dinners on the Ardent Bibliophile quite a bit - the book-themed dinner party photoshoots are so beautiful!
Printables:
I already mentioned the Home Made Lovely resource library, but I've found a few great resource libraries this month. The Little Coffee Fox printable library has a ton of great bullet journaling printables, and I've also found some good homemaking resources in the Simple Living Mama library. The Kitchen Table Classroom library - though I don't endorse everything mentioned in there - has lots of fun activity sheets for kids (I found it because I was looking for printable gratitude journal sheets for my kids).
I also got a bug to get the kids writing more letters this fall, so I went on a hunt for free letter-writing resources and printables. I found a bunch of cute printable postcards (Christmas postcards, blank postcards to decorate, and wildlife stamp postcards), some really great tips on writing a good letter, and a post with fun things you can include in your envelope. There are all kinds of fun snail mail ideas in this post too!
(As a side note, I have also been trying to revive my letter-writing habit, and postcards are a great way to get started - I bought this set of bookish postcards, and they are extremely cute.)
At our homeschool support group meeting, my friend showed everyone a field trip report she has her kids fill out for each field trip. Hers was in a planning book, but I thought I'd seen something similar before, so I tracked down a couple free options online. One from ChristianBook, one from The Canadian Homeschooler. The one thing my friend's form had, which these don't, is a place for kids to grade themselves on how they represented Christ on the field trip, which I thought was a cool idea to include. We may try using one of these next time we go!
Magazines & Newsletters:
Sometime in the last year I signed up for emails with Homeschooling Today, and every quarter I get a new homeschooling e-magazine in my inbox. The articles have been really uplifting, and they often come with free printables as well! You can sign up to receive the magazine for free here.
Also, did you know that a Christian History magazine subscription is free? If you can donate, I know that helps them a lot, but yes, you can sign up to get the magazine for completely free. I've really been enjoying the C.S. Lewis issue that just came out, and it's making me want to pick up another Lewis book.
I recently read a post on Modern Mrs. Darcy about her favorite email newsletters - if I was to write such a post, Humility and Doxology's email newsletter would be on it. She sends out homeschool encouragement emails, which are packed with resource suggestions, freebies, etc. I especially love her poem suggestions, and have started to incorporate more poetry in our homeschool in part because of her emails.
Recipes:
I already mentioned this, but guys, pumpkin fluff dip is so good with apples, and easy to make. Plus it's not bad for you, especially if you make it with sugar-free pudding mix! We've all been devouring this as a snack this month.
Podcasts:
I've really been enjoying getting my news from the Morning Wire podcast - they keep me up-to-date without it getting too overwhelming or stressful. When I'm not in the mood for my longer news podcasts, this is the one I listen to!
I've also enjoyed the Elisabeth Elliot podcast - one of her recent ones on the Christian family was really challenging to me in my parenting.
That's all I have for you for my fall "notebook"! Now I'll be gathering a few things for a winter edition, coming in December to February!
I am going to attempt to type this up while the kids are listening to their science textbook on audio. Right now the narrator is talking about narwhals. Aren't narwhals interesting animals? I'm already getting distracted.
It's a good day for a "currently" post.
Currently...
Listening to...Well, at this very moment I am listening to a very cheerful narrator talk about baleen whales, but I have also been listening to Martin Luther by Eric Metaxes on audio this week. I highly recommend that book on audio - I had a hard time staying focused when I attempted to pick up the hardback last year, but it's hard to hit pause on the audiobook! I've also been thinking about how difficult it must be to write a biography of a person that lived 500 years ago. You'd want to make sure your information was right, but I imagine there would be a lot of digging through legends and misinformation.
Watching...I've been watching a lot of Gilmore Girls this month, and I am remembering anew how much disappointment comes with the later seasons of Gilmore Girls. They ruined Rorys's character for me at the end of Season 4, I despise Logan, and why can't the characters just be happy for goodness sake? It's been years now since I watched the reboot movie on Netflix, so I may have to track that one down again, because I can't remember what happened to Lorelei in the end. I remember what happened to Rory, but the weird ending was not a surprise since I gave up on her finding love a long time ago.
That was a lot of thoughts about Gilmore Girls, but I have been watching other things too. I recently rediscovered American Gospel TV, and there are a lot of great videos on there for free! I've been considering a subscription, because I'm a documentary nerd, and everything I've seen from them has been edifying.
It's definitely time better spent than all the Gilmore Girl nonsense, but I've been enjoying both overall.
Wearing...All the things in this post, but especially warm flannels, and I've officially broken out my sweater collection this week. It's cold lately! We finally got our wood-burning stove working properly as well, and we've been enjoying cheerful fires this week. Now just to dig out my fuzzy socks.
Reading...I have been in a major reading rut this month, unfortunately. I am attempting to read Lianne Moriarty's new book, but it's just not grabbing me at all. I'm going to attempt to give it a proper go this weekend, but I'm not optimistic. I think the other problem is that we have been ridiculously busy this month. This is the first week where I don't have more than two days spent out of the house during the week (two days is still too much for me right now). And then this weekend we have plans to visit a pumpkin patch, go to the kids' last soccer game, have lunch with Derek's dad, and possibly go on a hike. Now that I'm thinking about it, planning for any reading time this weekend is probably optimistic in itself. I think things will start to slow down in November.
My morning books (ie. books I read after devotions, before starting my day) have been going much better, and I'm making good progress on In The Year Of Our Lord. I should be able to finish that one this month.
Drinking...More chai tea and coffee. Not a lot new there. I will say, however, that Derek and I have both decided that the International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer is particularly good. It does not taste like a pumpkin candle, but has the appropriate amount of cinnamon and spice in it.
Prepping...For lots of thankfulness activities with the kids in November. I've been feeling like I need to put more effort into celebrating Thanksgiving. Not only is a uniquely American holiday, but it's a Christian holiday that has not been corrupted as much as even many of the others. It's difficult and unnatural to be "thankful" without recognizing Who we are giving thanks to, and there's not much else to the holiday except being thankful. I actually bought a Thanksgiving tree, and plan on decorating it with "leaves", pieces of paper expressing all the blessings God has given us. We have friends who do this with their kids each year, and I have been wanting to start a similar tradition leading up to Thanksgiving - this is the year it is going to happen. I've also been searching for gratitude worksheets, Bible studies, etc, and I'll probably have more on that in the next couple weeks.
Planning...For Reformation Day next week! I got this great new Reformation Day guide that I am going to work through with the kids this year, and it has all kinds of treats and activities that will keep the celebration fresh. I'm planning on heading to the store this weekend for a few ingredients and supplies to make it a fun week.
Borrowing...Derek's big flannel shirt coat. I told you, it's cold out there!
Buying...Christmas wrapping paper! I mentioned earlier this week how I am concerned that wrapping paper may be one of those things that becomes scarce because of supply chain issues. Our Hobby Lobby has no wrapping paper right now, which is unheard of this late in October. Thankfully on Tuesday I found a couple mega rolls of double-sided wrapping paper at Sam's, so we should be set!
Eating...Derek and I went to this really cool ice cream shop last night while the kids were in Awana, and we tried rolled ice cream. It was just too impressive not to share. Please enjoy this 30 second video, and try to watch to the end if you can, because that's when it gets interesting!
Looking forward to...Is it awful if I say I am looking forward to the end of my 31 Days Of Old-School Blogging challenge? On the one hand, I've been enjoying taking more time to write and share posts on the blog this month, and I think this is the first year ever that I've made it this far into the month of October without missing a day. I actually feel quite accomplished, and I know it'll be so satisfying to finally make it 31 days after 3 or 4 years of trying! But on the other hand, I have let a lot of things fall through the cracks this month - reading is a good example, and finishing my photo album project is another. There are cardboard boxes of photos scattered on shelves and counters, waiting for me to get my act together. I also wanted to get my Christmas newsletter written (I figure taking a year off social media calls for sending out an actual newsletter), but I have no writing time left to spare until this month is over. I love October writing challenges because it kind of gives me a burst of writing energy and creativity at a point in the year when I usually need it - but I'm ready to catch up on everything that I've put on the back burner.
Do you have a signature dish?
A signature dish is a food item that you are known for, that everyone loves when they taste it, that is one of the first things to run out at a potluck because it's general knowledge that you make this particular thing very well.
I have long wished to have a signature dish.
Last year I finished my Christmas Shopping in August.
That year, 2020, was (as you know) one of the most stressful and uncertain in modern history, at least for Americans, with shutdowns, riots, toilet paper shortages, and a contentious election (as always). With all of that going on, I just had a feeling it would be a good idea to get my shopping done early. Who knew if we were going to shut down again, or if tensions would be so high after the election that I wouldn't want to go into stores? Best to be prepared.
Ironically, I am still working on Christmas shopping as I write this in October, and this happens to be the year when I probably should have finished my shopping early. Fox Business has been warning since July that we might encounter shipping problems leading up to Christmas, and even the VP warned Americans to start Christmas shopping in August.
Rats. My instincts are clearly off, and I kind of wish now that I had followed my habits from last year.
Thankfully, Derek and I finished our family's Christmas shopping last weekend, and now it's just a matter of waiting for packages to get here. They are indeed taking longer than normal, but nothing has gotten lost in the mail yet, so that's a good sign.
Nevertheless, all these warnings about Christmas have reminded me that my Christmases always tend to go better when I start crossing things off my list early. If I can have most of my to-do list accomplished by the beginning of December, then I can take some time to relax and remember what the season is truly about - celebrating the birth of Jesus. So I thought I'd re-share a few of my ideas for how to have a less stressful Christmas season.
Start Early
As I already explained above, if you can finish some of the Christmas prep now, do it. This isn't just because things may get crazy this year, but because every Christmas tends to be a little crazy, especially for us moms. I don't know how many times I have been so frazzled and stressed during December that I very nearly missed the joy of the season. Here are a few things to consider starting to prepare early, some of them even as early as August or September (though if you start them now, you'll still be ahead):
-Buying Christmas presents. Start any time of year. My sister actually does her shopping for Christmas all year long, and this gives her the chance to get some great deals!
-Wrapping presents. Ironically, the one thing I actually do think I may have trouble finding this year is wrapping paper - usually by October Hobby Lobby has a full aisle of paper, but my local Hobby Lobby still has relatively bare Christmas shelves. This concerns me probably more than it should!
-Taking your Christmas card picture and/or writing your newsletter. Doing this now will eliminate that down-to-the-wire stress you might feel if you wait until December.
-Addressing Christmas cards. This is a tedious chore, and one that I like getting done early.
-Request Christmas books from the library. You want to do this sometime in November before Thanksgiving, and with any luck, the timing of your library holds will last you into December!
-Christmas baking. A lot of Christmas cookies freeze well.
-Cleaning out old toys. I told my kids the other day that they should start clearing out toys they no longer play with to make room for Christmas presents. They did surprisingly well at choosing things to get rid of.
Decorate Gradually
Decorating day can get a little tense around here, especially when I try to accomplish it all in one day. Last year I tried something new and started putting out our decorations gradually, decorating one room at a time. I did miss a little bit of the festivity of transforming the house all in one day, but the Christmas tree was still a big event, with wassail and Christmas carols playing. Decorating more gradually allowed me to be less frazzled about the mess, which in turn was good for my family, so I'll probably deck the halls this way again this year.
Say No To Non-Essentials
One thing that has been a hard lesson for me as an adult is that as much as I might want to do it all, I can't. Or I should say, I can't do every possible Christmas activity and not find myself running around like a maniac and crying at dumb things because of all the stress. I've had to learn to let some things go. Sure, we loved that Christmas parade when they kids were little, but maybe we want some of our weekends to be unrushed in December, and so I have to say no. Gingerbread houses are fun, but if we don't get to building one every year, that's okay. If I find myself with so many holiday events on the calendar that I'm wearing myself out, it's okay (and good) to only choose a few and let the rest go.
One thing that I think is helpful for deciding what should stay and what should go is to have a family meeting, especially with older kids. Tell them that you can't do every Christmas activity every December, and ask them to list their top three Christmas traditions. Then go through everyone's lists, and see what things are favorites that you want to do yearly, and what things you can make a semi-annual occurrence. It may even surprise you what traditions are treasured by your family, and what things they could do without.
Protect Your Time
Christmas is a time to be together with family and friends, and because of that, the invitations tend to pile up in December. Being together with those we love is a really good thing, but there has to be a balance. I am the type of person who doesn't like to miss any party or event, but when I say yes to so many things that I don't have any significant periods of time to refresh and rest, my family suffers. I've learned to plan out certain days or weekends in December where I don't have anything scheduled - this lets us have time to recover from the busyness, so we can enjoy and look forward Christmas gatherings instead of dreading leaving the house again. Does blocking off a certain number of days mean I have to say no to some things? Yes, it often does, but I found it's a good trade-off.
Consider Christmastide
Did you know Christmastide is a thing? I read about it in a book called Loving My Actual Christmas, and it was a revelation to me when I realized it's okay to save some Christmas-y activities until after Christmas. This site does a great job of explaining it, but Christmastide is a celebration and honoring of Jesus's birth from Christmas Eve until January 5th, and it is a traditional part of the liturgical calendar. Traditionally, you are not even supposed to take down your Christmas decorations until January 6th, the official ending of the celebration of Jesus's birth. Christmastide is where the idea of 12 days of Christmas comes from! So if you need a little more time to enjoy the Christmas season, you have a long tradition to back you up.
Make Time To Celebrate Advent
One of the most memorable traditions for my kids is our advent calendar, which is filled by their aunt and uncle each year. Not only do my kids enjoy the chocolate and presents during the month of December, but it's a daily way to point them to the One we are celebrating. Celebrating advent doesn't have to complicated - if you don't have relatives that plan advent out for you, just grab some advent readings online (this post has a bunch of options), and buy a couple bags of chocolates to pass out as you do the reading each day. A little chocolate goes a long way in memory making.
Slow Down
I struggled for years with constantly running to catch up every December, to the point where I dreaded all the work and planning of the holiday season. This makes me sad now, because in the midst of all the chaos of December, I found myself missing what it is really about.
This is our season to celebrate that we have a Savior, Jesus Christ, God made into flesh so He could take our sin upon Himself and die in our place. He came to die so we could live, a gift of eternal life with Him when we believe and put our trust for our eternity in Christ alone. Is there anything more beautiful about Christmas than that? If I am too busy during December to take time to ponder on that, to find joy in it, to spend time in prayer and Bible study with the One who left Heaven for me - well, then I am too busy.
It took me a while to learn that, but now that I have learned it the hard way, I have found myself enjoying December more than I ever have over the last couple years. Remembering that it's truly about Jesus - that my first priority needs to be slowing down and praising my Savior during the Christmas season - that has been what has helped me to prioritize, protect my time in December, and let some things go. Because if I miss celebrating the gift of Jesus in December, then I've missed the whole thing.
Do you ever find yourself stressed during the Christmas season, as I have, or missing the true meaning of it all because you are too busy?
Have you started getting ready for Christmas yet?
What do you think about the Hobby Lobby wrapping paper situation, should I be worried?
When you first arrive at the Creation Museum, you walk through extensive gardens leading up to the entrance. The interesting plants and landscapes they've created are very impressive! We spent the first half hour just wandering through the gardens and taking pictures. Wyatt even spotted some carnivorous pitcher plants in the swampy area, which we learned about in our botany study last year!
It started to rain on us, so we headed into the museum, and the entrance exhibits are all dedicated to different dragons in literature and legends, which could well have been inspired by dinosaurs. So even the entrance was full of interesting information!
Finally we went inside, grabbed a pumpkin spice latte at the coffee shop, and started our tour. The Creation Museum exhibits had themes including the difference between an evolutionary and creationist worldview, lots of exhibits dedicated to evidence that supports creation, and examining different fossils that have been claimed to be "missing links". There was a whole section about the archeological evidence for different biblical accounts, the importance of Genesis to the Christian faith, and finally an animatronic journey through the entire beginning of Genesis and the Gospel using the 7 C's - Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation. The Gospel presentation at the museum was so well done, I found myself getting emotional at times. It was very moving to walk through all these different stages of human history, including Jesus's sacrifice to save us from our sins by dying on the cross, and then to have the museum point us ahead to someday when He will return!
About halfway through the exhibits we took a break for lunch, and then bought tickets to a planetarium presentation. I haven't been to a planetarium in years, and this presentation was about the vast size of the universe. I tried to follow, but my mind turns off when I try to understand how big the universe is - I just can't. It was amazing to watch a presentation in a planetarium that ultimately pointed to how great our God is to create our universe, the size of which we can hardly fathom.
When we made it all the way through the main exhibits, we ended up in a gift shop and conference area, where I bought too many books, and then we watched a live presentation called Snakes Alive! And yes, several of my children allowed snakes to be hung around their necks. Mainly because Georgie, my three year old, volunteered to go first and made it look so easy.
After the presentation we went through a few more bonus exhibit rooms that I didn't even know were there - one about dinosaurs, one about insects, and one about Israel during the time of Christ. They are still working on an exhibit about life in the womb, and I am looking forward to seeing that one when we visit again in the future!
Before we left for the day we bought more fudge (we couldn't resist), and tried to check out the petting zoo before we left. Then we let the kids play on another really cool playground which was very similar to the one at the Ark Encounter.
We topped this whole day off with a trip to The Cracker Barrel for dinner, which felt appropriate since we Kentucky is part of the South. I had my standby of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, which never disappoints.
I'm so glad we didn't skip the Creation Museum, because there was so much interesting information there. I think the Creation Museum was especially a cool experience for Wyatt - he is my museum buddy, and the two of us were often lagging behind the others while we tried to read everything we could! I loved that we were able to go with friends as well - it was more fun spending the day together there, and I also think having friends around kept things fun for my younger kids who can't read yet. We tried to read as much as we could to them, but we just couldn't read everything! I highly recommend going with friends if you can, especially if you have younger kids.
Next up, all about the caves in Kentucky!
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