The practice of celebrating advent.

Today marks the liturgical beginning of Advent—the season of anticipating the celebration of Christ’s birth and waiting in hope for Jesus’ second coming.

We’ve picked out our Christmas trees (thanks @scoutforestladera!), bought matching pajamas, walked to the candy cane tree in our neighborhood, and we’ve written letters to Santa, but what I love about this season is that it’s so much more than even these special moments.

It is in Advent that we practice holding both—the pain and the promise, the not-yet and the soon-to-come, the comfort and the joy. Advent is the season where we both sit in the darkness and pay attention to the light. A season where we make space for grief while also holding space for the magic.

A few ways we’re celebrating this year:

1 // Starting the season with Every Moment Holy: A Liturgy to Mark the Start of the Christmas Season and A Liturgy for Setting Up a Christmas Tree

2 // Family devotions at dinner using Ann Voskamp’s Interactive Family Celebration of Advent Calendar. Each day, there’s a new devotion along with an ornament to hang on the pop-up tree. 

3 // Reading the Advent Storybook: 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas at bedtime with the  boys. 

4 // Incorporating into my morning quiet time: intentional journal time and Hannah Brencher’s Advent 2020 reflection emails.

5 // Creating an Advent video by taking a few seconds of video from every day of Advent and compiling it into a short video for us to watch on Christmas night.

In these days leading up to Christmas, may we practice—reflection, hopefulness, and peace. May we glimpse redemption and be reminded that joy is present, especially here, especially now.

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The Practice of Sabbath.

There’s a family video we’ve been watching on repeat lately. It’s a video of my now six-year old, Noah, when he was three, pretend-playing with a stool that’s turned over sideways. My boys are sitting in the stool like you’d sit in a car, and in the video, I’m saying, “Show me how you go fast!”

At my prompt, Noah looks at me, and in a singsong voice says, “It only goes slow, sorry.” He says sorry like he’s a game show host giving bad news to a contestant, and I am the unlucky participant. He repeats: “It only goes sloooow.”

Our family has made it a goal to be more intentional this year about the practice of Sabbath—a 24-hour time period of restful worship by which we cultivate a restful spirit in all of our life, defined by John Mark Comer in his How to Un-Hurry Workbook. When I think about how we approach Sabbath, I think about my son saying, It only goes slow, sorry. 

Sabbath invites us to slow. Slow our mental hamster wheel. Slow our busy hands. Slow our scroll (or stop it altogether, like a weekly digital detox).

Sabbath shakes us out of the notion that we can keep the world spinning—all plates held static in the air—as long as we keep moving and keep working, as long as we keep up the momentum of the hustle.

On Sabbath, we are not sorry that we only go slow.

Sabbath invites us to savor. Savor what we already have. Savor a slow meal, a mindful walk, quality time with family, the slow drip of coffee. Savor the way the morning light floods the front room and glides over the piano, illuminating the gallery wall of art and photographs and memories. 

Sabbath points to Jesus, and Jesus gives us rest, along with the reminder that we have spiritual riches far beyond what our human hands are able to muster (see 1 Timothy 6:17-19). Sabbath invites us to sit, like Mary at the Lord’s feet (Luke 10:38-42).

If you’re feeling the pressure of the last six weeks of the year, perhaps consider incorporating into your weekly rhythm this practice of worshipping, savoring, and slowing.

It’s a gift that you don’t have to wait for Christmas to unwrap.

This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in this series "Savor".

A poetic stack of my favorite books.

I shared this originally, on instagram, as part of a #spinepoetrychallenge—using the words and title phrases on the spine of selected books to create a poem—led by friends in Exhale Creativity. What started as a fun, simple creative exercise turned into a thought-provoking display of different themes and personalities. I loved reading the other “spine poems” on my feed—even when books titles overlapped, the final outcome was unique. My own stack includes books written by my favorite authors and books on home decor and design, capturing my aesthetic and personality in both words and image.

it’s not supposed to be this way.

these bittersweet, barbarian days,

slouching towards Bethlehem,

toward all the light we cannot see.

we desire to live present over perfect, 

no longer uninvited to

a moveable feast, of bread & wine.

you are made for living.

come matter here.

savor.

make life beautiful. 

live with color.

live with pattern.

word by word,

you are made for this—

a long obedience in the same direction.

If you’re in need of a creative boost, start with your bookshelf. I can’t wait to see what you stack—tag me on instagram!

Affiliate disclosure: this post contains links where, if you purchase, I will receive a small commission. I promise that only link to items that I own, love, and wholeheartedly recommend.

Notes on How to get started with crochet

It’s been two decades since I crocheted my way through my afghan in a day project at winter camp in middle school, but then I saw a post about I saw a post about Amanda Seyfriend that linked to a candy corn crochet bunting banner and suddenly I was in a rabbit hole of crafting projects on Pinterest. 

I came across the cutest crochet Frankie Stein doll that would be perfect for my Halloween baby’s 2nd birthday. I found a mudcloth pumpkin with a free pattern, a crochet knot pillow that could double as coffee table decor, and a pattern for a fluffy faux fur throw similar to one that my husband wanted from Pottery Barn.

I remember crochet as being fairly easy to learn, but I didn’t how exactly to start. Which project would be easiest for a beginner? Which yarn? What size needle? What do the notations on the  pattern actually mean?

If you’re a beginner, or if you forgot everything that you once knew how to do, this is for you.

Start with this book. I came across Debrosse while I was scrolling through inspiration on Pinterest. Her book, Modern Crochet, gives you access to all of her how to stitch videos along with a great collection of starter patterns (and an overview of how to read patterns) and the exact yarn, etc. you need with links.

I based my first projects on what was available in terms of yarn and hooks and what would be easy. I wanted to start right away with something easy, so I started with a throw. A throw or a blanket is a great way to start because you are basically doing the same stitch over and over again, and with this project, I didn’t have to count stitches after the first round. It takes some effort on the front end to learn the basics, but it’s a great confidence builder, and you will have a big tangible finished product in the end.

If you want to start with the Bainet Throw (pictured above) like I did, you’ll find the pattern in the book above. You will need this P hook (amazon link here, Michael’s link here) and this yarn (I bought 9 skeins, but ended up using only 7 using curbside pickup from Michaels, but you can also buy it at Joann’s). 

This is the video I used to learn to connect the new yarn. I watched the videos that came with the book on how to do a slip stitch, chain stitch, single crochet stitch (back loop only), and slip stitch as I stitched the first couple rows before muscle memory took over.

Stitch markers (inserted into the first stitch on the right side) are a must for keeping track of stitches and rows, even though there is no turning in this project and you will start with a new yarn for each row, going right to left. I recommend buying this set of hooks, as you need a smaller size for the tassels on this project and will need different sizes of hooks eventually anyway. I also bought this tapestry needle set, which I didn’t use until I made my mudcloth pumpkin.

A Few Tips for Starting:

• The first chain that you stitch should be on the looser side (Debrosse talks about this in her book), so that you don’t end up with a shriveled up blanket side.

• Get a feel for your tension (how tight or loose you stitch) by stitching a chain and then a few single crochet (sc) stitches into that chain. You can easily unravel this and start over–one of the best parts of crochet!

• Give yourself lots of grace–the beginning of each project is the hardest, and you will end better than you started. This means that the first rows of your project may look too loose or too tight until you get a hang of the right tension, but no one else will notice.

• For me, it helped to just start. I picked a project and learned what I needed for that project, using the book and YouTube videos for reference. I didn’t learn how to make a magic ring until I started the pumpkin (linked below), and I didn’t learn how to switch colors or stitch continuous rounds until I started Frankie Stein (also linked below).

my mudcloth pumpkin, a.k.a. boy children-friendly holiday decor

Other patterns I purchased and my next projects:

Paix Fur Throw by Debrosse This looks simple, but I’ve started it and it’s actually not because you can’t see any of your stitches, so you are basically stitching blind. 

Mudcloth Pumpkin This is a free pattern that you can buy on etsy if you want the ad-free version. It took me several tries to get the hang of the magic circle that is the basis for this pattern, but now that I know how, I can make...

Frankie Stein For Micah’s halloween bday! This is my first doll project, and I’m having so much fun with it.

Mare Knot Pillow by Debrosse Decorative wood, concrete or metal knots are all the rage right now in interior decor, so why *knot throw a velvet yarn once in the mix. See what I did there? ;)

The Croix Coaster (from the Modern Crochet book). I imagine this would also be a good project to start with, but the yarn wasn’t in stock at the time. I just now purchased supplies for this: this yarn (I think you’ll only need 1 skein of it for this project) and these rings. Basically all patterns Debrosse are beautiful with the clearest explanations and accompanying video links.

All those patterns will tell you what supplies you need. I buy the exact yarn they recommend because I don’t trust my skill in finding appropriate substitutes. 

I love all things creative – writing, graphic design, interior decor, cookie decorating, calligraphy. But what I love about crochet is: one–it’s super easy to learn, two––it’s tangible and three–with the help of stitch markers, it’s easy to start, stop, tuck into a basket, and pick up again when there’s time. I can work on a project while watching a show with my husband or a movie with my kids or listening to an audible book (most recently: The Matriarch, a biography of Barbara Bush and Becoming–highly recommend both). Where so many other parts of my life require mental gymnastics, the most demanding part of crochet is keeping track of stitches and rounds.

For a girl who’s felt a little bit creatively stuck in this chaotic season, it feels good to hold something tangible and be able to say I finished this.

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase using the links above, I’ll receive a teeny, tiny commission that will probably go towards supporting my new old lady yarn habit.

Our boys’ room

It’s taken nearly a year of living in our house, but the boys’ room has finally come together. 

We tackled some basics first: repainting the interior white, replacing the carpet with flooring that matches our main floor, disassembling the crib that our third child never slept in (I know, I know, we’re terrible at sleep training).

What I’ve learned is that rooms (and dreams) come together in three parts: with vision, material objects, and people.

VISION

Before we even stepped foot in our current home, I pictured a mountains-to-beach room for our boys. Where we live in Southern California, it’s about an hour to the mountains and a fifteen-minute drive to the beach. We’ve never tried skiing and surfing in the same day, but I imagine with three boys, it will be a bucket list item someday.

You can start with an image, a Pinterest board, an idea. You can start with a few words that describe what you want the room to feel like once you’re living in it and how the space needs to function. Getting clear on exactly what you want is the first step.

OBJECTS

For the boys’ room, I gathered:

That owl lamp I bought on sale from the Anthropologie in Santa Monica a decade ago.

The truck piggy bank Noah painted when he turned two and the horse painted by Judah on his 2nd birthday (in a serious Spirit Riding Free phase). 

The chalkboard Mumford & Sons lyric calligraphy piece I bought from a pop up market in my hometown the day I turned 28.

The Strands pennant and Swiss army box I bought and hoarded for over a year in a moving box.

The prints I bought before the All Good Things Collective closed up shop – Micah 6:8 for Micah, 2 Timothy 1:7 for Judah, I Peter 5:7 for Noah and Proverbs 17:17 for all three of them.

The thing about objects (and dreams): you have what you need to start.

You don’t need a trip to Home Goods or all the latest decor items from McGee & Co. When you  begin to look around your house – or your life – you realize that you already have little gems scattered all around. They just need to be unearthed, repurposed, gathered.

PEOPLE

I love how the boys’ room turned out – it’s exactly what I wanted for them – but I especially love how they make it their own.

I’ve found them building train sets in the corner and sliding down into the reading nook floor cushions. At night, all three of them tuck themselves into the bottom bunk, and we read books pulled from the basket next to the bed. 

The vision, the stuff – it was all for this, moments with my three sweet little people. In decorating and in life, what starts with vision, ends with people.