I’ve been reading the classic novelLittle Women by Louisa May Alcott, and in today’s reading, I particularly loved this quote in chapter eight from Mrs. March.
“If I don’t seem to need help, it is because I have a better friend, even than Father, to comfort and sustain me.
My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning and may be many, but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one.
The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength.
Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidingly as you come to your mother.”
Marmee, as the girls call their mother, shares with a troubled Jo one of her own weaknesses—refraining from speaking out of anger.
Mrs. March’s words about the “troubles and temptations” one experiences in life and how to find help, strength, and solace in the Lord were a blessing even to me.
The words may be from 1868, but I find them very relatable and encouraging even today in 2026.
Certain words seem to find us exactly when we need them. Maybe there’s a line that’s been sitting with you, too.
I have been in my pajamas ALL DAY and it has been glorious! My energy is zapped from the busy week we had and the squirrel in my basement, so I desperately needed this day of cozy rest.
I went to bed a little early last night. That felt GOOD! I was surprisingly able to sleep 9½ hours straight through with NO alarms.
I woke up at 7:19 a.m. and decided to start my day—SLOW. I put the kettle on and then filled the bird feeders with the new seed mix I made for the birds (bluebird nuggets, peanuts, mealworms, and wild bird seed mix).
My bird feeders are gourmet! Lol 😆🐦
I was happy to discover I have two new visitors to my feeders—Red-breasted Nuthatch birds. These adorable blue and reddish birds are slightly smaller than a junco (about 4ish inches in length) and zip so fast in and out to the feeders that it’s hard to get a good photo of them.
Maybe next time.
Here’s what a Red-breasted Nuthatch bird looks like (thanks to this photographer’s great capture)!
Other cozy Saturday activities for today:
breakfast and tea while reading a chapter of Little Women 📖
watered my thirsty houseplants 🪴
caught up on washing laundry (but I’m leaving the dry clothes in baskets to take care of on Monday!) 🧺
watched two episodes of Grantchester
Dinner tonight will be simple—garlic chicken drumsticks and a chef salad.
Hope you are enjoying a cozy weekend, too!
Here are a few moments from today’s cozy Saturday.
💜 XO
Saturday’s cozy breakfast with tea and a good read.
Dried Lavender & Oak is my favorite Yankee candle. 😌 It has a soft lavender scent with a hint of warm wood.
One of my snake plants. I love snake plants because they’re so easy to care for.
We have five pothos plants in our home, and they have grown so long! I love wrapping the vines around bookshelves, similar to this one pictured on our kitchen pantry shelf. 🪴
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”— Jane Austen
At my age of 45, I tend to gravitate towards the “grandma activities.” 😂👵🏽
My days are always so busy with homemaking, homeschooling, and just being a wife and mom to our six kids, so I like to keep it simple and focus on more quiet activities.
Here are a few things I do for fun throughout the seasons.
Crafting. Right now, I’ve been creating my own jewelry. I’ve also been learning how to do nature journal sketching and watercolor painting.
The DIA is one of my favorite art museums to visit throughout the year!
Spring, Summer, and Fall Seasons
Once the weather warms up again, I usually spend more time outside of the house. These are fun things I like to do in the spring, summer, and fall.
Gardening—I garden at my home and a community garden.
Attend local festivals.
Go to the lake with my family.
Nature walks on the trails. Last year, we discovered a microforest in our local area. The kids and I love going on nature walks in the forest!
Antiquing, thrifting, and vinyl shopping (I love collecting classic jazz records!)
Bonus: this daily blog and street photography. I also continue my nature journal sketching and watercolor painting in these seasons, too.
I love gardening! I’ve been learning how to grow my own food. Every garden season, I learn so many new gardening techniques and information about growing food.
And with that, here are a few moments from today!
💜 XO
“Stay where you are at.” Spotted this sticker on a light post at the hardware store.
Silly Sentences. Today, the kids played with DK Silly Sentences. It’s a fun way for children to learn how to create sentences.
Blue jay stopping by the patio for peanuts. With the weather being so cold in the single digits, the birds have been hanging out more at my bird feeders. 🐦
I’ve been teaching the kids how to do laundry. With homeschooling, I like to include learning essential life skills as part of their education experience.
Today’s Prayer. As part of a Christmas present, M (23) gifted her younger siblings prayer cards. Zechariah (10) likes to read a new prayer card each day.
Zaya (5) putting on her Hello Kitty makeup.
Zaya’s makeup bag. 🥹😊 Big sister M gave Zaya a makeup bag she no longer needed. Zaya was really excited about it!
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27
All the homeschool YouTube moms were talking about this one really cool homeschool planner that “you HAVE to get!” because they said it was the best planner EVER.
So naturally, after watching a bunch of videos about it, I felt like I had to have it.
It’s called the “Homeschool Lesson Planning Minimalist Notebook” made by Schoolnest.
But it’s SO pretty, and I love the feel of the pages and the layout style! 🥹
I added the homeschool planner to my Amazon wishlist and decided to wait a few months to think about if I really needed this planner.
After a few months, I decided I wanted to give the planner a try, and so last fall, I took the plunge and bought it.
I was so excited when it arrived at my house, and I couldn’t wait to start using it. I faithfully used the homeschool minimalist planner for about two months.
But now? Dude, I have the hardest time staying consistent with it. 🤷🏽♀️
It doesn’t mean we’re not doing any lessons. It just means I find it a pain to always remember to write in it! Lol 😆 Which is wild to me because I’m a planner—I thrive on organization!
So now, I’m trying to figure out how to best use this planner because I really do love it, and I don’t want it to be a waste of money.
I’m going to update my homeschool lesson planning minimalist notebook tonight. Here’s hoping I can stay consistent with it, though! 😂
Here are a few moments from today.
Here we go again! We had another little snowstorm this morning, and guess who got caught in it whilst driving? Me! 😭❄️
Around 8 a.m. during the snowstorm after dropping E, my oldest, off at work.
A crow perched at the top of a tree in the shopping center parking lot.
Little Junco eating bird seeds at patio bird feeder. This little guy shows up everyday with about five other Juncos.
Blue jay hopping on my patio to get a peanut.
Zechariah (10) reading his library book.
Zhen (13) worked on her art activity while listening to music with her Care Bears headphones.
“A voice behind you will say, ‘This is the way; walk in it,’ when you would turn to the right or to the left.” Isaiah 30:21
I know I’m going to regret not making French Toast the night before Sunday Mass 😆, but I am just so exhausted from this busy week.
I like to cook Sunday’s breakfast on Saturday night because it makes it easier for us to focus on getting ready for church.
It’s not happening tonight! 😴
I spent most of the day reading some of Little Women and Outlander. It felt good to slow down and just read books.
I’m trying to work on my reading. I’ve been struggling with staying focused on reading for 30 minutes or more.
I blame social media for this, which is why last year, I cut back on my social media usage. It was affecting my attention span.
I think January is the perfect time for me to work on my reading—it’s the first month of the year, and I spend more time indoors because it’s super cold outside. 📚🥶
For instance, right now the low is 12°F! Tomorrow it will be high 20°F and the low will be 13°F. Next Sunday—high 12° and low 2°!
TWO DEGREES!! 😲🥶
Here are a few moments from my reading all day.
“Return, my soul, to your rest; the LORD has been very good to you.” Psalm 116:7
I could be wrong, but I think this is the most it has snowed in the winter out of all the winters I have lived in Michigan (10 years). It feels like it snows at least twice a week!
I used to love it when it snows, but now I dread the snow because I have to drive in it so much. Lol 😆☃️
While driving to pick up my daughter from work it snowed…again. 😏❄️
Please, no more snow! I’m ready for May to get here!
I would say I can’t wait for the spring, but the truth is, here in Michigan it can still snow in April! 😲❄️😭 Haha!
Everything is slushy outside—the sidewalks, parking lots, and the roads.
A lot of the neighborhood roads and store parking lots are still covered in snow because they haven’t been plowed yet.
Some of the main roads are clear, but not all of them. So, you still have to be cautious when driving on the roads.
But some people are so impatient and will still zip down the roads in the slush. Smh 🤦🏽♀️❄️ Couldn’t be me! You can honk your horn at me if you want to, but I’m not getting into a car accident.
Here are a few moments from today’s slushy snow day.
Snow-covered statue at church.
A black squirrel eating sunflower seeds at my patio bird feeder.
These green alien earrings I made were a great accessory for my thrifted green cardigan and green deer hunting shirt (no, I don’t hunt lol).
Keeping warm on this slushy snow day with a cup of Lavender Rose Black Tea. 🫖🍵
Zaya (5) pouring herself a cup of Mango Tango herbal tea.
Every morning, Zaya now asks for tea with her breakfast. Just like Mommy! 🫖🍵😊
I’m trying to take advantage of these cold, snow days and read more books!
Reading one of my library books while waiting for our pizza order.
M also reading her library book in the car while we wait on the pizza.
Here’s the book M is currently reading: Kill Switch.
My fortune from my fortune cookie. 🥠
“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; better is a patient spirit than a lofty one.” Ecclesiastes 7:8
Yesterday, we had a snow storm. It caught me by surprise because I thought it wasn’t going to snow.
When I had checked the weather forecast the day before, it only predicted a small chance of snow.
Boy, did they get it all wrong! 😏❄️
I got stuck in traffic for two hours because the roads were so bad. At one point, I almost hit another car because my brakes started to lock up.
Thank the Lord, I was able to regain control of my van and avoid an accident.
Today’s weather was the complete opposite from yesterday. We didn’t get anymore snow, and it was a sunny day.
Even though there was still a lot of snow on the ground, it was nice to get out of the house for a little bit. We needed a change of scenery.
Here are a few moments from our change of scenery.
Before heading out, I read a few pages of the classic novel Little Women.
“Show someone what they mean to you.” A message on the inside of the wrapper of my Dove milk chocolate.
We stopped by Goodwill to do a little thrifting.
M found these knee-high boots for only $10.
Snow at the library.
I checked out Alice Walker’s Gathering Blossoms Under Fire. I’ve read part of her book, but I never finished it. I thought I’d try to finish it this time.
I also checked out Outlander—another book I need to try and finish. I love the TV series!
I had no idea Dr. Dre had a biography book out!
Playtime at the library.
Zaya (5) “cooked” some pizza for me at her pretend restaurant. 🍕😊
“I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you…” Ezekiel 36:26
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
In the children’s book The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, at the end of the story, the last gift the little boy receives under the Christmas tree is the silver bell he lost on the train ride home.
Mr. C (who is Santa Claus) includes a handwritten note to the boy: “Found this on the seat of my sleigh. Fix that hole in your pocket.”
One of my favorite children’s books—The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg.
Excitedly the little boy shakes the bell and he says, “it made the most beautiful sound my sister and I had ever heard.”
Just like the silver bell ringing, this is how I think of play—the most beautiful sound that brings me happiness and reminds me to find moments of beauty in life.
“It made the most beautiful sound my sister and I had ever heard.” — The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Sounds of the Bell Ringing in My Life
It’s the sound of my spade digging in my garden to plant flower seeds. It’s the sound of my tools putting together jewelry that I create. It’s the sound of turning the page of a library book I’m reading.
It’s the sound of my children’s laughter when we play a board game together or I push them on the swing at the playground.
It’s the sound of children’s imagination when they create a fantastical world of make-believe with their dolls and action figures.
Zephaniah pretending to be a superhero on the seesaw.
Zaya and Zephaniah playing at a local park in the summertime.
Hobbies are My Playtime
My hobbies are my way of “playing.” It may not be playful like a child would play, but I find great enjoyment in my hobbies.
Adults are always expected to be serious doing the tedious “adulting” tasks of life. Our hobbies, however, are a way of “playing” because it brings us joy and a momentary escape from the world.
A few of my “playtime” hobbies include gardening, street photography, visiting art galleries, reading books, spending time at public libraries, and making jewelry.
Gardening is one of my favorite hobbies. 🌸😊
Playing with My Children is Creating Beautiful Memories
I was looking through the photographs I took in 2025, and I was struck by how many of the photos showed how much time I had spent with my children doing a multitude of wonderous activities such as going to the lake, gardening at the community garden, making crafts, hanging out at the library, going on nature hikes, and cooking together.
This made me smile and deeply touched my heart to know I spent all of 2025 with the ones whom I love so dearly.
Travis and the kids playing with toy racecars at a local car show.
The kids enjoying a nature hike at the lake on the first day of fall.
Immersed in a World of Play
When Travis and I play board games with our children, create crafts with them, take the kids to places to play (parks, arcades, etc.), we are making time for play.
I am always encouraging my children to immerse themselves in a world of play. In fact, I center our homeschooling around play because I strongly believe children learn best through play.
Zephaniah (about 5 years ago) playing with cars and trains on a sunny afternoon.
Zaya (age 4 in this photo) playing with baby dolls at the public library.
Remember to Hear the Bell Ringing
At the end of The Polar Express, when the little boy shakes the silver bell, his parents don’t hear it ringing.
“But my mother said, ‘Oh, that’s too bad.’
‘Yes,’ said my father, ‘it’s broken.’
When I’d shaken the bell, my parents had not heard a sound.
As he grows older, he discovers his sister Sarah and his friends could no longer hear the bell ring.
At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I’ve grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.”
This closing scene of The Polar Express has always stayed with me. It’s a strong reminder to never let your light fade, never give up on what brings you joy, and always keep the faith.
I almost titled this blog post “The Day the Bell Stopped Ringing,” but after writing out my thoughts, I realized I needed to change the title.
Because for me, the bell never stopped ringing.
Zhen enjoying swinging on a sunny summer’s day.
At a certain point in my motherhood journey, I started to hear the bell ring. I realized there will always be things to do, errands to run, and a house to clean.
I will always have to do the mundane “adulting” things that we grownups are expected to do.
But if I’m not taking time to play—taking time for my hobbies and taking time to play with my children—then I am truly missing out on experiencing joy in my life.
And I don’t want to ever stop hearing the bell ring.
This is what the day after Christmas looks like: children’s gifts scattered about the table and all over the main room.
Opened boxes, crumbled packaging paper, Lego blocks on the table and the floor, ferocious dinosaurs with slime (gotta make sure the slime stays off the carpet!), board games with the tokens found here and there, French toast and a bottle of maple syrup, and soft, squishy plush dolls.
Lots of joy and laughter.
And I told my perfectionist brain that thrives on organization and clutter-free rooms: Everything is okay. Take a day (maybe two) to let the kids enjoy this. Let it all just be.
This is the day after Christmas. 😊🎄✨️
🥶 Freezing Rain + a Cozy Day Home
We had a few hours of freezing rain. Ice quickly started to cover the sidewalks and roads, so it was the perfect day to stay home and let the kids explore their gifts.
I made more homemade French Toast and hot cocoa. ☕️😊 I decided not to worry about to-do lists, laundry, or household tasks.
Except for the dishes. I did do the dishes. 😄
💅🏾 Painting Our Nails Together
Zaya and I painted our nails. I painted my nails a soft, shimmery color called “Triple Thread.”
Zaya used her purple and pink Piggy Paint nail polish I got for her Christmas stocking. It’s a non-toxic nail polish brand for kids.
One of the kids asked me, “So does that mean all the nail polishes for adults are toxic?!” 😱🙃
💄A Little Glam
It was a good time to wash my makeup brushes. About a year ago, I took a break from wearing makeup. It just started to take up too much time when getting ready.
I usually just wear my favorite Revlon red lipstick and mascara. But for some reason, I felt like wearing a little more makeup again. Not a full face— just a soft, natural look with my Revlon red lipstick for a pop of color.
🙄 Bruh!
Mj (23) got her little siblings a BIG Lanky Box gift set for Christmas. They were super excited!
I don’t understand why kids love replaying sounds nonstop. All day the kids kept pressing this “Bruh” button. It drove me crazy! Lol 🤪🤣
They thought it was hilarious hearing Lanky Box say over and over, “Breh! Bruh!” 😐😂
🎲 Playing Games with Big Brother
When E (25) got home from work, he promised his little brothers and sisters he’d play a game with them.
He played Minecraft with Zhen (13) and Zechariah (10) for a little bit, and then he played Monopoly Junior with Zephaniah (8) and Zaya (5). Zephaniah won. 😄
📚🍕 A Gentle (and Delicious!) End to the Week
I always get sleepy around 6 p.m. I start my days early, usually around 6:30 a.m. or 7 a.m., so once 6 p.m. hits, I am ready to wind down for the night.
For tonight’s cozy bedtime routine, I read a chapter of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. It’s one of the books I bought on Christmas Eve at my favorite local bookstore.
I love that Little Women begins on Christmas. It’s very fitting for a December read. 🎄✨️
And it’s Pizza Friday, so of course, I had my favorite Italian pizza from our local market. 😍🍕😋
“A joyful heart is the health of the body.” Proverbs 17:22
All images in this blog post are my own photography. If you’d like to use a photo, please contact me first for permission. Thank you!
Three Christmas Eves ago, I stepped into a local bookshop scrambling to find last-minute gifts for Travis and the kids.
I loved the coziness of the charming shop that it soon became a treasured Christmas tradition I look forward to every year.
📚 A Mother-Daughter Christmas Tradition
Last Christmas Eve, Mj (23) joined me on my visit to the bookshop. I asked her if she’d like to go again with me this Christmas Eve, and she happily said yes.
So, I hope this means it is now our mother-daughter Christmas tradition that we do together.
🙏🏽 A Quiet Refuge That Lifted My Spirit
I think the reason why this has become a Christmas tradition for me is because the cozy bookshop gave me so much comfort and peace during a challenging season of my life.
During that challenging season, I felt overwhelmed and sad. Yet, inside the bookstore I felt a quiet refuge that lifted my spirit.
Then, the next day was Christmas Day. I had a two-week break from homeschooling and my part-time work-from-home job.
During my short holiday break, I was able to focus on resting and slowing down. My time off helped me find some healing and peace that I desperately needed.
😌 Slow Season is Here
I like to think of my annual Christmas Eve bookshop visit as the kickoff to my slow season— a season where I take an extended break from busy schedules, rushing around, life stressors, and my anxiety.
It’s a time where I get to reset for the new year.
I read Cold Sassy Tree when I was in the 11th grade. I thought I’d revisit the book.
😌 Taking Time to Heal
This year’s visit was a good one for me. I realized I was in a better place in my life mentally and spiritually. The time I took to heal this year, truly helped me.
It’s funny how a small thing — like stopping into a bookstore — can leave such a meaningful impact on your life. 😊
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Matthew 11:28-30
All images in this blog post are my own photography. If you’d like to use a photo, please contact me first for permission. Thank you!
