Activity Advent Calendar Stay Home Edition
I just finished prepping our 2020 Advent Calendar. The way we approach it is assigning a holiday-season activity to each day. We start by making a list of all the things that feel like Christmas-time to our family. We try to imagine school starting in January and we’re looking back — what would we regret not doing before the tree comes down? (Like: Christmas is over and we didn’t watch that film? Or read this book? Oh dear!)
The Advent Calendar becomes a good way to pace ourselves over the holiday, and gives the kids a small surprise to look forward to each day.
The activities are mostly simple — like reading a particular book, or making toffee. In a non-pandemic year, our activities would also include visiting local shops, going to holiday concerts, checking out the Christmas markets (that are so popular in France and throughout Europe), and other community-minded events. This year, we are focused on staying home, so we adjusted the list a bit.
Here’s a list of stay-at-home Advent Calendar ideas in case you want to try something similar with your family. There are more than 24 items on this list, and of course, all the books and movies can be switched out for your family’s personal favorites. Sometimes we’ll double up and assign a movie AND baking on one calendar day, or listen to a certain Christmas album WHILE decorating the tree. You can adapt this as to your own situation as needed:
…Living With Kids: Carina Wytiaz
I am kind of obsessed with Carina’s house, and I can’t wait for you to look around it. Carina has a razor sharp sense of style and when she remodeled her 70s home, she decided to go full Art Deco. It features a lot of bright, warm golds, dynamic patterns and personality, while still being totally livable. Carina has three amazing kids, and just like so many of us she and her husband have been figuring out how to work from home amidst the chaos of online learning. As she says: it involves more Minecraft than she thought she’d be comfortable with. Welcome, Carina!
…Skin Care & Beauty Gift Guide
My skincare and beauty routines have changed in significant ways since the lockdowns started in March. I imagine yours have too. The three biggest differences: 1) I rarely, rarely wear any makeup, 2) I only wear contacts about once a week (in the Before times, I typically only skipped contacts once a week), and 3) because I feel less rushed, I’m much more consistent about using products like body lotion and perfume. I’ve also noticed that I’ve had time to try new skincare and beauty products — and attempt to solve specific beauty/skincare issues that I would have just ignored in busier times.
So for this Skincare & Beauty Gift Guide, I thought it would be fun to share some of my tried and true favorites these days. Some I’ve been using for years, some are new discoveries, some are pricey, but most are under $20.
(By the way, I had some other posts in mind for this week, but have been in the zone on gift guides, and I figured why not publish them as soon as they’re ready to go? Sorry if it’s overwhelming! Feel free to skip it.)
…Gift Guide For Your Own Home
Here’s the thing: you are going to be home A LOT for the next few months. The holidays, the winter season, the sunsetting by 5:00 PM? It’s all going to be unusually tough this year. So Ben Blair and I have been talking about how we can embrace it, and coming up with small but impactful things we can do around the house that will make the whole place feel cozy. Here’s some of what we are doing:
…100% Cotton Christmas Pajamas
Are you planning to pick out Christmas pajamas this year? I’m trying to shop for ours early this year, while there are still plenty of sizes available. I always look for 100% cotton holiday pjs that ideally, aren’t explicitly Christmas-themed — because we end up wearing ours all winter long, and sometimes year round.
I’ve found fifteen great options so far. Four are in reds, and there are cute options in blues, greens, and yellows too. Six of them are organic, and six options are under $25.
If you’re into matching family pjs, I make a note of which ones are available in grown up sizes. And the very last listing is my favorite 100% cotton pjs for my teenage girls.
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? How was your week? I thought my mind wouldn’t be so distracted after the election, but I was definitely wrong. I look forward to a future time when we don’t have to think about the President for days or weeks at a time. (Remember what that was like?)
We’re looking at a typical low-key weekend of quarantine — movies, baking, etc.. If the weather is decent, maybe we’ll do some yard work over at the renovation. What about you? Anything you’re looking forward to this weekend?
Ready for links? Here are a few things I’ve wanted to share with you:
…Tall House Updates
In this week’s updates, we talk about what’s happening in the laundry room, and the latest progress in the bathrooms.
I’m trying not to get ahead of myself, but I think we might see another big push next week. Grant, who handles the plaster and painting, will be back on Tuesday (he’s been away for his wedding and honeymoon!). His first project is going to be painting the bathrooms — we’re using Schoolhouse White (Farrow & Ball) on the walls, and I’m choosing the trim color today.
After the painting, the fixtures can be installed. That includes bathtubs, showers, toilets, vanity cabinets, sinks, faucets, lighting, and outlets + switches. Which would be so exciting!!
…Living With Kids: Betsey DiSanza
Today you are lucky to meet Betsey from Grand Junction, Colorado. Something I appreciate about Betsey’s life philosophy is her love of adventuring. Colorado is well known for its outdoor activities, and Betsey and her family have loved taking advantage of them, even when their son was practically a toddler. That love of getting out of the house and trying new things has served them well during the pandemic when so many of us got stuck inside. Her home is warm and comfy, and you can tell she has a pretty easy going attitude that has helped her family make sense of all the ups and downs of this year. Welcome, Betsey!
…Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris!!
Can you tell I’m excited? My emotions are jumping back and forth between laughing + cheering and weeping + shaking.
I’ve been celebrating with posts on Instagram and Twitter — I mentioned how we stood outside waving American flags and banging pots and pans and it was so wonderful seeing people from our quiet little town wave and honk their horns. I said it felt like the whole world was celebrating with us. In response, I’ve heard from people all over the world who answered: We ARE cheering along with you!!
I heard from someone in Berlin that the city rang their Freedom Bell when the election was called. The Freedom Bell was a gift from Philadelphia(!) and they only ring it on German holidays. (Crying again!)
Here are a few tweets I’ve shared since the announcement.
…Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris!!Read More »
A Few Things
Hello, Friends. What a week! How are you holding up? Did anyone get enough sleep the last few days? As I write this, we still don’t have an official winner for the presidential election — though I’m confident, based on where the numbers are right now, it will be Biden. I look forward to celebrating and analyzing once the call has officially been made.
Something I’ve found really helpful this week: I’ve stopped looking at maps that fill in an entire state with either blue or red. They give such an inaccurate representation of what is actually happening in our country. Land doesn’t vote; people do.
Here’s another helpful map:
In many states it’s way harder to vote than it should be. In fact, voting should be super easy throughout the country. Anytime someone is working to make it harder to vote, assume they are up to no good.
Ready for your link list? Here are a few things I’ve wanted to share with you:
…Living With Kids: Gina Prescott
I’m so excited for you to get to meet Gina today. Let’s start by congratulating her, because she had a baby last week (and still managed to write this lovely post!). Gina and her family live in Yakima, Washington and their historic home is warm and charming and fun to explore. She is a resilient person who has dealt with some really tough stuff in her life, including the loss of a child. You’ll love getting to know her. Welcome, Gina!
…Stay Hopeful & Be Patient
[UPDATE: This post is from Wednesday, but I added Thursday & Friday tweets too.]
For anyone waking up to election news, stay hopeful! Good progress happened while you got some (much needed) rest. Here are a whole bunch of tweets I shared on Instagram this morning that you might find encouraging and calming:
…Election Day 2020
On Election Day four years ago, I wore my red power suit and voted for a woman for president. Oh my. I was so happy for that opportunity — and I found it shocking that I had made it to my forties and it was the first time. (Have we really never had a president who is a woman? How can that be?) As someone who has been in charge of things big and small since I was a kid, it always confuses me when I realize how many people are flat out not okay with women leaders.
…Election Week
[Update: I continue you add links and tweets at the bottom of this post.]
Is this going to be the most unproductive work week ever? It sure feels that way. This election is weighing heavily on my shoulders, and I know I’m not alone. I’m having a hard time concentrating. I find myself wanting to stay away from Twitter — because the polls and predictions (no matter what they say) seem to trigger panic for me. At the same time, the election is the only thing on my mind, so trying to stay away from Twitter is challenging.
I keep looking for distractions. A typical good distraction for me is errands, but that’s not workable because we’re in a strict lockdown this month. Cleaning/organizing is also a good distraction for me, and that’s how I occupied myself yesterday. Maybe today I’ll tackle reorganizing the attic.
…Technical Difficulties
Hello, Friends. You may have noticed some tech issues yesterday. I’m sorry about that. I hired a team to migrate my site to a new server at the end of September. They thought it would only take a weekend (when my website traffic is slowest), but alas it ended up taking a whole month! And it didn’t finish until yesterday.
The problem is: since they started the migration at the end of September, none of the posts I’ve written since then, for the entire month of October, were transferred. It’s fixable, but the situation has turned into a bit of a comedy of errors.
I was on the phone with the new server host last night for a couple of hours. They have a migration team who can finish the final month of transfers for a fee (which I’m happily willing to pay — I just want this sorted), but it just so happens that their purchasing software is malfunctioning (not only for me, it’s not working for any of their customers). And they can’t/won’t start the transfer until the purchase has been made.
It’s killing me, because the hardest part is done — the website is transferred! We just need one month of missing posts, which should be a very quick thing. But their team can’t do it until their purchasing issues are resolved, and they don’t know when that will be.
Alternatively, I don’t have to use their team; I could hire another site migration expert who I’m betting could take care of this lickety split. But at the moment, I don’t know any site migration experts to hire. I’m not sure if it will be faster to seek someone out, vet them, and hire them. Or to wait for the current server migration team to deal with their purchasing issues. [UPDATE: I was finally able to make the migration package purchase. Hooray! Not sure how long until the team will get back to me on next steps, but hopefully soon.]
I’m feeling very stuck. This kind of thing is incredibly stressful because it feels so out of my control. There’s a lot of website maintenance that I’ve learned and that I do myself, but this is above my skill level and I don’t know how to fix it. Urgh.
Anyway. I’m hesitant to create more posts (except this little notice), until the issues are resolved — I don’t want more content and discussion lost in the shuffle. I’ll keep you updated as soon as I have more news.
Tall House Updates
Here are some updates from this week — about the house, and about everyday life-in-France stuff too. Including an amazing ladies kilt (genuine! wool! from Scotland!) that I found for 2 euros at the second-hand shop. Because of where the tag is placed in the kilt, for a minute I thought I might be wearing it backwards, but the Scottish Ladies chimed in and let me know I was wearing it correctly. : )
…Living With Kids: Stephanie Brubaker
I’m pleased to introduce you all today to Steph Brubaker, a mom, an etsy shop owner, and a big tech employee who lives in Seattle with her family. Stephanie rents her home and she’s done a really lovely job of making the home feel bright and personal and warm (which I know can sometimes feel extra challenging in a rental). You’ll really love seeing all the huge windows that let in bright sunlight to bounce off the soft white walls. It’s truly charming. Welcome, Steph!
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? How was your weekend? We spent Friday at Olive’s new apartment in Paris, getting her all set up. (Looks cute and cozy now.) And then I spent half of Saturday and Sunday reading Midnight Sun (the Twilight story told from Edward’s point of view), and taking a little social media break. I kept thinking I would write a link list post, and never found the energy — but I had the energy this morning, so…
Anyone in the mood for a Monday edition of my Friday Link List? : )
Here are a few things I’ve wanted to share:
…Film School for Olive
Back in the Before time, when Olive was spending her senior year of high school as an au pair in Montpelier, France, it was time to think about college. We know from experience, the process is overwhelming, so Ben Blair and I scheduled weekly calls with Olive, specifically to discuss college options and track application progress. Olive knew she wanted to attend a film program, and she started the process by making a spread sheet where she would list info about potential schools, so she could compare and contrast. The first three entries on the spreadsheet were her top choice schools in Paris, London, and New York, and the school she chose in Paris was EICAR (which is where she is now enrolled!).
At the time, figuring out how to attend college in France felt overwhelming, and as she looked into EICAR their website described very limited enrollment, so she felt her chances there were slim and maybe not worth the effort. She decided not to apply.
…A Few Days In Empty Paris
On Sunday afternoon, we drove to Paris. On Tuesday afternoon, we drove back. I shared a little report about our visit on Instagram Stories and thought you might like to see it as well.
The main purpose for our trip? Olive is starting college in Paris! She was accepted to a Film Directors program at EICAR and her classes started this week. So exciting!
So we needed to sign her housing contract and confirm her class schedule and begin to get her settled.
…