It is Christmastime! I am always looking for ways to savor the season more before it slips away, truly wanting to create lasting memories with my little ones. If you feel the same, this post is for you. Here you will find 25 new family traditions for a creative Christmas season. I hope you love…
Tag: writing
Big Announcement from The Chester Family!
Well, the day is here that I share something big that is happening to our family. After years of wrestling with a vision of a more creative life, showing up season by season to journal, write, make art, make music, encourage my husband in his incredible music, support our children through homeschool and giving them…
Creative Family Advent Printable Calendar
It’s almost December! I made this Creative Family Advent Printable Calendar so that you can have a visual of the days ahead. Print it out, stick it on the fridge, and stay inspired to connect with your family through art, music, brainstorming, creative writing, storytelling, and more. If you want more details about each activity and…
Keeping Part of You Alive (Motherhood and Creative Vision)
Sometimes I look in the mirror and barely recognize myself. What happened to that person I used to be–the one who was bubbling over with good ideas and introduced to strangers with an impressive trail of accomplishments following her name? The person who had dreams and ambitions greater than getting every room in the house…
Slowing Down This Christmas Season (Creative Family Advent 2018)
Christmas is coming, and I am longing to anticipate it with more wonder and joy. With slowness and purpose, deep gratitude and a supernatural ability to see beyond the busyness into the sacred. I want us to savor these days as a family and make memories that will last well after the childhood years have…
The Chesters Take the Challenge: NaNoWriMo, Brave Writer, and 4 Books Written Around One Table
The Chester Family is taking the NaNoWriMo challenge! I haven’t been this excited about homeschool (and maybe life in general???) in a really long time. NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, and people all over the world wake up on November 1 with the commitment to write a novel in 30 days. I…
Today (Making Creativity Happen)
Please tell me you’ve gotten behind on your Creative Family Advent. (((Well, I have too.))) Just checking back in here to tell you (and myself) that it is ok! This doesn’t have to happen every day, and you do not have to go back and make up what you missed. If you have participated in…
Creative Family Advent, 25 Days of Ideas for Savoring the Season
I love Christmas. I loved it as a child, and I love it even more as a mother of children. It is so beautiful to see their little faces come alive at the first sight of Christmas lights or trees. Hearing them practicing their Christmas carols, thinking of the transformation that is about to come…
The Reason I Write
I wash the dishes a lot. (((When I say a lot, I may mean world record.))) Lately I have been listening to podcasts while I clean the kitchen, and I cannot tell you how happy I am to be in a season where my mind is really awake, and I am learning new things. It…
Living Conversation
I love words. They are not perfect, because they aren’t really the things themselves: the word “chicken” is not a chicken, it is just some scribbled lines on paper. The word “angry” is not an emotion, it is just a symbol for the feeling. The word “fragrant” is not the actual smell of gardenias, it…
The Daily Turn #21: Blank Wall
Inspiration is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Take the blank wall I am staring at right now. Someone might see it as a barrier to creative thought, something solid and immovable, a metaphor for writer’s block. Windowless, it sheds no light on the question asked (what words are gathering just underneath the tip…
The Daily Turn #6: Scribble
Scribble Some thoughts can by typed with whole hands like hellos and how are yous the birth of a baby, the recipe for spice cake, the exchange of addresses, and the table of contents. Some thoughts can be typed with thumbs– abbreviations for you and tonight exclamations, commands NOW! HURRY!!! I’m here, plz call. But…