Let me start by saying how wonderful Target is and how no mother could live without its giant red carts, crazy good deals, and endless home goods cuteness. However, I witnessed a conversation the other day that Target and Elf on the Shelf folks might want to know about. I dropped all of my kiddos […]
Give It Up, People: A Call for Anti-Resolutions
Happy 2017, everyone. As “that time for resolutions” has rolled around again, I sincerely hate discussing all my promises to myself that “this is gonna be the year.” I am a liar. I can lie to my children without batting an eye: “Mommy sends Santa a monthly report, and this is going in it.” “We’re leaving.” […]
Carrie On the Holidays: In Every Single Thing
Years ago at church, our pastor showed a video during his sermon that a simple 8-note scale contained the best news in the world. That image has stuck with me, a piano-dropout myself from years ago. The narrator ignores his mother’s gentle attempt to bring him into the world of piano, and like every piano dropout […]
Carrie On the Holidays: Make Like Elsa and ‘Let It Go’
My family has a million Christmas traditions, dating as far back as I can remember. There are holiday traditions that I treasure and will always perpetuate, and there are traditions that, because of necessity, geography, having small children, and…time, have subsided a bit. It’s not that these traditions aren’t important to me, or that I’ll […]
Carrie On the Holidays: Pardoning a Few Turkeys, Y’all
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all! It’s that time again…to give thanks for all that we have, watch a lot of football, enjoy our families (of course, until 6pm on Thursday when all the pre-Black Friday mania begins…ugh), and eat some turkey. A couple of very lucky turkeys in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday will receive an official Presidential […]
Carrie On the Holidays: Bring On the Cheesy Christmas Movies, Hallmark.
Ellen: You set standards that no family activity can live up to. Clark: When have I ever done that? Ellen: Parties, weddings, anniversaries, funerals, holidays, vacations, graduations… –National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) So the Christmas spirit has caught me a little early this year. We’ve been to a Christmas event at church, had hot chocolate, pulled […]
5 Reasons I’m Celebrating My Kids’ Independence
Today, in addition to celebrating the many beautiful freedoms I enjoy as a US citizen, I also want to celebrate the independence my three children (ages nine, five, and three) are gaining. They’re growing up fast, y’all. When America was born, our fledgling nation declared its independence from England. We started our own thing, made our […]
Santa Baby: The Mom Version
Okay, y’all. There is a radio station in Little Rock that starts playing Christmas carols on November 1. Naturally, I’ve been listening since then. I have heard Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby” approximately two million times, and I’m pretty sure she has it wrong. I don’t need a yacht. Or the deed to a platinum mine. […]
Smart Mouths and Big Hearts
I used to be a teacher. I jokingly refer to myself as a “recovering high school English teacher,” but the truth is, I miss the classroom. I miss the students. I miss the self-discovery of the teenage years and helping young people realize who and what they’d like to be someday. (I don’t miss the grading.) […]
Pardoning More Turkeys: Carrie On Y’all 2015
Last year, I became fascinated with the Presidential pardoning of two lucky turkeys who would not, in fact, be executed in the name of feeding some huge family for Thanksgiving. These two fortuitous fowl (a main turkey and a back-up) would instead live out their days being adored, petted, and used as the Grand Marshals […]