A Big List of Favorite Christ-Centered Christmas Resources

Looking for some resources this Christmas season that help you direct your eyes towards the manager and the good news that Jesus came to us?

Even though I’m firmly in the All-things-Christmas-after-Thanksgiving camp, I know many people gleefully leap into the Christmas season after those pumpkins disappear off of porches. So, I thought I’d share a big list of some our favorites from the shop and also some other small businesses. I know that this season can also carry with it a lot of overwhelm as well as itchy fingers to buy all the things. But, this is simply a list of options—not obligations or must-haves.

So, let’s get started:

For the littlest ones:

• Christmas Learning Pack. This has been a favorite of ours to bring out for something fresh and fun to do. Plus, there is a Spanish version! The games are simple and easy to prep :)

• Christmas Countdown Poster and Guide. This was one of the first Christmas activities in the shop, and it’s still one of my favorites. If you want something that is VERY doable during a busy season, this would make a great pick!

• Light of the World Mini-Unit (free!). Simple, sweet, and fun to do together as a family. It’s one of the most downloaded free resources! I love sharing how Jesus is the light of the World with my kids!

• Gingerbread play dough and play mat (free!). Gingerbread play dough is never a bad idea, right? We still enjoy making a batch of this to play with at Christmastime!

• Journey to the Manger puzzle from Tiny Theologians. I love everything they make, and this puzzle would be a great way to usher in the season and conversations about Jesus coming to the world.

For the bigger kids + family:

• Immanuel Advent Guide. I know that sometimes this season just gets so busy and full. It’s easy to start off with great expectations and intentions, but often it’s easy to give up on those Christmas activities if they are just too much. With that in mind, I created the Immanuel Guide. It walks through the whole redemption story leading to Christ with four readings per week—very simple to do during lunch or supper time. And there are some story cards for kids who like to doodle/draw while you read :)

• Advent Scripture Cards. These pretty scripture cards can be used for memory work or even added to gifts or cards. Since you can print off as many copies as you’d like, they can be an affordable way to offer Christmas encouragement to others.

• This year, we are using the Christmas Around the World curriculum from Brighter Day Press. Even though we haven’t done it yet, just looking at the guide is making me excited. We won’t do everything included, but I think it’s a great fit if you want to pivot during the Christmas season and add some fresh curriculum for the month of December.

• We like to add some fresh puzzles to our Christmas season—and this is one that I might grab for us to do (even though I know there were likely more than three wise men!). It’s just so pretty :)

For the moms:

• I love so many of goodies from Dear Mushka and have purchased many lovely items from her shop for years. Isn’t the Thrill of Hope sweatshirt is so cute?

• The Christmas cards from Naomi Paper Co are just so pretty and perfect for sending some special Christmas greetings to others

• In my home, I like to switch up a few prints in the frames in our dining from for the Christmas season. It’s an easy way to add some fresh decor without adding boxes of Christmas storage ;) I love so many prints from Olkening Press. This is one that I’m adding to my cart to print off. It’s just so cute!

• Looking for some book reviews for those Christmas/Cozy reads? I love following along with Naptime Readers for book recs and reviews. I also share some of my favorites over at The Lantern Library :)

Although there are so many more resources I could share, I’ll stick with this simple list. If you make it this far down, be sure to grab 20% any Advent resources in the shop with the code CHRISTMAS20

Happy (almost!) Christmas season!

Adventuring Together: Our Family trip to Bentonville

It seems that my blog is taking a vacation from regular posting—somehow I haven’t posted since last May when I shared about the trip to Spain. Oops.

But summer is often filled with all those summery things—and blogs and writing get replaced with popsicles and lake days.

Still, I wanted to share about our recent trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. I know it’s not generally the vacation spot that most families think about for a family trip. But let me convince you that it should be on your list!

We chose this spot to meet up with our family who lives in Texas (we live in MN)—it was a sweet spot for meeting up and spending a few days together. After we spent time with them, we had a few days to explore a little more with just the five of us.

To be honest, I didn’t know much about the area apart from the fact that the Walmart headquarters are there and there are lots of bike trails.

So, I’ll share a bit about what we did:

The Crystal Bridges Museum was one of our first stops. It was delightful and enjoyable for a short time with the kids. I could have spent a longer time enjoying the beautiful museum full of American art, but my kids kept me hustling ;)

On that same day, we also went to the Amazeum. Super cool place for the kids, and they all enjoyed it! I would say that I felt like the perfect age for it would be between 2-10. Although it was fun, I’m not sure we’d make a repeat trip since my kids are getting older.

We also visited downtown Bentonville a few times (once even biking in). The cute square was always full of people and there were little galleries and shops all around. Since you could grab ice cream for under $2 per person at the Spark Ice Cream truck, we visited almost every day ;)

After a few days in the area, we hit up the bike trails and area parks. Our kids started out with the kids’ bike park—it was especially a hit with our youngest (he’s five). The big boys loved hitting up the mountain biking trails like Slaughter Pen, All-American, Family Flow, Coler, and more. The boys had an absolute blast on the jumps, exciting trails, and challenging rides. Although I stuck with the paved trails (which were also so fun!), my youngest would often take a side path that had small gravel hills that he could easily manage on his little bike.

My favorite was probably riding to Airship Coffee at Coler. I loved that you can only get to this coffee shop by going on the bike path in. The coffee was amazing, and our boys loved the swing and having a yummy snack.

Along with biking, we also enjoyed an afternoon splashing around at Tanyard Creek—it was a super doable walk to get there. The kids enjoyed lots of rock throwing! On our last full day, we took ourselves on a little food tour and enjoyed sharing some meals and treats from several restaurants on our go-to list. There are so many good restaurant options!

So, where did we stay?

During the first part of the week, we stayed at the Hyatt Place Rogers/Bentonville. Since we have a lot of hotel/travel points with this card, it was totally free. In fact, we haven’t paid for a hotel in over two years (crazy!). It was a nice location to main things to see and do. It wasn’t fancy—but a free breakfast was a definite perk! If you want to know how to get a free hotel stay, just ask me and I’ll share some tips :)

For the second part of our trip, we stayed in this airbnb in Bella Vista. It was a nice place, but a little further from town. But after several days in a hotel, it was nice to spread out and have more space. It wasn’t my favorite airbnb we’ve ever stayed in, but it was fine for a few days.

Where did we eat?

Well, a lot of park benches. Ha! Most of our meals when we travel are food we pack along with us. It helps up keep costs down and can help simplify our days (instead of always trying to find a place to eat). But, we did go out a few times and enjoyed a lot of coffee ;)

Our favorites:

• Onyx Coffee Lab in downtown Bentonville. Amazing coffee and cute outdoor space too!

• Crepes Paulette. Delicious crepes—we shared a few different options :)

• Hero’s Coffee. Also, wonderful coffee and the cutest little seating area for kids (or adults!)

• El Jivaro Salvadorian restaurant. This place was definitely a more off-the-beaten path kinda place, but sooo good. If you’ve never had a pupusa, you need to try one!

• Saiwok Vietnamese Street Food. Amazing! We didn’t try a lot, but what we did try was delicious and unique. Even my five year old thought it was so good. He’ll hardly eat a potato at home, but he was gobbling up the dumplings like candy-ha!

• Yeyo’s tacos. Again, we got something to share (since we were having a bit of family food tour), and they did not disappoint. We went to the 8th street market location—which had a lot of yummy restaurants and shopping.

• Sparks Ice Cream truck. We treated ourselves to ice cream a few times because it was so affordable and good! Plus, the truck parks downtown, so it’s a fun place to enjoy the scenery and have a treat!

All in all, we really loved our quick trip to Bentonville. And I’m a firm believer that any new place you explore can be a rich experience. There’s always something you can find to explore and enjoy together—even in your own backyard!

Want to see some other adventure together posts? Check out Italy, Washington DC, South Dakota, and Southern Spain :) Plus, I've got a post sharing our favorite travel stuff over here too.

ps. I promise this isn’t becoming a travel blog—but it’s just fun to share and remember too :)

Adventuring Together: Our Family Trip to Southern Spain

Last year, after my husband and I came back from Italy, we knew we were ready to try out a little international travel with our kids.

So, I did a little digging and tried to figure out where a unique place would be—where was a kid-friendly and affordable place to stay/eat with cool history and things to do? There are a lot of places that would check off those boxes, but Spain kept coming up as a kid-friendly place to go. So, I searched until I could find flights to book with airline miles (ones we had from getting the sign up bonus for this card) and managed to find tickets to Seville. All we paid was taxes and fees (win!).

From there, I built an itinerary based on suggestions, cute places I found, and what I realistically knew my kids would enjoy. We ended up going to Seville, a coastal town called Algarrobo Costa, and Granada. I’ll break down a little bit about what we did, where we stayed, and what we liked (and didn’t like). I’ll also share a bit about what we learned from our trip abroad with kids.

First up, Seville.

I had heard people gush and gush about Seville—but when we got there, I could see why so many people love it! It’s just so beautiful and fun to explore. Little streets everywhere to wander around, tile work, good food, so much culture, and color! Of course, we were with the boys, and they didn’t find all the old buildings and cute scenes as impressive as Josh and I—but, oh well! Here’s what we really enjoyed (and the kids did too!) in Seville:

• María Luisa Park: María Luisa Park: I wasn’t sure that the kids would enjoy this, but they really did! After a day of walking streets, I think it was refreshing for them to just run and explore. There were so many places to scout out and run around. I loved just wandering behind them and taking in all the pretty flowers, tiled benches, and pretty gardens.

• Plaza de Espana: Of course, we had to go visit this iconic plaza. We actually went twice! The first time, we got to watch some Flamenco and look around without a lot of crowds. And the next day, the boys got to do a boat ride (it was only 6 euro total to rent the boat). Even though it was hot, they loved it! And I loved meandering around, people watching, and looking at all the little details.

• A Seville FC game: This was our splurge for the trip, but it was only on the top 3 of everyone’s favorite thing we did. So so SO fun to experience the excitement of the game and the crowd. Core memory for sure!

• The Setas. Our airbnb was actually really close to the Setas, so we went past these all the time. In the evening, we’d hang out in the plaza with ice cream or tapas—and just enjoy people watching. They eat supper quite late in Spain (like 9-11 at night), but we adapted and loved experiencing the evening culture. So many kids and families out and about! We also went on the top and saw the city from up high at sunset.

What we also did: The Cathedral (it was cool, but it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea), visit the market (the kids weren’t impressed, but Josh and I thought it was fun!), went to a Bible church in Seville (and were so welcomed as visitors), rode on lots of buses, ate churros, and got haircuts (at a place that was on the Amazing Race—they were wonderful!). There was a lot we skipped, and we were happy that we didn’t cram more in. We walked a lot, but also enjoyed a lot of tapas, coffees, ice cream, and treats!

Where we stayed: I got this Airbnb for a sweet price because it was a new listing. But because the owners had other properties with awesome reviews, I took a chance. I am so glad I did! I really appreciated that it was near a small grocery story and lots of cute coffee shops!

After four fun days in Seville, we headed on a train to the coast for some much needed days by the sea. To be honest, our travel to the coast was a long day, but we made a fun pit stop at the Video game museum in Malaga since we had a few hours to kill. The boys LOVED it—of course, it was a highlight of their trip ;)

On the coast, we really just focused on keeping things low key. There were cappuccinos, churros, and chocolate every morning (we could feed all of us for 6 euro!). We also spent a lot of time walking along the beach, collecting rocks, and swimming (well, the boys—not me!). I loved how the town was quiet, relaxing, and gave us an excuse to take it easy.

While on the coast, we stayed here. I wasn’t sure when we booked this place if it was a good location (especially since we didn’t have a car), but it was perfect. Quiet, affordable, and not super touristy.

We did head to Nerja for one day and enjoyed the Balcon de Europe and going on a cave tour. To be honest, I kinda wish we had skipped the cave tour (it didn’t feel worth the money to me after doing it), but the kids did enjoy taking the little trolly train around town (which was part of the tour package we got).

After a few days along the coast, we had another long travel day up to Granada. Our kids were absolute troopers, so I was thankful for that. By late afternoon, we found ourselves climbing up cobblestone stairs to our final airbnb—a cave house in the hills of the Sacromonte neighborhood.

The boys LOVED this place—it was cozy, fun to play in all the nooks, and was tucked into a neighborhood with cave houses and flamenco bars built into the hills. I did enjoy this stay, but I didn’t love how it wasn’t as accessible to grocery stores, coffee places, or restaurants. We could take a small bus down into town, but I wished we had something more easy to walk to.

In Granada, we did a lot of trying new treats and food like Turkish treats, tea houses, and moroccan food (which was my favorite). We stumbled upon processionals with people in traditional clothing and felt like the city was buzzing with celebrations and excitement. So cool!

On last full day in Spain, we went to the Alhambra. It was also Mother’s Day—so my simple requests were happy attitudes and pictures ;)

The Alhambra was an absolute highlight for me! I’ve never seen anything like it—so, so stunning and beautiful. It was once a Moorish fortress—and the geometrical features and tile work were so cool. I took so many pictures of the tile (ha!) and felt like I was walking back in time as we explored. Although the kids were not as impressed as Josh and I, they still loved wandering around and running around the gardens too. And they took pictures with me—smiling and all ;)

Finally, after a few days in Granada, we headed back to Seville to fly to Paris (we had an overnight stay there) and then home. We surprised the kids with a chance to see the Eiffel Tower. Although it was quite the fiasco to get there, we did manage to arrive just when they started the light show (which was so cool!). Afterwards, we dealt with the frustration of trying to get back to our hotel near the airport when it was so late (thank you taxi for saving us at midnight when we had almost lost hope!). Even though we crawled into bed at our hotel at 1:30 in the morning and had to get up at 6 to get to the airport for our last flight—it was worth it! We stayed at a Hyatt near the airport (which we also booked with points), so it was a free stay too!

All in all, it was such a wonderful trip! I enjoyed using my Spanish (which was SO rusty!) and seeing how our kids handled the challenges (and fun!) of international travel. We had so much quality family time and felt like we managed to see a lot, but not overwhelm the kids either. Plus, we made those family memories that stick with you—like how one kid got stuck in a bathroom and how someone almost lost all the passports in the airport (oops!). The key for us was choosing a few sites to see, but also being realistic about what the kids would really enjoy. Of course, we learned some things that we’d change up for the next time we travel with our boys. Here are our takeaways:

• Stick with two main places if we use public transportation. Even though we had two weeks and spent 3-4 days in each place, the travel between places took time and ended up to be some long days for the kids. We travel light, but it still meant that we had to store our stuff in some places or haul it with us. Next time, we’ll either rent a car (which didn’t make sense for us on this trip) or just stick with two places and take day trips out from there.

• Eat out less. We found ourselves enjoying the affordable prices of Spanish food and ate out a bit more than we planned. I mean—it’s hard to beat $1.20 for a delicious latte! But, in the end, I got tired of trying to decide on places to go to eat (that had prices we liked) and that happy balance of getting items the kids enjoyed. We did eat quite a few meals at our airbnb, but I think next time we’ll opt to bring along some sandwiches/snacks and eat at a park more often. Not only does it save money, but it also helps with decision fatigue ;)

So, now the question is: where will we go next?

Ps. Our trip to Spain would have been out of reach if not for the help of using airline points and miles (mostly from the welcome bonus we got) to book our flights. And we also had a strict lodging budget—which helped us keep our costs down. If you are curious about how we did that point and mile thing, just ask! Also, I don’t think you need to go to Europe to have an awesome family trip! We’ve loved our stateside trips too! Like South Dakota and DC :)

Our Favorite Travel Essentials and Fun Items to Pack Along

One of my favorite parts of summer is that it is travel and road trip season! Bring on the days at the lake, weekend trips, and road trips! My bet is that you have something fun planned for the summer—whether it’s a camping trip, a road trip, or a flight somewhere new.

Since travel essentials are fresh in my mind after our trip to Spain, I thought I’d write up a quick post about some of our favorites. While there, we pretty much traveled on every mode of transportation—airplane, metro, train, bus, mini-bus, and taxi! Our kids did an awesome job at rolling with the punches on some long travel days, and I think having a few essentials (and extras) on hand helped our travel days go so much better.

I’m a believer that you don’t need to be fancy when it comes to travel stuff. In fact, I think the more simple you keep it, the far easier it is to manage (especially if you are hauling it from place to place). So, if you are looking for a list all the cool travel gadgets and gizmos—this post is probably not for you ;)

So, here we go:

ps. if i look tired in this photo, it is because i was so so very tired ;) And can you spot my fancy compression socks?—ha!

Quality travel bags/gear. There is nothing worse than having a bag fall apart on you or not hold up to multiple uses (spoken from an experience here). Last year, we invested in a few Walker Family Goods bags, and they have been absolutely worth the price (but we did buy them on sale). They’ve held up to camping trips, road trips, multiple flights, airport days, and many weekend trips. We have this and this duffle, this backpack, the and bay bag. I’ve been gifted a few, and will probably keep adding them to my birthday and Christmas lists—ha! Of course, you can stick with any brand/type you love—but if you travel a lot, it’s worth investing in some higher-quality gear. Ps. You can often find some slick deals for nice travel gear on Facebook marketplace or Poshmark if you are open to buying it gently used :)

If you fly, it’s nice to have a decent pair of headphones. For years, I used the ones the they gave me on the plane, but they hurt my ears. This year, my hubby gifted me these for my birthday. They are high-quality at an affordable price point. And I love the color! Plus, I can wear them at home when I need a little quiet ;) We got these ones for the kids. For the super low price point, I’ve been happy with how they’ve held up.

For the kids, it’s nice to have a few small games and activity books to pull out during layovers or while traveling. On our last trip, we brought along Spot It for my youngest, Monopoly Deal for my oldest, and this cute sticker book for my middle guy. But, they could all share them and play together. That’s all we brought for two weeks—and it worked! These are often our go-to choices for road trips too. We also travel with my kindle, and I’ll load a few books on there for my kids to read too.

For days that you are out and about, a crossover bag is nice for hauling all the gear like water bottles, money, bandaids, toilet paper (don’t ask me how I know…), etc. My hubby likes a small backpack, but I prefer to use my Kavu bag. I’ve had it for years, and it’s held up super well. It actually fits a surprising amount of stuff!

A water bottle that actually keeps things cool and doesn’t leak is also nice, right? I’ve tried a lot, but my Owala bottle is my favorite! I love that it has a spout and a straw—the best of both worlds.

I’ve also enjoyed using this packable lunch bag for keeping food/drinks cool for a few hours while traveling or at the beach. I like that it folds up and fits easily in my bag and has a built-in freezer pack (so no extra hassle with ice or freeze packs). Plus, this one has lots of cute patterns and colors to choose from!

Since we generally travel light, having versatile, cute, and comfortable shoes is a must. I would be absolutely remiss if I didn’t tell you about my favorite travel (and, well, everyday) sandals. My tan marks in the summer prove it ;) I got the Elle Backstap sandals last May, and they are still going strong a year plus later. So comfortable and great support! I walked all day in these in both Italy and Spain—and my feet felt so good even after walking 8+ miles in a day. I also recently got these Allbirds. They had no break-in period and were also super comfy for walking all day.

For our kids, we also like to bring along their Yoto. I wrote up a post all about them here. In Spain, they pulled these out when we needed to relax at our Airbnb, on trains and airplanes, and while riding on buses. They are also great for road trips! If you don’t want to go the Yoto route, a mp3 player could also be a travel-friendly option :)

Of course, you want to be prepared for scrapes or sickness while traveling. I’ve loved these little bags for hauling some meds from home, this cute little bandage kit for my purse, and these little boxes for pills/vitamins. Call me a grandma, but I also got a pair of compression socks for the flight and they helped my ankles not swell up during flight (they usually swell a bit when I fly).

That’s about it! We travel pretty light when we fly (usually just carry-ons, backpacks, or duffles) and try to keep the stuff/clothes at a minimum (having a mix-n-match wardrobe is helpful!). We pack snacks in plastic bags, grab things we forgot at a local store when we arrive, and try to maximize space with compression cubes (I wouldn’t really recommend the ones we have—but they work for now). Of course, this is how our family rolls—and I know every family is different. I bet some of you reading this couldn’t image traveling without allll the things—and that’s okay!

But I think the best travel essentials are a having a flexible attitude and enjoying the experience with people you love. You can get all the snazzy gear, but it’s not what makes the trip memorable. So, even if you have a beat-up backpack, old tennis shoes, and headphones that make your ears hurt—go out and make awesome memories with people you love!

How about you? What will you absolutely not leave behind on a trip?

Ps. Don’t forget to print and enjoy all those photos you took while exploring and traveling!

*Some of these links are affiliate links. That just means that I make a tiny commission if you purchase something through these links. But I am only sharing things I personally have used and loved!

Five Favorite Bible Resources that are Perfect for Summer Play + Learning

Since we’ve begun homeschooling, we always wrap up our school year in mid-May. It’s when Minnesota starts to wake up and everyone feels ready to be outside, have less structure, and put our books away for a bit.

But, inevitably, there comes a day when everyone needs a bit more structure or some kind of planned out activity. So, I wanted to write up a post that shares my top 5 recommendations for resources from the shop and free resources page for summery fun that is Bible-focused. These are all wonderful for those days that you just need a little direction and intention.

My first pick is hands-down either one (or both!) of the Bible Spy School packs (#1 and/or #2). I created these with summertime in mind—so they are really quick, fun, and hands-on. And a lot of activities are best done outside! My boys still talk about doing them, and I’m thinking about revisiting them this year :)

Secondly, I think that a Nature Walk through Psalms is a lovely resource for those budding artists who enjoy summer nature hikes. It’s one of the free resources on the site, so it’s great to grab, print, and use on the fly. Ps. There’s also a summer reading list on the free resource page—just in case you need some library recs for the summer months!

Third, the Creation Play pack is wonderful for the hot summer days that you need to retreat into the air conditioning and play at the table for a bit. It’s chock full of sensory play ideas, recipes, and activities—so it’s an easy resources to use when you just need a little something to do.

Fourth, the Bible game and activity pack is also full of easy-to-do and fun games for preschoolers (but I bet older kids will join in too!). It’s got all the ingredients for squeezing in some playful learning during those warm summer months. Plus, many of them can be easily done outside—which is definitely a plus!

Finally, I’d recommend following along one of the lamp and light guides for intentional Bible reading time. I know how easy it is to be loosy goosy during the summer and sometimes things slide—like family Bible time (or your own personal Bible time). I promise these calendars are easy to use and provide just enough structure to stay consistent. Breakfast or bedtime would be a great time to use them :) I’m pretty partial to the Psalms bundle or the Joseph one.

Of course, there are many other resources that you could use during the summer—but these are ones that I think provide some ideas, play, and fun without being too fussy or hard to do.

Happy almost-summer, friends!