Happy Holidays from Your Zen Mama

As we prep for Santa, organise presents, move around cheeky elves, solidify Christmas Day plans and look to the new year, it’s hard to believe we’ve landed here. The end of this wild, tumultuous, implausible year.

Deep Breath. We made it.

You dug deep friend, into the most vulnerable parts of yourself, the scary places, the fear, the anxiety, the despair. You managed to get through it. You journeyed through the rocky terrain and a lot of us did so towing families, holding spirits, comforting those who weren’t doing okay. We broke up with affection, hugs, social interactions, and touching each other. We swiftly took action, changed our ways, and did all we could do to bolster up not only those closest to us but the greater community. We became the helpers and the givers and often grieved quietly, the loss of our old lives as we knew them.

2020; The Great Reset. We wonder at the silver linings found in the change and hope that the lessons learned from the year will imprint on us profoundly.

We have reflected that as family units, we have both really slowed down. With less external distractions and social interactions, we have become more connected units. It's been a year of heartbreak, tragedy, uncertainty, and unimaginable events. However, it has also taught us as individuals, family units, and as a global community how resilient, adaptive, connected, compassionate, and united we are.

We want to say to you, dear reader, that we see you, we know just how much you’re juggling and we wish you a satisfying, connected, and fulfilling end of 2020. Thank you for being such a brilliant community of loving Zen Mamas (and Papas, Caregivers, and Friends) we honor all you’ve overcome and we look forward to sharing more with you in the new year. We wanted to share with you what our holidays will look like this year and we'd love to hear what you're up to, feel free to join in on spreading some holiday cheer and share your plans in the comments below!

All our love,
Teresa and Sarah xx

This Christmas we find ourselves in beautiful Wales with its rich history and stunning backdrops. Since we are currently navigating a Tier 4 lockdown we are spending a great deal of time outdoors; visiting castles, beaches, farms, and spending lots of precious time together as a family. We’ve been opening our advent calendars and finding our cheeky elf all over the house much to the kids’ delights. Our family bubble consists of my husband, our children, my mum, and one of our best friends who traveled to be with us in Wales for these past 6 months. We’ll be opening pressies & stockings (Santa went a bit overboard this year!) cooking up a vegan feast, listening to carols, eating yummy donuts, and sipping mulled wine and Bollinger.

I have always loved Christmas. This year looks a little different than most as we will not be able to see family for the holidays. We were able to make it to our home in Idaho. We traveled 14.5 hours by car only stopping for gas and nature pees :) It feels good to be in the snow with our little ones and to watch them burst with excitement over the holiday. Our elves have been getting up to some mischief this season. We found them building sleds using our blocks, they decorated the dollhouse for Christmas, they even climbed to the top of the Christmas tree to play with the ornaments. In reflection of this year, I am even more grateful for my family, for our slow time at home together, and for my kids and their ability to navigate this time at such a young age.