“A beautiful Christmas doesn’t need much. Sometimes all it takes is two strangers playing a few rounds of cards with you.”
This Is What Christmas Is All About—And What It’s Not
‘One bag of clementines. She cried, and I fought back tears.’: Woman shares the power of giving, urges others to pass on kindness
“I was crying in the hallway. One of my professors saw me and asked me to stay after class. Today, I had the opportunity to pass on that gift.”
‘I was recovering from my date with a guy who rear-ended me, then asked me to dinner. Seeing the potential for a meet cute (and free meal), I agreed.’: Woman recounts hilarious first date with husband
“After 30 minutes of driving down dark roads to a ‘surprise,’ I‘d been convinced he was taking me somewhere to kill me. Just as I was praying to God to let it be swift and painless, the guy pulled up behind a building, put on a headlamp, and jumped in a dumpster. Not the free meal I’d had in mind.”
‘It’s common in toddlers,’ she said. ‘It’s rare he has it at 3 months of age.’ We just wanted our baby boy to be OK.’: Mom shares son’s battle through Wilms Tumor, ‘Every moment is a blessing’
“The short drive to the hospital was filled with anxiety and confusion. Our oldest son kept asking us where we were going, all he wanted to do was play and have fun. I held my tears and started to pray, but I had a gut feeling this was the beginning of a long journey for us.”
‘Motherhood is far from perfect. If we can celebrate that, we should also celebrate the imperfect chaos of parenting together.’: Wife candidly shares the effect parenting has on marriage
“In between watching him become a father moments and newborn sleeping on your chest photos, there’s the passing each other on the staircase in the dark moments and the sleeping in different rooms because one of us should sleep moments.”
‘I chose to have kids. But I am imperfect and eventually use up all my patience.’: Mom opens up about motherhood burnout, ‘Next time you see an exhausted mom, tell her she’s doing a great job’
“Mothers are told we chose to have our kids, so we CAN’T burn out. False. We do burn out. We feel over-touched, overly loved, and overly sensitized to everything.”
‘They saved my life, and I just want to give back.’: Woman answers Santa letters, giving back after community helped her get sober
“This gives me a reason not to give up, to keep fighting. No matter how little we have, there’s always enough to give to someone else.”
‘When I flipped it over to polish the underside, I saw the date 1919 engraved into the silver. I never understood its extreme value before.’: Mom shares history of family menorah
“It represents my family. It represents my family’s history. It represents a new life. A better life. A life of survival and freedom.”
‘Do others just happily ride the current of hot trends and best deals without any soul nausea? I’m aching for quiet.’: Woman talks tuning out noise, creating stillness this Christmas
“Constant information and solicitation. Amplification of confrontation. Perpetual bombardment of breaking news and viral videos. Divisive posts and explosive comment threads. My eyes are blurry and my ears are ringing — and it’s not from twinkling lights or jingle bells.”
‘I wanted our first Christmas together to be perfect, but tragedy struck. The following year, things were even worse.’: Mom shares importance of love, giving, and opening up about loss during holidays
“Many people struggle during the holidays from losing loved ones, and we wanted to let other families out there know it’s okay to talk about it. It’s okay to be hurting during this season. You are not alone.”
‘He was a sophomore in high school, and I was a freshman in college. If you told us then that we’d be married, we would’ve laughed at you.’: Stepmom shares love story, life as blended family
“Even at 2 years old, he would tell me to leave and get away. Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual, and that goes for being a stepmom and having a blended family.”
‘Mama, I need you to tell God to get me out of here.’ Sleep is my only escape from the hell I’m living in.’: Woman taken hostage by Somali pirates rescued by Seal Team VI after 93 days
“I am a hostage. I am no longer Jessica Buchanan, wife, teacher, daughter, human. I am simply an American dollar sign — a commodity that needs to be kept just alive enough so I can be cashed in.”
‘I don’t have it all together. But this season is about magic and love…not perfection.’: Mom urges love during the holidays
“My mind is on a never-ending treadmill of thoughts, but I will focus on what is most important, especially THIS season…and THIS year.”
‘Can I let you know the night before?’ I remembered what and who means the most to me.’: Mom shares her priorities this holiday season
“Someday soon, I’ll be in a completely different season of life. Until that happens, I will embrace this season for all of its beauty and its faults.”
‘It’s hard to feel the swirl and whirl and magic wonder I did as a child.’: Mom shares never-fading Christmas ‘Miracle Magic’
“Perhaps, dear Christmas Magic, your glitz and glimmer aren’t meant to be sustained. Perhaps your glitter is a special, fleeting, children’s gift that prepares the way for hearts to receive the only lasting gift, the Christmas Magic that never fades.”
‘My entire body feels like it’s trapped under bags of cement, any attempt to lift a finger causes excruciating pain. Tears roll down my face.’: Lupus warrior shares self-love journey
“As we took our final bow, I could feel my clock running out. Every joint in my body ached. But I was determined to play the role of a ‘healthy person in their 20s’ for as long as I could.”
‘I was 16. My body felt ‘off,’ so my mom made me a doctor’s appointment. She knew I was pregnant before I did.’: Woman reflects on teen pregnancy journey
“It was hard to hold friendships from school. Someone in my ‘family’ told me I would probably lose all of my friends because of this. I remember getting stares and whispers from a lady at a local parade. I had just assumed this was the new normal for me.”
The Guilt Of Having A Second Child
“She would get upset I couldn’t cuddle with her while I fed the baby and she got frustrated when I constantly had to say ‘in a minute’ in response to every request she had. I felt like I was letting my toddler down.”
Dear Beckham, When I See You Again I’ll Get To You As Fast As I Can
“Every day from now on is just one day closer to you. And when my day comes where I will join you in heaven… I will run/fly/teleport, whatever gets me to you quickest so I can hold you in my arms again.”
‘As I sat alone in the NICU, postpartum body aching, one thought rose to the top of my mind: ‘You are exactly who our family needs.’: Mom navigates son’s Down syndrome diagnosis, multiple heart defects
“I have whispered those words to him countless times since—through tears and smiles, surgeries and miracles, at appointments and home.”
‘My mom went overboard with presents, but something was missing. Christmas felt busy, programmed, and lonely.’: Mom shares new holiday tradition at the beach, ‘It is peace on earth’
“When we became parents, I knew what I didn’t want our holidays to be filled with. We have no agenda but to be together and make memories.”
‘People thundered to the ground. The music stopped. The celebration was over. Those were gunshots.’: After surviving mass shooting, woman files for divorce, finds man of her dreams
“I sustained terrible wounds from escaping over a barbed-wire fence, and yet my girlfriend rushed me to the doctor, not him. I’ll never forget crying on the phone when one of his family members said, ‘He really struggles with empathy.’”
‘You can do it. I believe in you.’ She reassured me that, through everything, my kids are okay.’: Mom shares heartwarming text from teacher
“They teach our children not just academics but so much more. They make our kids feel safe, happy, and loved, and for this, I will be forever grateful.”
‘The only good picture I had was from Halloween. Did I mention we all dressed as zombies?’: Mom shares origin of new family tradition, urges ‘it’s okay to be different’
“The world needs a little bit of different every now and then. The world needs more zombie-themed Christmas cards. The world needs you to be YOU.”
3 Tips For Accepting You’re Not Your Child’s Preferred Parent
“The harder I tried to insert myself into situations where she wanted daddy, the more she pushed back. When I got pregnant with our second child, I secretly hoped she would get insanely jealous and start to prefer me – that definitely did not happen.”