Hello and Welcome!

I'm delighted you've found my website and my Mother Christmas blog.  I’ll occasionally be posting reflections, stories, recipes, traditions, and glimpses of life where I live at Little Farm in Maine as we make our way toward another Christmas season.

For many years I've loved collecting the small moments that make Christmas meaningful—the imperfect family gatherings, treasured traditions, unexpected surprises, and simple acts of kindness that often become our most cherished memories.

You see, in my family, I am known as “Mother Christmas.” Beginning on December 1, I step into that role with wreaths, cookie baking, and decorations that gradually find their way into the corners of our home. Christmas has been part of my life’s rhythm for as long as I can remember.

My father was our family’s original keeper of Christmas. Over the years, I inherited that role, adding traditions of my own and discovering that keeping Christmas can involve a surprising amount of mess.

Perhaps you have discovered that, too. Do you have an imperfect Christmas moment that has become one of your most treasured memories?

How about when….The cookies don’t always look like the picture. A treasured ornament breaks. The children remember the moment you would rather everyone forget. And somehow, years later, those are the stories we tell—with laughter, affection, and occasionally a lump in our throats.

Those memories inspired my book, The Grapefruit Dish: Imperfect Moments Revealing the Meaning of Christmas. Writing it gave me a chance to revisit the people, traditions, and unexpected moments that have shaped my understanding of the holiday. It also reminded me how much meaning can be tucked into an ordinary gift or a family mishap.

Here on the blog, I’ll share more Christmas memories, reflections, and occasional recipes, along with news about the book and my Mother Christmas programs. After more than fifty years in ministry, I still find myself returning to questions about hope, peace, joy, and love—and how we make room for them amid the holiday bustle.

I also know that Christmas can bring mixed feelings. Alongside anticipation and celebration, there may be weariness, loneliness, or the ache of missing someone. There is room here for those experiences, too.

My hope is that visiting this little corner of the website will feel like pulling up a chair for a conversation. Perhaps something you read will make you smile, bring back a memory, or help you approach the season with a little less pressure.

I’m glad you’re here – and I look forward to sharing some of those stories with you – as well as my own thoughts about the holiday season – the good, the bad, and the ugly!

In the meantime, may your days be filled with gratitude and a little Christmas spirit all year long.

With best wishes,

Nancy (aka Mother Christmas)