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The Mom Hour

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We love it when moms share ideas with other moms (and we love the holidays!), so we’ve worked with our contributor team to collect gift ideas, holiday-themed activities, and great stories to help inspire you this holiday season!

2021 Holiday Gift Guide

We asked our contributor team to share their favorite gift ideas for kids of all ages.
Click through to find the full gift guide for each age group on our blog!

Gift Guide For Babies (Age 0-1)

Everyone asks mom what to give babies for Christmas, and it can be really hard to know what to tell them. Our contributor Sarah Limberg @sarahelimberg, mom to a ten-month-old daughter, put together a list of recommendations that vary in price, size, and more!

Gift Guide For Toddlers (Ages 1-3)

Toddlers are a tough group to parent, but they also get so excited to open up gifts that it makes up for all (or at least some) of the tantrums. Our contributor team shares their favorite gifts for this age group!

Gift Guide For Little Kids (Ages 4-6)

As we see our little kids develop their own preferences and start to share ideas with other kids their age, it can be both hard and rewarding to find a gift that matches their personalities. Our contributor team shares their favorite gifts for little kids!

Gift Guide For Big Kids (Ages 7+)

Check out the gifts that the big kids (ages 7+) in our contributor’s lives are excited to receive, and what our contributors are excited to give them this holiday season.

Gift Guide For The Outdoor Adventuring Family (All Ages)

Our contributor Jennifer Carroll @twinningtheweekend spends her free time taking her toddler twins camping, wakeboarding, hiking, and more. Check out her gift guide for families who love the outdoors!

Mom’s 2021 Holiday Wish List

After all of the work that you put into the holidays, have some fun and dream about what you want this year! We asked our contributor team to share one gift that they’re dreaming about right now. See what they’re asking for this year!

Shop Small With The Mom Hour Small Business Boutique

Hop over to The Mom Hour Boutique page to get to know small businesses run by members of our community. They’ve got great offers just for you on bath & body products, tea, jewelry, apparel and more!

Holiday Podcast Listening

We’ll add our newest holiday episodes to this page as they go live, and we’re including some of our favorite episodes from Christmas Past below. Enjoy!

Listen To New Holiday Episodes!

Want More From Holidays Past?
Hit Play On One Of These Episodes!

More From The Blog…

Thanksgiving Planning Guide: Plan NOW So You Can ENJOY Later!

By Joanna Martin | @cafedumartin

We’ve hosted Thanksgiving for the past seven years (give or take a few years), and in that time we’ve learned many valuable lessons as home cooks and hosts. We’ve tried our fair share of trendy recipes and ways to cook a turkey. We’ve mistimed oven usage and have discovered new family favorites. Quite possibly the most important lesson we’ve learned while hosting over the years: Planning is ESSENTIAL for everyone’s sanity and enjoyment. [READ MORE]

Five Pandemic Thanksgiving Traditions I’m Keeping Around

By Chaunie Brusie @chauniebrusie

I won’t lie: Thanksgiving isn’t my favorite, and after so much togetherness last year, I wanted to try to mix things up a bit on that oh-so-traditional holiday. So I came up with a few new Thanksgiving traditions last year to make the day just a bit more fun. And much to my surprise, they were a success! [READ MORE]

Read To Get Inspired…

Need a fun holiday craft to keep your kids busy during winter break? Or tips on planning your holiday? Or a survival guide to holiday baking with toddlers? We have great holiday stories from our contributors coming to the blog! We’ll post links below to more stories as they go live through November and December.

Last Year I Skipped Christmas; Here’s What I Learned

By Chaunie Brusie @chauniebrusie

On Christmas Eve last year, after I said goodbye to my five children and husband as they headed out the door to go see my in-laws, I did something that moms everywhere have dreamed about for centuries: I spent the evening cuddled up on my couch watching cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate. Completely alone. [READ MORE]

Five Holiday Book And Craft Pairings For Little Kids

By Sandy Hsu | @hopefulsmiles

I began with a list of a dozen holiday picture books and then paired each one to a little craft with a similar theme. Having a simple framework and theme for curating activities helped me to avoid over-planning and Pinterest overwhelm. It was such a joy to spend quality time with my daughter while doing something festive and fun even when life felt crazy. [READ MORE]

Baking With Kids This Holiday Season: A Strategy For The Hesitant Mom

By Jayme Sherrod | @jaymesherrod

A small, flour-covered apron adorns the gleeful child as they work with their mom to finish baking the final dozen cookies for this year’s holiday party. The magazine photo looks magical. It feels inspiring. It seems fun. Yet, if you’ve ever invited your child to the kitchen to bake – or enthusiastically accepted their request to bake – you may have found out that the magic can be fleeting and the cleanup is pretty fierce. [READ MORE]

Easy Tips For Sustainable Gift-Giving

Want to know how you can be more environmentally friendly this gifting season? Our contributor Jayme Sherrod shares three easy ways you can make your holidays more sustainable. Watch her reel on our Instagram, and read on for her tips! [READ MORE]

Creating A Feeling of Advent

By Joanna Martin | @cafedumartin

Christmas decorations up the minute Thanksgiving is done. After the busy-ness of cooking and hosting, I am so ready to slow down and sink into everything the advent season has to offer. Advent is a season of building anticipation. Advent is considered to be a time of preparation and waiting in joyful hope of the birth of Jesus, and it’s typically associated with many Christian religions. However, I find that anyone can find ways, religious or not, to create a feeling of advent in the home. [READ MORE]

How We Do Hanukkah

By Katherine DeVries | @thepaperdart

Hanukkah is just around the corner! And although a part of me always dreads this holiday, because eight days of celebration feels like a lot, it’s also super important to me to make a big deal out of it. Because while my family identifies as religiously Jewish, we’re also culturally interfaith, and we celebrate many traditional Christian holidays (Christmas included), in addition to all of the Jewish ones. [READ MORE]

Other Holiday Goodies

If you made it this far, we’ve got some holiday goodies just for you – little things we love from the archives and things that have brought us joy in past holiday seasons. Enjoy!

  • Our Facebook community says these gifts KILLED IT last year
  • Meagan’s 25 Days Of Holiday Help
  • 6 Things You Can Do To Get Dreamy Holiday Photos On Your Smartphone (by Sarah)
  • Sarah’s Christmas 2014 appearance on The Home Hour podcast (the VERY first time we were on the mic together!)
  • 6 Easy (We Promise!) Homemade Holiday Gifts You Can Make With Your Kids
  • Our Favorite Holiday Picture Books
  • Our 2017 Gift Guide
  • Meagan’s Spotify Christmas playlist

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Can’t find what you’re looking for? Email hello@themomhour.com and we’re here to help!

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Sarah joined @marnihughestv on @newsnationnow this Sarah joined @marnihughestv on @newsnationnow this weekend to talk about how the formula shortage is affecting moms in our community. You can watch the clip at the link in our bio.
A day at the beach with kids is, um, no day at the A day at the beach with kids is, um, no day at the beach. (Sorry, had to. 😎) There’s gear to pack, sand to remove from unseen regions, and safety and sun protection to be mindful of. Thanks to our team of contributors, we’ve got you covered on the blog this week with the products that will make your beach outing fun, safe, and comfortable at every age and stage.

Click this image at the link in our bio to get beach gear recs for every age and stage from baby through teen! And big thanks to @catieparrish @cafedumartin @stacybronec @kiamhammon @emilyeroark for the great suggestions!

#beachgear #momsatthebeach #beachwithbabies #beachwithtoddlers #beachwithkids #beachvacationgear #bestbeachgear #beachgearguide #beach #momlife #summermomlife #beachmom #beachfamily
We're meeting next week to build out podcast and b We're meeting next week to build out podcast and blog content for the next few months. What topics should be on our list to cover?
New episode! As moms, we are our kids' biggest fa New episode!

As moms, we are our kids' biggest fans. But when it comes to deciding when, how and what to share about them with others, the struggle is real. In today’s episode, Meagan and Sarah discuss how talking about our own kids in a public forum gets tricky as they get older (think bigger kids, bigger problems) - and not just for the reasons you might think. Join us for a real conversation about navigating the ever-changing seasons of motherhood and how we think you can be honest and authentic without sharing *everything* going on inside your four walls. We wrap up with some updates on our specific kids (all eight!).

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
Over the past few weeks, one of my kids - the one Over the past few weeks, one of my kids - the one who, as a baby and toddler, I would once have titled Most Likely To Wail So Long And Hard In The Gym Child Care That I Will Almost Certainly Have To Skip My Shower - has developed a bit of a fitness obsession. 

We've spent hours discussing his lifting program and gym schedule. And today, I scoured the grocery-store shelves for all the ingredients for a smoothie that will, I believe, help him get "jacked" and perhaps "make gains", then stood by as he prepared said smoothie, in case he needed assistance. (He did.)

The path from mothering toddlers to teens is full of surprises, friends. One day, you're trying to squeeze as much self-care as possible into the two-hour child care limit and wondering if the gym folks would catch you if you slipped out the side door for a solo sprint through the grocery store (never had the guts to try, but the temptation was strong.) 

But before you know it, the gym - and the coffee shop, and the inside of the car, and your favorite social media platforms - are no longer primarily your turf, but a shared domain where you try to find common ground even though you feel increasingly old and potentially cringe-inducing (and anyway, you've been told, clearly all the best reels were TikToks first.)

But you keep showing up. 

Because while it’s occasionally uncomfortable to wonder just how out of touch you’ve become since they were little, you also know there are bits of wisdom they rely on you for…wisdom such as how to secure the lid to the blender so you don’t wind up with protein smoothie on the ceiling.

And while they may never again look at you with with unquestioning adoration of a two-year-old, the respect you receive now, while less effusively expressed, is much harder-earned and well-deserved. 

Parenting teens, it seems, is all about striking the proper balance between humility and authority. I’m not sure I’ve figured it out yet and maybe I never will. But I’m still in here punching the bag, and meting out my mothering efforts…one smoothie at a time. 

-M

#parentingteens #grownandflown #bigkidparenting #teens #motherhood
New episode! Moms are savvy consumers, conscienti New episode!

Moms are savvy consumers, conscientious home managers, and discerning decision-makers. So why are we so often the target of hyper-generalized and cringey marketing efforts? In today’s More Than Mom episode - airing on Mother's Day! - Meagan and Sarah keep it light (and a bit snarky 😉) as we vent about the sloppy intent, terrible puns and ridiculous stereotypes advertisers use to market to us moms.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts
Words by @sarahelimberg, contributor to The Mom Ho Words by @sarahelimberg, contributor to The Mom Hour and new mom of a toddler from San Diego:

--

#MyMomHour usually looks like this. Mid-day Saturday, exhausted from the work week, run down from the morning, heart full because I finally made it to a day with my little girl.

This window of free time is usually during nap with a quick lunch and an episode from the DVR archives that is no doubt a few weeks old. It’s probably the most relaxed and at peace I am all week.

What isn’t pictured is all the work it took to get to this point. All the effort it took to create this time for myself. It took meal planning and dishes after bedtime and house cleaning before breakfast and grocery orders and late night laundry and lunchtime emails and a coordinated vacuum run during our park trip.

I don’t think enough people acknowledge the work it takes for parents and caregivers to take time for themselves. There are endless people and Instagram posts telling you that you need time for yourself. Time to relax. Time to decompress. But I’m not seeing those same people recognize that it isn’t always that simple. I have yet to figure out how to say to my 15 month old, “Mommy needs some time, you good?”

So if you’re reading this during your mom hour, cheers.

If you’re taking two minutes to scroll on your phone in the bathroom, cheers.

Whether you’ve figured out your mom hour or not, I hope your mug is full. 

--

Want a mug like Sarah's? Click this image at the link in our bio.

Want to share what an hour for yourself looks like to you? Tag your post #MyMomHour so we can see it and share!
It's been so fun seeing our mugs out in the world, It's been so fun seeing our mugs out in the world, filled with your coffee and tea, sitting on your kitchen counters or porch steps. Get yours by clicking this image at the link in our bio, and follow the #MyMomHour hashtag to see how moms in our community are taking (or hoping for) an hour to themselves.

💛 ☕️ 💛
Words by @lisapayne4, contributor to The Mom Hour Words by @lisapayne4, contributor to The Mom Hour and mom of four from Kansas:

--

As a single mom of 4 who works full time out of the home, free time hasn’t always been plentiful. But new arrangements have found me with more free time than I’ve had for about 15 years.

Those first hours of free time included trying to figure out what I *do* with free time. Sitting paralyzed, figuring out which of the hundreds of things should occur in this unfamiliar and uncomfortable space of alone.

As the normalcy of the new schedule begins seeping in, indecisiveness trickles away like granules of sand dissipating in an hourglass. Both indicating the countdown to the old normalcy and the gentle flow of time.

Since I work well with organization, I make a mental list, prioritizing 1-2 items begging to be accomplished in #MyMomHour. Sometimes it’s a date with myself at the gym, or a tv show that my kids don’t need to (or want to) watch with me. Often, I’ll pop in an air pod and it’s a podcast, audiobook, music, or phone call while I take care of putting things back in order around the house. Sometimes I doodle on the writings I’ve started, seeing if any inspiration percolates.

I walk away feeling accomplished, refueled and more relaxed without so much clutter, one less pile on the counter or thing on the stairs. It rejuvenates a spirit in me to get back into something I’ve left behind, a friendship, an old project or hobby, self-care…even if it’s binge-watching a new (to me) series. And it always helps me be more present when the old normalcy returns.

--

Want a mug like Lisa's? Click this image at the link in our bio.

Want to share what an hour for yourself looks like to you? Tag your post #MyMomHour so we can see it and share!
New episode! Has your reading life come to a scre New episode!

Has your reading life come to a screeching halt due to the responsibilities of motherhood? In this month’s Voices interview, Meagan welcomes back blogger, podcaster, and book club leader Amy Clark of @MomAdvice, to discuss how a busy mom can take small steps to create a readerly life. We discuss all the hacks for finding the time to dive back in (think TikTok’s #sundayreset for inspiration!) and a neat tool for finding the perfect book to match your mood. Amy also shares how reading can help you "find your people" during your current season of life. This episode is for anyone looking to fit more reading into their lives (in little and big ways).

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio! 

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts @momadvice

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