By: Jen Wainwright

What can I possibly gift you, my friends and fellow parents?

Aside from a hearty and heartfelt THANK YOU for reading, sharing, commenting and just being present and part of my accidental blog that, in many ways, has catapulted me out of my comfort zone of journalism…and become a wonderful experience for me (and hopefully, here and there, for you, too!)

I’d like to offer you something, here, during the holiday season. These things I offer you bring me joy, inspire me, ground me and teach me. I hope they will do the same for you.

For starters, please “unwrap” Liz Gilbert a.k.a. Elizabeth Gilbert on Facebook. “Like” her. This best-selling author and perfectly imperfect person writes something on her Facebook page daily/weekly that…I feel lucky and privileged to get to read. If you haven’t read “Eat, Pray, Love” or “Committed” or “The Signature of All Things” – you’ll never be sorry that you did (well, you might be. Preferences and all. But I am not.) And, may I also gift you a compilation of many-things-Liz-Gilbert: http://therumpus.net/2012/10/the-rumpus-interview-with-elizabeth-gilbert/

ENJOY!

(Ooh, this is fun!)

Okay, please also “unwrap” the next gift…a.k.a “Like” Momastery. Glennon Doyle Melton. WOW. If you know her work, you already know what she offers. If you don’t, you may very well come to consider discovering Momastery as the greatest gift you received in 2014…or, like, ever. Her book, “Carry On, Warrior – Thoughts on Life Unarmed” is a gamechanger, she’s a gamechanger…She brings me to tears. She makes me think, and rethink. She coined the term “perspectacles”. She makes me laugh, offering things like this: Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures. I don’t know exactly how I found Momastery…or what I’d do without her.

ENJOY!

And finally, please allow me to “gift” you with the two parenting guides I “carry in my pockets”. Chick Moorman is an author who actually lives in Merrill (very close to me), but I didn’t know that when I read and was forever changed by one of his many, many books “Parent Talk”. Men and women alike can relate to Chick’s down-to-earth, straightforward style. His one-liners on Facebook continue to ground me, teach me. Parenting would not be the same for me without Chick. Also, I would not make it through this thing we all do – Parent – without Dr. Laura Markham or her book, “Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids – How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting”. Dr. Laura Markham’s book is one I revisit, time and again. We all need to. She also visits me in my email inbox, bringing me…a sense of…calm. In whatever capacity these folks may come to you, whether via Facebook, their websites, their books…

ENJOY!

And last-but-not-least, this, which is the funniest trailer about the cookbook for this: Thug Kitchen. For my followers who don’t love swearing (especially the f-bomb), don’t open this gift! For the rest of you merry parents, Thug Kitchen is just a {f-bomb}in’ joy to follow…and it just might change your life??

ENJOY!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

JEN’S ZEN

— Because the damn dishes are never done. Laundry is a cruel joke. And because children are beautiful lessons in Patience and Counting. 10, 9, 8, 7 Breathe…

P.S. I wasn’t paid to mention these fine folks to you – that I would ENJOY. Ha! Seriously, I simply find the things mentioned to be such treasured gifts…and I could think of nothing better than to offer them, as gifts, to YOU.

Jen is a freelance writer, parent to three, and she’s been a stepparent for over 15 years. She is well-equipped to discuss and write about the great, and the not-so-great, details of all-things-parenting. Along with spending quality time with her family, Jen enjoys music, chocolate, camping and relaxing. And laughing!