Cloistered Away
is a lifestyle blog, focused on simple, purposeful family living, written by Bethany Douglass.
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handmade salt dough ornaments
These weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to pass too quickly each year. Between the fluster of finishing our school work, giving or making gifts, visiting family, and joining local celebrations with friends, time feels
49/52
Although, like most children, you all have always loved the Christmas season, we’re bridging new years as a family, years where you enjoy the giving of gifts and crafting just as much as receiving. You
keeping a snug winter home with dignify
I’ve said it before, but I love how this season full of early darkness and cold winds brings a slower rhythm to our home. Like the leaves on our tree, our school routine is beginning
a gift guide for the homeschool
We tend to keep the holiday season in our home fairly simple in terms of gift giving, both the quantity and expense. This isn’t from a desire to be Scrooge-like or withholding, but instead another
week 48 | finding our Christmas tree
Every year on the weekend following Thanksgiving, we pack into our car and pick out a tree together. It’s a simple tradition really, one that’s not particularly unique to our family, but something we look
a cozy friendsgiving
Few things make my heart swell more with gratitude than when people I love gather around our table, especially when it is glowing with beeswax candles rolled by our children and smothered with fresh greenery
the origins of Thanksgiving
I have always appreciated the simplicity of Thanksgiving, how much and how little it requires of me all at once. On one hand it is an elaborate meal, one many families take great care to
2015 | week 46 + 47
Olive | You are always moving. Bouncing. Running. Talking. Slowly your words are catching up to your deep sense of emotion. You told me this week, “Blythe is really distressing me! Look ! Is this