A main source of joy in my life stems from celebrations. I absolutely love to celebrate all of the special moments in life. From birthdays to holidays to special achievements that deserve a magical moment, I love to add a little sparkle to create a lasting memory. Life has so many ups and downs and can be full of so much hardship and stress. I think it is so important to add love and joy into the world whenever we can. Life is all about the journey, and I feel strongly that the journey should consist of lots of balloons and confetti.

Growing up, holidays were always magical in my family. There were always decorations and traditions and amazing food. My mom is great at creating a magical atmosphere. I remember her hanging plastic Easter eggs in the tree in our front yard… serving punch bowls with sherbert and fruit punch for birthday parties…her Christmas “tidbit” tree with cheese cubes and olives…her amazing pies on Thanksgiving (one of which was tragically dropped one year and eaten off the floor with a fork by my uncle) and I remember being surrounded by lots of love, laughter, and happiness. These are the kinds of memories I want to pass along to my kids. Her Christmas Eve parties these days are rather legendary, with multiple Christmas trees, candles galore, and amazing food that she makes from scratch. All made while dressed in a festive apron, of course. She is definitely where my love of celebration began.

Aside from Christmas Eve when my mom spoils me, I host the other holidays with my husband and celebrate with his side of our family. We have lots of nieces and nephews on that side, so it has become a fun tradition to get all of the kids together. It’s loud and crazy, but it’s the holidays and we love it. I love carrying on my family’s traditions like baking my great-grandma’s crescent rolls from scratch, which I learned to bake with my mom and grandma, and preparing the other traditional foods we grew up with. It’s important to me to pass these traditions on to my girls. My oldest daughter, Bella, is already an expert crescent roll baker, and her little sister, Juliana, is starting to learn the ropes, too!

I’ve created a pretty organized process for hosting the holidays from planning the menu and shopping to decorating and capturing the moments (AKA being the paparazzi as my sister-in-law, Katie, would say.) After these crazy days, we spend the evenings with my side of the family and have some quieter festivities.

Birthdays are another special time to celebrate the people I love. Whether it’s for my husband or our kids or sometimes other family members, I like to prepare their favorite meal for dinner, make their favorite cake or dessert, and add little touches wherever I can to make them feel special. For my kids, it’s a lot of fun because what makes them feel special is balloons and bouncy houses with all of their friends. But, I also enjoy more sentimental touches that adults appreciate more. For example, for my dad’s 60th birthday, we got him big gold 6-0 balloons and took fun family photos, and my brother and sister and I made him a framed list of the 60 things we love most about him. It was a really special way to celebrate such an amazing person.

Something I love about my family is that we don’t just celebrate major holidays and birthdays, we celebrate all of the little holidays and also any special moments like first days of school, end-of-season soccer games, ballet recitals… even Friday night pizza nights are known as “pizza parties” to my kids, where we light candles and pick out a fun new movie to watch and always have dessert, of course. (Wait, maybe this is why I can’t lose those last 10 pounds. Hmm.)

I plan to share all of the ways I like to celebrate in this section of the blog. I will share holiday meal plans, birthday party planning, and even tips on some bridal and baby showers I have thrown. I think party planning is much easier with a checklist, but also adding a little sentiment with some personal touches really goes a long way! I also plan to share gift ideas that I have found special over the years, the ones that really make a lasting impression. Also, you don’t need a special occasion to have a celebration. Having brunch with your best girlfriends, a sister day or a fancy date night out on the town are all magical moments you can create anytime you feel like you need a little pick me up. Just remember to leave a little sparkle wherever you go :)