During the holiday season, sometimes the best thing you can give your friends and neighbors is…less. Not a Christmas party, not even a Christmas gathering—just a few hours to pause, wrapped in a bit of lightness and brightness. That’s how our tradition of “Christmas Cheer To-Go” began. 

Puzzles are a creative way of slowing us down. They invite us to look closely, be patient, and appreciate the process. In the season of Advent—a season marked by anticipation and the spiritual work of waiting—a puzzle can ground us in an embodied practice. A puzzle is a practice that reminds us that the process is as essential as the completed product.

Friendsgiving is an invitation to a shared meal and a shared sense of belonging. It is a way to enter the holidays with a sense of presence in the present, and a gracious opportunity to set down any heavy expectations of family past or ideal futures. For Alyssa and Andraé Alexander, it has become as much an expression of Thanksgiving as the day itself. Friendsgiving is a generous and gracious invitation to hospitality, food, and friendship.

For much of the year, our mailboxes receive little beyond bulk mail circulations and unwanted financial applications. But each December, there is the possibility of the arrival of a Christmas card, a small artifact of attention to relational connection. In an increasingly digital reality, sending Christmas cards to friends, family, and neighbors is a countercultural practice of paper and pace.

Local holiday traditions create memorable connections with our neighbors and neighborhoods. For citizens in the city of Littleton, the Candlelight Walk and Tree Lighting is a beloved holiday tradition that marks the beginning of the holiday season. For more than 40 years

It was a bright and chilly Sunday morning in December when my daughter and I waited silently with coffee and mimosas ready on the kitchen counter. We were uncertain if anyone would walk through our door for the first Holly Street Holiday Brunch.