“Have you spring-ified your place yet?” My daughter’s text makes me smile. It’s a phrase we used often when she was growing up—part of our little family tradition. There was also “summer-ified,” along with versions for every season. Every few months, we would do a mini overhaul of our living space: adding something from nature,… Read more: “Have You Spring-ified Yet?” A Simple Tradition That Stuck

Embarrassingly, last holiday season I gave some of my best friends soap and a tea towel as a present. These are dear friends I’ve known for decades. I simply couldn’t think of a better idea, so I resorted to the most generic one—and it took me a surprising amount of thought and deliberation to get… Read more: How to Give Thoughtful Gifts (Even If You Are Bad at Gift Giving)

They were the same students I had taught online during the height of the pandemic. Back then it was an online kindergarten where five-year-olds wearing headphones would shout, “You’re on mute!”—something I never could have imagined when I started my teaching career. Years later, I found myself back with them as their Grade 5 supply… Read more: Why My Grade 5 Students Are Singing “What’s Up?” in 2026