The Empty Nest Chronicles

two friends. two coasts. two cozy homes.

Two Friends. Two Approaches to the New Year.

 150 150 Kristin
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Dear Frances, Happy New Year! It’s that time when everyone starts talking about all the changes that they are going to make in the new year. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to try to reinvent myself this year. I want to make some changes and get some things done, but I’ve…

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Holiday Food Traditions

 150 150 Kristin
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Dear Kristin, I used to make a lot of Christmas cookies. A LOT of Christmas cookies. Sugar cookies with colorful sprinkles and candy cane cookies courtesy of Martha Stewart. I made gingerbread men and date nut pinwheels sans the nuts (Jack has a tree nut allergy) and pecan sandies sans the pecans. Along with cookies,…

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An Empty Nest Chronicles Podcast: Holiday Edition!

 150 150 Frances
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Hi, everyone! This week we’re doing something a little bit different. We’ve recorded a podcast, where we chat about our Christmas preparations and our plans for 2023. We hope you’ll enjoy it–we plan to do these podcast episodes every month or so, just because–well, we love talking to each other, and let’s face it: talking…

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Decking the Halls

 150 150 Kristin
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Dear Frances, Has the way you decorate for Christmas changed over the years? I know it has for me. Those first years of marriage involved acquiring all the stuff: a menagerie of trees, Santas, snowmen, and Christmassy knick-knacks. It was all great fun in those early years, decking out our new house when we were…

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The Empty Nest Christmas Blues

 150 150 Frances
7
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Dear Kristin, As the holiday season presses down upon us, I’m once again reminded of how much I hate shopping. I’m the world’s biggest sufferer of Buyer’s Remorse because I regret 75% of my purchases immediately after I’ve made them (except for the books I buy for myself–I almost never regret those). The dawn of…

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Clearing a Path

 150 150 Kristin
5
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Dear Frances, Thanksgiving is done, but before we dive headlong into Christmas, I’d like to pause for a moment and think about the upcoming holiday season. You’ve actually inspired me to keep a little space between the holidays–to let each one have its moment to shine. I guess that is what Advent is, a season…

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Pruning Season

 150 150 Frances
4
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Dear Kristin, For the avid reader, the internet provides an embarrassment of riches. It’s a universe of interesting articles and reviews, blog posts and opinion pieces, each one filled with its own galaxy of rabbit holes to go down. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone online to look up a fact and…

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The Skin We’re In

 150 150 Kristin
6
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Dear Frances I don’t think any conversation between two women of a certain age would be complete without discussing skin care. If social media is any indication, the generation or two of women after us got the message on this topic a lot younger than we did. And I suspect that their skin at age…

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Cozy Contemplations

 150 150 Frances
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Dear Kristin, As you know, I like to overthink things, and today, the sky outside overcast, the trees shedding their yellow and red leaves, I want to contemplate coziness. Is cozy a cool weather phenomenon? Is it a state of mind or a state of being? Why do we love it so? Of course, not…

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October Thoughts

 150 150 Kristin
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Dear Frances, Holidays are a bit tricky now, aren’t they? The celebrations have always centered around activities with the kids, and I guess it’s time we change our expectations. I’ve definitely got some mixed feelings about Halloween. I am not really a Halloween person, but obviously the kids always loved it! There were many years…

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