Author: Sarah Bringhurst Familia

A Peek into the Elves’ Sweatshop

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

So, will the airline count an over-sized shopping bag stuffed with tiny Christmas presents as a “personal item”? I’m going to say yes, because this stuff is not going to fit in our carry-on bags, at least if we want to bring clothes too.

Yes, I know that wrapped gifts are on the soft list of “Things to Not Bring on an Airplane.” As in, they are technically allowed but likely to cause delays, headaches, and tearing-of-hair in the security line. But what can I say? The children have been busily working away at them since Thanksgiving.

Every day I could count on having a few mysterious hours of silence, as they emerged from their rooms only in search of more scotch tape, construction paper, pipe cleaners, and other sundries.… Read more

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Plot Deviation

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Reader’s note: There’s a spoiler advisory for this entire post, so if you’ll hate me for giving away sundry plot twists and random details, please come back after watching this fabulous movie.

Tony and I went on a nice long anniversary date last night. How long has it been since we did dinner and a movie together? I’m not sure how many years. It was so much fun! We drove down to Orlando, had an Italian dinner, and then watched the Hobbit at the IMAX theater.

I think the extra frames thing really did make a difference, because I was able to keep my 3D glasses on the entire time without succumbing to headache.… Read more

Yes We Did!

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

It turned out that there actually was one other woman wearing pants to church in my ward today: the 93-year-old retired professor who always wears pants. I saw lots of people in purple, which secretly thrilled me even though I don’t think any of them knew about the event, and were probably just wearing purple because they like purple. But someone did recognize that I was wearing pants for “Wear Pants to Church Day.” He was inscrutable, so I’m not sure whether he approved or not. But I know he likes me whether or not he approves. And I felt great.… Read more

Wearing Pants

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

About a month ago, I wore pants to church for the first time (trousers, that is, for my readers who speak British-inspired forms of English). In case you didn’t know, there’s a soft norm in the Mormon church for women to wear skirts or dresses to Sunday meetings. And in case you haven’t heard, there’s been quite a social media tempest during the past couple of weeks after a group of Mormon feminists asked LDS women to wear pants to church on Sunday, December 16 as a show of solidarity.

Having already recently conducted my own private (and unrelated) “wear pants to church” event, I thought it would be an opportune time to share my thoughts here.… Read more

Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Guns, Germs & Steel, and Book of Mormon Girl

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I have some absolutely wonderful books to review for you today.

The Book of Mormon Girl: Stories from an American FaithThe Book of Mormon Girl: Stories from an American Faith by Joanna Brooks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book, and I love Joanna Brooks. I related to so much of what she said, from the evident nostalgia with which she recounted her childhood experience of growing up in the warm, safe certainty of the Mormon faith to the anguish of finding a “knot of contradictions” at the heart of her faith.

My struggles and doubts and questions about my faith have been somewhat different from hers, but my feelings are very similar, as is my tightrope walk to find a way to belong to the faith I love while dealing honestly with its sometimes troubling past (and present).… Read more

Thanksgiving–the day after

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Soooo . . . I was really dying to write this post, but then I decided not to because I figured nobody would really be interested in yet another post about what I ate for Thanksgiving. But then Michelle (through whom I am vicariously living in Umbria) asked me how it all turned out, and I figured, as I usually do, that if one person is saying it then there must be at least ten or twenty of you thinking the same thing. Right? So here’s a little rundown on how all those Thanksgiving recipes actually worked out for us.… Read more

Christmas Ornament Memories, Part 2

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

I really had too many “special” ornaments on my Christmas tree to fit into one day, so here are some more.

This one is a leaf made out of clay. The color didn’t really come through in the picture, but it is glazed with a deep, shiny gold. It’s also very, very heavy for a Christmas ornament of its size, and you can probably see where it was broken in half one year and carefully glued back together. My Young Women’s president at church, Sharon Duqué, made these for all the Young Women one Christmas. In the northern California town where I grew up, there are still huge oak trees standing around town that are left over from before there were any people or houses.… Read more

Christmas Ornament Memories

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Growing up, I remember how much fun we had every year getting out the Christmas ornaments for the tree and reliving the memories. There were the delicate balsa wood birds my dad had made when they were very first married, and the fascinating blue amulet from Greece that Jesse’s birth-midwife gave him as a baby to ward off the evil eye. One of my favorites was a little salt dough ornament that our beloved pet rat, Walker, had nibbled the foot off one year. We kept it even though it was a little mangled, to remind us of her.

Now that I’m all grown up with my own family and Christmas tree, I’ve had some time to collect my own ornaments.… Read more

Christmas Tree: After

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We incorrigibly insist upon cutting down our own Christmas tree, even when we’re living in climates not necessarily conducive to lush evergreen foliage. Such as southern California or Florida. So we duly went to the Christmas tree farm and hopped on the hayride to find our perfect tree.

The pickings were a little slim. Most of the trees were either under three feet tall or over twenty, giving the farm a sort of “Ents herding guinea pigs” look. The ones of moderate size were all, shall we say, eccentric. One tree was half green, half yellow. Another had a trunk that zig-zagged like a lightning bolt.… Read more

Christmas Tree: Before

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Raj got sick right after Thanksgiving, and the rest of us soon followed. I was the last to succumb, and last Tuesday I spent the entire day in bed. It’s the first time I’ve been that sick in quite a while, and I was amazed at how much my kids had grown up. They got themselves lunch. They brought me water and soda crackers. They got themselves dinner, and brought me some dinner in bed too. They fed my pets. And they mediated their own disputes. Somewhere along the line it’s happened: I am no longer parenting toddlers! They’re not quite adults yet, but they’re competent little people with real skillz.… Read more