It’s the Saturday before Christmas! I’m going to be enjoying time at home in PA for the week and will be taking a break from posting until after the New Year. In the meantime, I hope to do a lot of great blog planning and make some changes to the site to make it a little easier to navigate. Also in the meantime, I plan to soak up family time, eat at our hometown favorites, and soak up more family and friend time.

Here are some links to keep you busy while I’m away…

Recipes

This pasta was so so good (and so quick). Is definitely going to be a go-to in our house.
I love pancakes and I love chocolate and lemon together so I made this ricotta pancake recipe the first chance I had. It did not disappoint.

Beautiful stories 

Why your stress may be a blessing in disguise
On what makes a house a home. You can feel the love, joy, and sadness in this post.
Not kidding, these photos made me cry. A lot.

On food and body image (and how our moms’ experiences impact ours)

A letter to Mum (this is long but I recommend reading the whole thing)
Amazing spoken word from a college student

From Danielle LaPorte

The real reason some people are bad for you
As you think about what you want in 2014, a reminder that you’ll need space to let it in and another one

On Love Always, Jo

My first vlog is getting some buzz on Twitter. Have you seen it yet?
How to keep the holidays joyful…going to try to take my own advice this break 🙂
I made a new kind of Christmas list this year…and I’m getting really excited to see what Santa brings me!

Questions for you:

Anything you’d like to see more of on Love Always, Jo in 2014? Let me know!

What should I be reading over break? I think a lot of my favorite bloggers will slow down so I’ll be looking for something to read…do share!