We're on Christmas break, so here's great big round up!

Merry blessed Christmas! Thy Ship will be on break for the next few weeks, so while we're out, please enjoy lots of good stuff from our archives.

We'll resume January 5 with fresh posts on practical insights, packing lists, travel itineraries grand and small, travel tips and recommendations, all things New Orleans, local flavor recipes, and—most importantly—going differently.

May the joy of our Savior coming fill your heart!

P.S. If you haven't joined my free weekly newsletter, A Heroic Moment, I'd love to have you. A Heroic Moment features a weekly saint story and personal essay. You can subscribe and access the archive of content here.

Useful and wonderful things

• Last minute gifts

• Zero-cost gifts

• Tons of gift idea guides for everyone

• Five favorites

• Stylish school supplies for grown-ups

• Movie review:Triumph of the Heart (Maxmilian Kolbe story)

• Perfect sandals I've worn to France, Italy, Mexico, and everywhere else

• Favorite things round up (May)

• 34 great gifts for moms, grads, and weddings

• Purple, green, and gold round up

• Favorite things round up (February)

• 14 Catholic Valentine's gifts

• The most important rule for gift giving (plus seven no-fail tips)

• 5 rules for giving experience gifts

• Gift guide for women

• Gift guide for men

• Gift guide for young adults

• Gift guide for teens

• Gift guide for middles and littles

• Gift guide for family and friends

• 12 gifts you can give for almost any occasion

• Why a beautiful toilet brush matters (the case for pretty tools)

• French-inspired finds to add a little joie de vivre

• Let's geaux shopping: woven handbags

• Favorite things roundup (September)

• Favorite things roundup (August)

• Books that made me a better spouse

• 10 gifts that honor Our Lady

• Everything's roses roundup

• 9 saints books that aren't schmaltzy

• French blues

• Best books about St Thérèse of Lisieux

Food and drink

• Gaudete popcorn

• Easy jambalaya

• The best snowballs in New Orleans

• Frozen Creole lemonade

• An easy cake that will make you famous

• Satsuma cake

• Bouillabaisse

• Carrot soup a la Normande

• Braised French lentils

• Authentic New Orleans king cake recipe

• Cranberry chutney: our favorite recipe

• Budget friendly party food for football games, hoco, and other gatherings

• The most Catholic breakfast

• How to make coffee on a moving bus

• 13 delicious food souvenirs to bring home from New Orleans

• Tomatoes and love

• It smells like God

  
  

Go differently

• A Catholic guide to Christmas movies

• How to make a pilgrimage of gratitude

• A pilgrimage to the movies

• A pilgrimage to St Joseph Abbey

• A one-day pilgrimage to Lisieux

• What I'm packing for pilgrimage to Poland

• How to turn your beach trip into a pilgrimage

• Saints quotes for the beach

• How to make a Jubilee pilgrimage wherever you are

• An Irish pilgrimage itinerary in New Orleans

• A New Orleans pilgrimage: Nine Churches Walk

• How to pray the rosary without falling asleep

• Our family pilgrimage to Rome

• A pilgrimage to America's first and oldest Black Catholic parish

• 20 questions to make a museum into a pilgrimage

• What I'm packing for pilgrimage to France

• Saints quotes for the Sacred Heart

• Saints quotes for fathers

• Saints quotes for mothers

• Saints quotes for love letters

• Saints quotes for a fresh start

• Why you should visit cemeteries when you travel

• Saints quotes about gratitude

• Still-grimage and pilgrimage with St Zélie Martin

• A Catholic guide to Disney

• A Catholic travel guide to outer space

• 9 tips for touring churches and holy sites with young people

• 8 non-church vacation places you can contemplate God, plus what to ask

• Saints quotes for traveling

• How to make still-grimage and pilgrimage with St Maximilian Kolbe

• A sacred layer: Look for Mary

  
  

New Orleans

• 7 free and almost-free holiday things to do in New Orleans

• How to enjoy Reveillon in New Orleans

• 21 things to do in the French Quarter that aren't drinking

• 10 things I love about New Orleans in October

• Four great day trips from New Orleans

• How to enjoy Coolinary in New Orleans (plus where not to go)

• 10 things I love about New Orleans in spring

• My favorite romantic places in New Orleans

• 27 random local tips for New Orleans visitors

• My favorite New Orleans parade

• A New Orleans pilgrimage in the footsteps of St Frances Cabrini

• 3 free, no-tour-required cemeteries in New Orleans

• 25 things I always want to eat and drink in New Orleans

• A $35 budget itinerary day in New Orleans

• 13 delicious food souvenirs to bring home from New Orleans

• My favorite coffee shops on Magazine Street

• 3 pilgrimage places for Our Lady in New Orleans

• My New Orleans: the Elmer house

• How not to melt and die in New Orleans in summer

Travel

• 9 ways to make a layover or travel delay more meaningful

• The surprising connection between Our Lady of Guadalupe and the New York public library

• Catholic Halloween and Rome's Capuchin bone chapel

• How to pack a week of colorful outfits into one backpack

• How to get from Paris to Lisieux

• What to do in Dauphin Island

• How to make pilgrimage through France

• How to take a day trip from Paris to Orléans

• How to take a day trip from Rome to Assisi

• What to pack for Rome

• A black and white beach break

• Spring week in a backpack

• How to pack a week of outfits into one backpack

• Another week in a backpack

• What to do in Ireland

• Ireland packing list

• My favorite travel essentials

• The best shoes for travel

• 3 secret Catholic sites in Paris

• Is one black top all you need for a trip?

• Dauphin Island guide

• El Paso guide

• Boudreaux's guide to Mardi Gras

• What to bring to a Mardi Gras parade

• How to pack for cold weather trips

• 6 packing tips for Paris in fall and winter

Interesting bits

• Our budget kitchen makeover

• Our budget dining room makeover

• 5 things that surprised me on my wedding day

• How to gift a sentimental tour

• Black faith matters

• Repeat-read books for cozy weather

• Our house tour

• The story of St Catherine Labouré and the Miraculous Medal

• 12 easy, quick, last-minute costumes

• 6 Catholic connections to the NFL

• 7 wonderful Paris Olympics stories

• Saints quotes for sports and athletes

• The creative love of the Holy Spirit

• Joy is a sweaty walk

• My favorite Stations of the Cross

Saints

Check out our Saint of the Week series, book recommendations, feast day celebration ideas, and more here. Recent saints include the First Martyrs of Rome,Edith Stein, Philip Neri, Kateri Tekakwitha, John Fisher, Maria Goretti, Louis and Zélie Martin, Anthony of Padua, and Joan of Arc.

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I am a Catholic author, artist, speaker, traveler, and pilgrimage leader.

Contact me to collaborate with you on your next retreat, day of reflection, pilgrimage, trip, or event.