MSMAMACHIC

The holiday season is over, and it’s back to regular programming until the days get longer and we can finally taste hints of spring and summer again…

This past holiday season, my children were watching kids’ chef shows, and they subsequently took to the kitchen with a flair of creativity. My entire kitchen turned into a Starbucks-adjacent café run by Gen Z’ers during a midday rush: milk-splattered counters, a sink full of dishes, sprinkles and add-ons littering the floor and counters… a soft dusting of hot chocolate powder on every surface. Your feet stick to the floor in spots where a jumbo marshmallow inadvertently fell off the top of a full cup of cocoa, and when the lighting is just right, there’s a sparkle in the kitchen.

No, it’s not Christmas lights. It’s the reflection off of thousands of teeny tiny candy cane shards encrusting my countertops that my children crushed up by hand to add a little razzle dazzle to the top of their hot cocoa concoctions.

Under normal circumstances, I would have developed an eye twitch and low-grade irritation as I watched this play out, but during the holidays, I’m “Cool Christmas Mom.” So I pour a glass of wine and, as Mel Robbins would say, “Let Them,” and I let myself turn a blind eye to my Willy Wonka factory kitchen.

But on the Sunday eve of back to school, as the sun set over the hills, I shape-shifted from “Cool Christmas Mom” to “Mussolini.”

Listen, I’m a planner. I like to be prepared — it makes me feel safe. It makes me feel held in the gentle embrace of security. It’s basically one of my love languages. My family, on the other hand (particularly my children), do not appreciate or share the same affinity for preparation… they are more of a “fly by the seat of your pants” vibe.

As they continued with their culinary concoctions, wearing mismatched socks, shorts, and their holiday Christmas sweaters because they were out of clean laundry and hadn’t sorted it for me to wash… I saw a premonition of Monday morning, and I snapped.

I looked those kids dead in the eye and said,
“Listen up. Party’s over. You have school tomorrow. You need to make sure your school bag is organized, your lunch is packed, and you have a clean, respectable, weather-appropriate outfit to wear tomorrow.”

“We know, Mom!” As the little sugarplums roll their beady little eyes at me.

To which I replied,
“Wonderful! 👏 So if you wake up tomorrow morning and tell me you have no clean clothes to wear to school, I don’t care if you have to wear a tankini and a scarf to school… that’s on you, baby cakes.” 🫶

(Sigh)

Most school mornings around here are an absolute shit show — there’s just no flow, no routine, no direction. Just aimless wandering from room to room, unsure of what to do next.

So, for 2026, I’m implementing an evening routine for myself and for the kids that involves prepping as much as possible the night before.

My Evening Routine

• Load the dishwasher and push “start.”
• Ensure Keurig has water.
• Mix my electrolytes + creatine and fill up my water cup
• Look over my master to-do list in my Notes app and tentatively pick a few things for the next day
• Review the calendar for appointments and deadlines
• Expressive journaling if I haven’t already done it — such a good, energetic dump at the end of the day, whether it’s feelings or a literal brain dump (omg it’s so satisfying)
• Look over the workout for the next day
• Set out an outfit for the next day

Kids’ Routine

• Pack lunch
• Organize backpack
• Set out an outfit for the next day
• Shower, brush teeth, pj’s

This all seems pretty basic when I write it out, but there is a distinct level of intention with this evening routine because it forces everyone to give some thought to how they want the next day to go, rather than waking up and overloading our cerebral capacity with a series of steps we need to execute to get out the door on time.

We are five days in, and so far, the mornings are running smoother than before. They’re not without a few re-directs, pivots, and adjustments, but we are moving in the right direction.

What are some activities you have in your evening routine that make mornings run more smoothly? I’m always in the market for tips/tricks to refine my routines — please share to start a conversation that not only helps me but possibly helps someone else refine their own evening routine.