New traditions

My favorite part about the holidays are our traditions. My husband and I have ones we've taken from each of our families and we have some that we created all our own together. With the arrival of our daughter, we fully expect to bring in even more new and wonderful traditions. 

Unfortunately this year those traditions won't be celebrated together. This breaks my heart in new ways every day, it seems. But Christmas is happening this year, whether we like it or not. Might as well try to make the best of it. (At least that's what I keep telling myself). 

This year, Elise and I have continued my husband and I's tradition of picking out an angel to buy presents for. We picked out a 5 yr old girl this year and she really wants a tricycle. It may be a little pricey, but (and this is one of many many reasons why I love him) when I told my husband about the trike, he looked at me like "well you better go get a good one before they're all gone!" Even from thousands of miles away, his generous spirit still warms my heart. I'm so glad that our daughter will be brought up in a home that isn't a stranger to giving. Pics of the tricycle to come! 

We are also continuing the tradition of Christmas cards. Last year, we skipped them. Between thank you cards (over 150), holiday hosting, Xmas prepping, a week in the hospital, and 2.5 weeks of bed rest, we just didn't have the time or energy. This year, the idea of skipping came up. This year is going to be sad for me and probably for my husband as well. But it's our daughter's first and I saw an opportunity to make the "deployment edition" something to remember. So I took it. They turned out really well but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't much more excited for next years! Here's a look at our holiday cards/pics through our married years

2008- Our first married Christmas! We just brought home our fur child and had been separated my last semester of student teaching. Josh missed my graduation and I was so sad. But having him around for Christmas with a new puppy made up for it! 

2009- Christmas in Corpus. We had fun decorating our little beach home that year! We traveled a lot to visit family that year and finished the trip with a family wedding! It was exhausting but so much fun.

2010- Our first Christmas in Abilene and in our first home. We stayed home that year and loved it. Built fires and ate delicious Christmas food. We had just bought the house two months before so nothing was put together yet! 

2011- We traveled home that year for the  holidays. After suffering the loss of my first pregnancy, the holidays were hard that year. But I still have fond memories of our first trip to Rhema to see Christmas lights and to see It's A Wonderful Life on the big screen. 

2012- Bedrest Christmas! I wasn't allowed to go anywhere and could've "popped" at any moment. We made the most of our last Christnas as a duo and had all our friends over Christmas Eve for a pajama/Christmas movie party. Christmas morning was quiet and peaceful and I'll never forget it.

This one isn't our card, but the pics we used for it! 

Other traditions we are looking forward to in the coming years are making Christmas cookies together, hot chocolate by the fire, dad reading The Grinch That Stole Christmas, watching It's A Wonderful Life, and writing letters to Santa and putting out cookies and milk for him. Kids really do make the holidays magical. I cannot wait!