Christmas This Year

"I never thought I’d be that girl—the far away one whose kids don’t understand the concept of cousin sleepovers every other weekend. And yet, while sometimes I feel the throbbing pain of what I am missing—especially this time of year—I am happy. This is home." 

- Kelle Hampton. (Read the entire post here, trust me it's a good one.)

I read that post from Kelle a few weeks back about being away from family during the holidays and immediately after, my view on Christmas this year changed. The day after we got back from Texas, I went out in search of the perfect tree and decorations. In years past we have always gone home for the month or so during Christmas, so I never spent much time decorating. However, this year was going to be different.

I've always seen those big beautifully decorated trees at stores/malls/in other's pictures and wanted one, so this year, I was going to make it happen. After 2 or 3 trips to the store getting stuff I needed, it happened. And, I'm pretty proud of our tree.

Of course, as soon as I finish the tree a strand of lights goes out, but their fixed now, I just need an updated picture. But I still loved it, strand of lights out or not. 

We play Christmas music all throughout the day and once Darrin gets home we even turn it up a notch. 

We have a TuneIn Radio app, love it, it's awesome. It plays the radio station songs with no commercial breaks. Christmas Lite station is the BOMB! If you don't have it your missing out, download it now. 

I brought back our stockings so that they could be filled. Amy helped me decorate and hang them, I love the way they turned out. Since we don't have chimney's finding a spot for stockings can be hard, but Amy came to the rescue. 

We have 5 stockings, one is for Maria. She is a part of our family, especially during the holidays. Plus Reagan would say, "but where's Maria's, she needs one too."

This year we got Elf on a Shelf. I saw it last year on a friend's blog and couldn't wait to do it this year. Reagan has not totally ran with the whole idea, but it's still so much fun. She loves to look around the house the next morning for him, "the Elf" she says. I tried to get her to come up with a name for him but she just calls him the Elf. Next year she will be even more into it and we might even give him a name.

She is still terrified of Santa. I am beginning to think my idea of making her sit on Santa's lap wasn't such a good one. She wants absolutely nothing to do with him. She doesn't even want presents from him this year. She says, "but I don't need any toys, I already have lots of toys." I'm pretty sure the only reason she doesn't want any toys is because she doesn't like the thought of Santa actually coming to her house. I can't wait to see what she thinks the night before when we leave milk and cookies, or the next morning when he drops off a few presents. 

I had to post her last year picture with Santa for you to truly understand how scared of him she was/is. Her reaction this year would no doubt, still be the same.

Grayson however, liked Santa this year. I think he told him everything he wanted and that he had been a really good boy.

Somehow I think I got off subject. My point was that I have no doubt this will be one of the best Christmas' yet. Even though this will be our first year away from family at Christmas time, us 4 will be together. There will be no holiday stress, no busy schedules, just us 4 making our own family traditions and maybe a beach. And for that, I am excited. 

More from Kelle's post: "If you don’t have family near you, find one. (Pick one up at the corner store, would ‘ya? ) While living hundreds of miles from true blood family has its obstacles, it comes with the blessing of recognizing and appreciating friends who become family—not to mention, the challenge of going the extra mile to make meaningful traditions for your kids."

"And I guess if I had to choose something out of all of this to get cross-stitched on a pillow it would be just that. Whether you have family close by or far away, whether you’re blessed with children or not, whether the coming holidays bring you joy or uneasiness, you can create your own reality by being intentional. Invest time in friends, create new traditions, make efforts to carve memories your children won’t soon forget. And though it might not be a semester at sea or a hiking expedition in India, being intentional will most definitely be a badge of honor, the most notable one for sure.

Reagan picked out Grayson's jamas. She said, "they match! Red and green for Christmas!"