a Christmas of firsts

We are making some changes this year for Christmas. Some are for good and some are for just this year, I hope.

The first big change is that we will spend Christmas in TN as just a family of 4. We will not go to SC to have Christmas with our extended family until after Christmas day. That is huge for us. We have lived in TN for 8 years and have always gone back to SC for Christmas. Derrick and I thought it was time to start some traditions with our family and feel that Hannah is old enough now to understand Santa and we want to make that fun for her and Hunter. I am excited and sad at the same time. I love spending time with our families and change is hard. This is also our first Christmas without Ma Dot. We have some fun things planned to do with the kids that we hope to make Christmas traditions at our house. I will be sure to blog about them.

The change that I hope is for just this year, is that we will not be sending out a Christmas card. Derrick has worked a lot, which we are thankful for, and we have not had time to schedule getting the picture made, printed, and ready to mail. Doing our Christmas card is a big production and takes a lot of time. I am very sad not to have a card to send out this year, but that is just where we are at this point in our lives. Hopefully that means next year our card will be even better. I did not want people to think we had taken them off the list or that we forgot to send them one. I know not everyone reads the blog, but the ones of you who do can you please pass the word to your family and friends who usually get a card from us.

Change is hard, but good and needed at times. I am looking forward to spending this next week with Derrick, Hannah and Hunter. I hope to update daily about any fun activities we do as a family.

We wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!