Hello, friends! It’s been foreverrrr since my thoughts have graced this little internet space of mine. I’ve had plenty of moments where I’ve missed it, and others where I’ve relished in my time being intentional with the ones I love. Over the past few years, I’ve approached this space with coming back to it when I can, and what better way to share some of our moments than during the start of the year.
I hope your new year has been off to a great start so far! We’re keeping busy with the boys playing sports and between cheering them on at their basketball games or enjoying our Sixers tickets, I will pretty much be living on the court for the rest of the winter. I can’t say I’m mad about it either. Oh, and be sure to stay tuned, or you can always join me on instagram as we get ready for some upcoming trips and adventures.
Instead of choosing a word for this year, or having any real resolutions in place, we’re approaching the year with continuing to enjoy finding joy in all the moments and focusing on our blessings. There are a few things I’d like to continue doing more of, like, reading (I read 27 books last year), taking more pictures, all the outside time, and always finding time to catch the sunset.
It’s no secret that we love the holiday season! There’s so much we enjoy about it, and kicking off our annual tree cutting day is always one of our favorites. The weather wasn’t in our favor this year with some dreary and rainy conditions, but we made the best of it and still had an amazing time. This year we had a special moose make an appearance. If you remember from past years, we’ve had a few characters visit our tree day and add to the fun.
We kept up with some of our other traditions, like our NYC day, ice skating, and we even added the Christmas Spectacular show this year. It had been years since we saw it, and experiencing it with my mom and the boys was so special.
We decided to do something completely different this year and went away for Christmas. A lot of our family flew in in November to celebrate my sister and Eric’s birthdays, so they wouldn’t be back around the holidays. We’ve always toyed with the idea of having a Christmas vacation and this year we decided to make it happen. Can I just tell you, we had the best time! We weren’t sure what to expect going into it and how it was going to all play out. Would we enjoy it? Would we consider it again? And the conclusion is, 100 times yes! While it’s great to make memories with family at home, it was also amazing to experience Christmas in another country and see that the celebration of Christ’s birth is not limited. It was also nice to have a lot of the commercial aspects of the holiday removed and truly focus on what’s it about. We packed a few gifts for the kids and made a makeshift tree at the resort, and then opened other gifts when we got home. I’m happy to say it exceeded our expectations and was just what we all needed. I’m also loving having a tan in the winter (at least for however long it lasts) and feeling like a human again, haha.
When we got back, we celebrated post Christmas/New Year’s with our family. We had a brunch that was filled with good food, good company, lost of laughs, and even more new traditions started.
Here’s to making this year extra special, and enjoying all the moments life brings.
