merry christmas!
luke 2:11
merry christmas!
welcome back to my blog! i know i have been mia for a while, but i'm back for the new year.
these past few months have been pretty busy. i feel like october-december is always a hectic (but the best) time of year. i've been trying to focus on my typical seasonal holiday activities even though they are very different in hawaii.
stockton dressed up as jack jack for halloween, and austin and i carved pumpkins after going to a pumpkin patch. we had a great thanksgiving with some friends, and i made my first homemade pumpkin pie! then i did my christmas decorating, shopping and wrapping.
this year feels like my first year of holidays with MY family. austin and i have had many holidays together, but with stockton joining us and spending the holidays in our own home/hosting, it feels so special!
the christmas season is my favorite time of year, so not experiencing the cold climate is definitely hard, but last year, we had zero decorations and didn't do gifts since we were waiting on our home shipment. luckily, this year, the house is decked out. we bought our first christmas tree together, got family stockings, and even picked out special wrapping paper for each of us!
it's so neat to look back on our past holidays and see how far we have come already with our finances, decorations, and household goods. we have a tree full of gifts underneath that i'm so thankful we are able to gift one another with this year as well as provide goodies for our firstborn son! when you hear people say "track your prayers," you really should because i still complain about the house and money sometimes without even realizing that many of my prayers on those topics have already been answered and its a great reminder of how good god is.
i was originally planning on making this blog post about the things hawaii is taking away from my typical christmas but the more i'm writing, the more i'm focusing on the good which is what i plan to do with my 2023 as well.
in 2023 i plan to strengthen my relationship with the lord not only on my own but also with my husband, take pictures of the little details and reminders of happiness throughout my days, watch my son grow and grow, welcome our new son, and remember that where we are is only temporary. missouri will always be our home and even though i am thousands of miles away, i get to be with the two people that mean the most in the world to me, and that is austin and stockton.
if you are someone who is far from family and struggling with that, just know you are not alone. i know many college students go through this, but i'm a married mom who struggles with it as well. try to focus on the little things. some of mine right now are the christmas tree lights being on at night, making matcha lattes at home, discovering my new favorite chai tea, when the leaves of a tree matched the color of my dress perfectly, stockton's new nose scrunch when he smiles and so much more.
so, cheers to entering 2023 with a positive attitude. i hope you all enjoy your christmas and remember the true importance of it as well as your existence in this world. you wouldn't be where you are today if it wasn't in god's plan for you, and god's plan is the greatest plan.
12.21.2022