It’s been said that this is the most wonderful time of the year. And other than this freezing cold weather we have been having, it sure feels true to me!

This seems to be the best Christmas season I’ve ever had. The first reason is because I get to experience it married to the love of my life, who automatically makes things the best. :) The second reason is because I feel a special kind of excitement for the many “firsts” and new traditions that we get to have. It’s been fun to decide on our first set of ornaments for our first tree, or decide on what kind of gifts we want to give to friends and neighbors, and each other, and find our first Christmas traditions.

As I’ve been racking my brain, and browsing the internet, I’ve discovered that traditions aren’t always so easy as finding it on pinterest. It seems like a tradition can be stemmed from many factors: a funny inside joke, previous family traditions, an idea that was heard about, or a special experience. These experiences take time, and that can feel overwhelming. Especially feeling like traditions need to be started now, and be carried on forever. And what if you don’t have the financial means to start some traditions? I’m getting anxious now.

Story time:

My parents decided at some point during my childhood to start having a breakfast-style Christmas Eve dinner, complete with pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. I have loved this tradition every year so much, that even the taste of syrup reminds me of those memories. A few years ago, my mom wanted to do a normal dinner, and I threw a fit over it! I have an abnormal fixation on sentimental moments of my life, and for some reason I felt like if we didn’t have pancakes and bacon for our Christmas Eve dinner, my Christmas was ruined. I was holding on to the good memories of Christmases past, not realizing the possible changes could have created even better memories.

I’ve learned that a tradition is a meaningful event that can be recurring; “can” being the keyword. So this year, I’m going to focus on meaningful things that our family enjoys doing around the holidays and if for we for some reason, we don’t end up participating in them, it will be OK. Christmas most definitely WON’T be ruined because of that.

While we have decided on some aspects of our new family’s traditions, others need time to be discovered, and we’re excited to start those, when they do get discovered. For now though, we’re going to enjoy the beautifully decorated Christmas tree sitting in our living room, that we may not even have next year. I’ll enjoy watching Trevor put up the star on our tree, or maybe I’ll put it up one year! We’ll enjoy giving out the little neighbor gifts we have, that we may not do again. And if my mom decides to change up our breakfast-style dinner, I’ll be OK with that too.

Tis the season to be Freshly Married!

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