2012.

I guess it's pretty normal to get to this point in the year and reflect on the past twelve months. I feel like the greeting card thing to do is to reminisce about all of the wonderful things that have happened. To list them one by one. And I want to tell you that this has been a year full of adventure, but the truth is that this year has completely exhausted me. This year hurt.

But still, I'm so thankful that it makes my heart swell.

My marriage is as strong as its ever been. The Navy threw us into a bit of a fight or flight situation, you know? But we fought hard and we're better for it. My little boy is healthy and happy and even though I look back on many days in 2012 and feel like I'm looking through a foggy glass, I can always see him and his sweet smile with complete clarity.

And through every high and low, every dark day and bright morning, I can see how closely God walked with us through all of it - whether I acknowledged him or not.

I'm still letting myself think through this all because I know there was a lot of good buried under the hard. But in many ways, I'm ready to put 2012 behind me. I want to take the happy memories and the lessons learned and store it up. I want to shed the rest and move on. With deployment on the horizon, I know that 2013 will be a beast of its own, but if God has used 2012 to teach me anything it's that we've totally got this.

home for christmas

Jack, Rudy and I got to my parents' house around 8pm on Saturday after a long day of driving that went so much better than I expected. Since then, we've been spoiled rotten by way of good cooking and quality time with some of our favorites.

My better half is en route as we speak and we'll be spending the next week with friends and family. After a difficult month, this is what my heart needed. And after the unbelievable events that took place in Newtown on Friday (something I'm still processing, through many questions and tears) I'm acutely aware of how precious this time is.

So I'm holding these moments close, soaking it all up and praying for peace that only a Savior can bring.

Merry Christmas, friends.

our favorite ornaments

Every year, I underestimate the amount of time it takes to decorate the Christmas tree. We always end up reminiscing over our ornaments - both the ones we brought from our families' trees when we got married and the ones we've collected since then - and it turns into a late-night affair. Usually with James Taylor singing Christmas tunes in the background and hot tea or cider in a mug nearby. I love it.

This year, Andrew suggested that I highlight some of our favorites that we've acquired over the last four years. We try to get ornaments for each other every year and we like to grab one as a souvenir when we travel, so it's a fun walk down memory lane when we open up that tub.

Here are some of our top picks, in no particular order...

 

Andrew gave me this ornament the first Christmas we were married. He saw me noticing it at The Christmas Show in Charlotte one weekend and he secretly went back to buy it for me when I wasn't looking.

 

Another one from my sweetie. This was the ornament he got me last Christmas, when we welcomed Jack to our nest.

 

Speaking of Jack, that picture is from the day he was born - waaaahhh! Andrew's parents picked up this ornament from Cracker Barrel when they went to dinner with my family after leaving the hospital. They slipped that picture in and gave it to us last Christmas.

 

My mom made this dove out of our wedding program. So sweet.

 

It's no secret that I left part of my heart in Charleston. A sweet family at our church gave us this ornament when we left to remind us of our friends in Summerville and to let us know that their doors are always open to us. One day, friends! We'll be back!

 

One of my favorite pictures from our wedding. I put copies into frames for both of our moms the Christmas after we were married and I kept one for our own tree.

 

We picked this up from the holiday market at Grand Central Station when we went to NYC two years ago. I loved everything about that trip and get all sentimental when I see this ornament.

Another from a favorite trip. We went to Disney World two weeks before Andrew left for OCS. I cried outside Cinderella's castle on the last day because I knew that going home meant he was leaving me soon after. Other than that, it was a nice trip ;)

 

One of many cross-stitched Christmon ornaments that my Nanny Johnson gave us. These seem to be the ones that Jack is most infatuated with this year. I keep finding them in many places other than the tree.

 

This was one of the ornaments that my mom passed on to me. I love it because my little brother was obsessed with it and  I can always hear 3-year-old Tyler saying, "Mom, looook. Ain't that cuuuute?'

 

Andrew's mom gave us this for our first Christmas together. It's a real egg shell! I love how dainty and pretty it is.

This was the first ornament we bought Jack - Santa on a boat, a nod to the coastal town he was born in.

I'm looking forward to having a tree chock-full of ornaments in 20 years. It'll take days to decorate! ;)

What about you? Do you change up your ornaments every year or dust off the same ones each time? Any favorites?