our first christmas.

we are continually blessed from God, our friends, and our families. our first christmas was wonderful. and i loved starting traditions with my new husband. it was relaxing and the weather wasn't warm either which makes it feel more like christmas. we spent the holidays with my family. it was really good. even though they live twenty minutes away we dont get to see them as often as you would think. so it was good to spend some time with them.

[good news! my computer uploads pictures from my DSLR camera now! and i have gotten some time this week to figure things out with it and look at a few online tutorials. im nowhere near being an expert, but i am loving this free time to get in some practice. bad news is that someone had my memory card at the wedding and i didnt have it for the honeymoon and so all my pictures from ocracoke are on my sony cybershot. but i think im going to go ahead and by a new photo card importer thing, because im just not sure mine exists anymore.]

some christmas traditions we started this season:


1. pincone picking. we picked pinecones together one afternoon and used them to make some christmas decor.

he doesnt like getting pictures taken.

okay this picture makes me miss that hair.

boy looks for anything to climb.

2. watching a christmas story and its a wonderful life on christmas eve. this is one of my favorite things. his favorite is a christmas story.  mine is its a wonderful life. we went last year too. but this year we live down the street from the naro theater on colley so we got to walk to the double feature.

3. making christmas ornaments. we made ornaments on christmas this year to add to our tree. i used mason jar lids, canvas, hot glue, and paint. were making a number for all the christmas' we will be married. so this year we made a 1.

josh made the "1"- i painted.

"k" is for katie hackett. i made one for her because she loved me so well this year when i needed it.

4. christmas heart. this is a tradition my parents passed down to me. when they got married someone gave them a heart ornament. and they told them to do it every year after. every year my parents picked out a heart ornament. so my mom gave me a heart ornament this year. and so did joshs mom. so we have two now. love it.

the heart ornament is illuminated well. we need to put a picture inside.

his momma sent us this one from lisa leonard designs.

i love the holdiays. i love christmas. i love the joy and laughter. i want to carry that with me always. the birth of  christ and the miracle of christmas and why he came should burn like a fever in my soul all year.

any christmas traditions youd like to share?

more to come this week about our visit with his family and the ryders for new years.

our first christmas.