I know it’s a little late but the past two days have been crazy. I just wanted to drop in and say Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and was able to spend time reflecting on the great gift that is Jesus.
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Let’s Have Coffee || Vol. 4
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that this month has been a hard one so far. My anxiety has been flaring up again, and I think I finally figured out what’s causing it but it took soo long to figure out what it was, and I’m still not sure if knowing what the reason is, is going to make it go away.
If we were having coffee, I’d share with you that I cannot believe that Tommy and I have been married for almost 7 months. I’m actually quite sad that the newness has worn off and we are now closer to being married for a year than we are to when we got married.
If we were having coffee, I’d dig deep and ask what your biggest struggle is right now. If you’re comfortable I’d love to actually chat about this, email me? Mine is just staying positive. The cold weather has come on fast and strong already and it has really taken its toll on my emotions. I have a feeling it is going to be a long winter ahead. (Although I do have a surviving the winter post coming soon!)
If we were having coffee, I’d share that I am actually attempting to take a break from coffee until Christmas. If I drink too much of it, which I have been doing, it throws my stomach completely off, so I unfortunately think it’s best if I stop drinking it for a little bit. I also think it is making my anxiety worse so we will see how these next two weeks go.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I went to the gym tonight, by myself might I add, and ran/walked for 2 and a half miles! I am so proud of myself and have felt much better after doing so. It gave me so much energy for the rest of the night and I think it might just be the trick to managing my anxiety as well. Let’s just pray I stick to it! I think my mental sanity might be at steak if I don’t haha.
If we were having coffee, I’d apologize that the majority of the things that I wanted to talk about tonight were erring on the side of sad, it’s just where my heart is lately. I’m hoping to turn it around for the rest of the month though, Christmas is coming soon! Hope you all are doing well. I’d love to hear from you! If we were having coffee what would you want to share with me? Are you having a rough start to the winter season like me, or are you loving it so far?
Today I’m linking up with Erin from Erin Salmon Writes.
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Christmas Home Tour!
I’m a day late to this linkup party, (no surprise there), but that doesn’t make me any less excited for it! I’m so excited to show you guys our Christmas decorations! I have always loved decorating for Christmas. As a little girl I used to bother my mom all the time to start decorating. I just the different feel of the house with all of the Christmas decor out.
This year, as I’m sure a lot of you know, Tommy and I got to decorate our apartment for the first time as a married couple, so it was extra fun. We also got to pick out our own Christmas decorations (seeing as we had none before).
I love how wintery the mat and wreath give our doorstep.
This is the sight you see right when you walk in. We had extra Christmas balls and I just love how they look in the center of the coffee table with the pinecones.
This is the picture I shared in my post about our Christmas traditions on Tuesday. I just love our tree. We only have a few “real” ornaments but it’s been fun getting to build our collection. A lot of them are very special already as they say “Our First Christmas”, or represent who we are as a couple, such as shells because we love the beach.
I also love that little tree and snowman – I think they make that whole bookshelf.
This tablecloth to me is so festive and screams Christmas and winter.
And our new TV stand all dressed up for Christmas is just perfect. 🙂
Of course the apartment wouldn’t be complete without baby Jesus. 🙂
And an up close picture of my favorite Christmas decoration we bought so far. This little truck has so much character. I bought most of the decor at my favorite place in the world, Target, and it wasn’t really all that expensive either.
Tonight I am linking up with Victoria and Sarah for It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year linkup! Come join us!
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Our Christmas Traditions
You guys Christmas time is just such a wonderful time of year, am I right? The older I get the more I appreciate this time of year too. I just love the feeling in the air, the decorations everywhere you go, and the sound of Christmas music too. This year is Tommy and I’s first married Christmas and I am so excited about it. That means that we get to create our traditions this year, so this year might just be the most exciting one ever.
I’ve been thinking since we got married about traditions that I wanted to start with Tommy and eventually with our children when they come around. For Thanksgiving we always bake a pecan pie. We actually started that on our first Thanksgiving that we were ever together so it makes it even more special. We don’t have any Christmas traditions yet but that’s what this years for! These are the things that I want to do every year with Tommy and our future kiddies:
Decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving: I honestly might debate doing this sooner if Tommy would let me. This year we tried to chop down our own tree – something that I had done in the past with my family, but ended up going to a place that didn’t have very nice trees so we ended up buying a pre-cut one. But it’s okay because the one we got is perfect.
Open one present on Christmas Eve: This is something that I always used to convince my mom to let my brother and I do, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. But this year we get to decide and I just know Tommy will be on board for this one.
Bake Christmas cookies: This is something that I have been doing for the past three years and am very excited to continue on with in our new apartment together now that we’re married.
Read the story of Jesus being born on Christmas morning before opening presents: This is not something that we have done yet, especially since we haven’t ever woken up together on Christmas yet. But this is something I am very excited about starting this year. I want to make sure that we keep our hearts in the right place and praise the one reason why we are even celebrating on this day, our Lord and Savior. I am especially excited to carry this tradition on with our kids when they come around!
Eat Homemade Cinnamon Rolls: This one I’ve seen on a few of my favorite bloggers as their Christmas tradition, (Victoria’s included), and I’ve loved this idea. What doesn’t sound better than having some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls on this exciting morning.
What are some of your Christmas traditions? Today I am linking up with Victoria and Sarah for It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year linkup! Come join us! 🙂
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Jesus>Marriage
I can’t believe it’s November and Christmas is right around the corner. I’m really excited for the holiday season. I want this season to be filled with growth in my relationship with Jesus. I’ve been struggling for the past few months with my relationship with God, which I have shared a little bit about here on the blog. I want to keep striving through this tough season and keep seeking His face above all else.
Getting married changes so much about your life. I know this probably seems to be the only thing I blog about lately but it’s honestly been one of the main things on my mind since May. It’s a wonderful thing in many instances. You get to live with your best friend. You always have someone to hang out with. You have someone to lean on in the hard times. It’s a time that’s full of new beginnings and new joys that you never knew were possible.
But I want to share with you guys that marriage isn’t all roses and butterflies. I want to bring some light to marriage to anyone who may be reading this and thinking, “If only I could find someone to marry…”. Like I said marriage is a gift, and a great gift at that, but it is also hard and demanding at times. I don’t want anyone believing the lie that once you get married then you will be truly happy, or once I get a boyfriend, or once I get a boy to like me. The best thing that ever happened to me wasn’t getting married. It was realizing that the God of the universe loved me enough to die for me. Knowing I have worth to the God that created everything I see is such a humbling and awesome thing. Don’t lose sight of this.
I used to think that once Tommy and I were married everything would be perfect. I knew I’d still have struggles and hard times but I thought that they wouldn’t be so bad because we’d be together. And hear me out, this just isn’t true. Trials are trials no matter if you’re single, married, divorced, or widowed. Each trial is unique in it’s own way and the only thing that really gets you through it, is to seek God’s face above all else. Seek God’s face in the midst of the trial and that’s when you will find true joy. I read so many blog posts about this same idea many times before I was married and I never learned until I walked it myself. If I can spare one person from believing this lie, that will be enough for me.
If it is your desire to be married, keep pressing in and asking the Lord for this, but don’t believe that only then will you be truly happy. Being married can be hard, just like being single can be hard. Resting in knowing God is for us is what will get us through anything. Let me know how I can pray for you specifically if this is something you might be struggling with. It is close to my heart because it was and probably still is in some ways a personal struggle of mine as well and would love to encourage you along the way!
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Fall Bucket List: Apple Picking
One of my favorite things to do in the fall is go apple picking. This year I tried to plan a trip with my husband, brother, his girlfriend, my cousin and her boyfriend but the weather just did not want to cooperate. We were supposed to go this past Saturday but it was freezing and rainy so we rescheduled it for Sunday instead, and even though only my husband and I were able to go, it was seriously the perfect little trip.
We started our morning like our usual Saturday morning, with coffee and breakfast made by my husband, always so yummy. Then we headed to the apple orchard after relaxing for a little while. The drive was beautiful and honestly made us both even more excited to go apple picking.
It was such a great time, the weather was perfect, and the apples were delish. We also had apple cider hot dogs (!), which didn’t really taste like apple cider at all to me, but were still yummy. But the most delicious thing we got was apple cider donuts. They were the.best.thing.ever. I already am wishing I had more.
It really was a beautiful day and I’m really glad we went. I can’t wait to make apple pie with all of the apples we picked. What’s on your fall bucket list?
