How we celebrated Christmas all year.

After putting up our tree this year, we realized it looked awfully sad without gifts under it.

We didn't really buy gifts this year, since we bought our first house this summer, not to mention lots of gorgeous furniture for it. We were also given some amazing mid-century furniture from Nathan's grandparents to help us furnish our new home. On top of that, we did tons of upgrades ourselves, including new drywall, paint, fixtures including lighting and ceiling fans, hardware like doorknobs, a new front door with a Crestview window and beautiful wood floors in Nathan's office, the dining room, the living room and the front hall.
Then, in October, Nathan was able to quit his job and go full time as a photographer. This has been a dream that we've believed in and worked towards the last three or four years. For us, Nathan going fulltime is in the realm of such important events as getting married, moving to Austin, and buying our home. We got married eleven years ago, moved to Austin ten years ago, but going fulltime and buying a home both happened within a few months of each other!
When I stopped to think about it, I realized we also got an amazing new scooter, a fabulous grill, and in February, I'll be going to the annual Austin SCBWI conference. (Ask me about it and I'll squeal like a tween at a Bieber concert.)

All that to say, we had many, many wonderful things that we were able to get and to do, and this was a HUGE year for us. So instead of no gifts under our tree, I wrapped empty boxes. On each tag, I wrote down something like "Happy House filled with Love!" and "Happy Fulltime Photography Business!" etc.

It's my way of counting our blessings, feeling grateful, and in a way, celebrating Christmas all year long.
Also, it looks way prettier.

Hope you all had wonderful holidays as well and that your New Years will be filled with Love and Happiness,
Amy