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- Welcome to 2021! There’s just something delicious about the start of a brand new year. Everything is new & fresh – it’s definitely an exciting time (in my head, at least).
- It’s the first Saturday of the year & that means it’s time for Abby’s yearly “hat” photo! I’m not even sure how I fell into this “series”, but here it is! If you’d like to go back & see the other hats Abby has worn in years past, you can see those here: #280, #181, #129, #21 (it’s a good progression to show our poor pup’s grey hair coming in around her nose – poor girl!)
- So, it feels like it’s been forever since I sat down & wrote a “traditional” Abby’s Saturday post. In fact, I almost forgot that today was Saturday! Derrick had a bunch of time off he needed to use before the end of the year, so he took days off last week for Christmas & then had days off this week for New Years. It’s been delightful to have him home with us! We’ve done a bunch of little projects, but mostly just spent time resting & relaxing – watching movies, taking naps, eating Christmas cookies. Needless to say – I kind of jumped out of my skin a little bit around noon today when I realized that “Omigoodness – it’s Saturday!”
- So, yes! Last week was Christmas! It was such an untraditional version of the holiday that it almost doesn’t even feel like it happened. We celebrated Christmas early in the week (partly because Derrick was off & partly because we had plans to go visit his family over the long weekend). So, we had our Christmas morning on December 21st. The kids are still too young to understand dates on the calendar, so it didn’t bother them at all – it was a little strange (psychologically) for Derrick & I though. We had a wonderful, relaxing day though – mostly because we didn’t have to instantly pack everyone up to leave & go somewhere else! The kids were able to really dig in & open all of their new toys, we were able to relax & have a delicious breakfast as a family – oh and then I went to the chiropractor.
- There’s a story for you: so, I don’t know what I did, but I injured my low-back super bad the week leading up to Christmas. It was probably a mix of a lot of things – but needless to say, I spent most of the weekend (before Christmas) on the couch, barely able to walk, crying to myself that I was probably going to die (yes, I tend to exaggerate a bit). Somehow I made it thru putting gifts under the tree Sunday night with Derrick (one of my absolute favorite traditions as a parent) & made it through opening gifts Monday morning – but then I jetted off to the chiropractor (a huge benefit to it actually not being the “real” Christmas – the chiropractor was open!) Thankfully, he was able to diagnose out my problem pretty quickly & was confident that after just one adjustment that I’d notice a huge improvement – and I did! I walked out of the chiropractor feeling like a totally different person. It wasn’t an “instantaneous” healing, but by 48 hours later, I was feeling pretty much 100% back to normal. (Thank the Lord!)
- Since we weren’t able to go to any Christmas events at amusement parks this year (Kennywood wasn’t open for their Holiday Lights this year – boo pandemic), we decided to go check out the Pittsburgh Zoo’s Christmas Light display. You simply drove thru the Zoo & they had lights all along the pathways – we were able to see the elephants, and a few other animals thru the different enclosures, but that was about it. The kids loved it & it was a fun cap to our Christmas “day”.
- We were able to spend time with Derrick’s family & my family for Christmas – even though it was a bit different from our “traditional” Christmas get-togethers. But that’s okay. We still loved seeing everyone & simply being together!
- We spent New Year’s Eve here at home (we’re boring old people now). Derrick & I watched the new Wonder Woman movie – which kept us awake until midnight – and then we crashed. I’m a natural night-owl, so I don’t have too much of a problem staying up late – but our kids are natural early-birds, so that means we were up early the next morning, whether we liked it or not!
- We have the absolute sweetest neighbors on the planet! We baked Christmas cookies last week & took plates of cookies to our neighbors on both sides of us. Braelynn is friends with the little girl next door & so they exchanged gifts with each other – but then the neighbors on the other side surprised us by bringing over Christmas gifts for our kids! We were so surprised – it was the sweetest gesture (and we’re never moving).
- I wrote my annual “looking back/looking forward” Year In Review post! It’s massive with just shy of 3,000 words (yikes!) But, it’s the 7th year in a row that I’ve answered the same questions – it’s SO good to look back at previous goals & ideas & see what I’ve accomplished!
- Otherwise, we had a really low-key Christmas & New Years.
I’m still working on finishing up all of my year-end business stuff, plus I’m working on all of the fun beginning-of-year stuff I do (pulling photos for bloopers, behind-the-scenes, favorites).
I convinced Derrick to give TikTok & Instagram Reels a try with his business & we’ve been working on creating a bunch of videos – it’s been a super fun experiment & it’s been so “refreshing” to brainstorm ideas & try something new!
Braelynn’s birthday will be here before we know it, so I really need to start working on those plans!
In other words, just because it’s the “off-season” for my wedding photography & roller coaster riding – that by no means means that we’re bored – we’re super busy & have lots of exciting things in store to share over the next few weeks!
[…] like to go back & see the other hats Abby has worn in years past, you can see those here: #332, #280, #181, #129, #21 (it’s a good progression to show our poor pup’s grey hair coming in […]