Traditional Christmas Letter – 2019 Edition

It’s my 4th year to sit down & write a “traditional” Christmas letter!! And I’ll be dreadfully honest, I’m not doing this for any of you people out there reading this – I’m writing this for me. You see, this way, I have a synopsis of our year, in condensed form, in one place, year after year. Have you ever looked back on an event, thinking it was just a year or two ago, then realizing that it was multiple years ago? I do that all the time! Thus I’ve learned: if I don’t take the time to sit down & write things out, I forget! So, even though I am inviting you, wholeheartedly, into this synopsis of our year, just know that I’m (secretly, but, not-so-secretly since I just let the cat out of the bag) writing this mostly for myself. And guess what? I love this part of the year! I love sitting down & reflecting & thinking & remembering – it’s one of my favorite Christmas traditions!
2018 Letter // 2017 Letter // 2016 Letter

If you follow along with my blog, my Facebook, or my Instagram on a regular basis, you probably have a pretty good idea of what our year looked like, but in an effort to give a complete overview of the year 2019 in the Abbey house, I’ve put together this Christmas letter (and hopefully at least a few of you are here reading this because you got the note in our Christmas card & hopped on over! If so, welcome! I’m so glad you’re here!)

When I think about 2019, in my head I have given it a title: Derrick’s year.
I feel like, so many of our years being married have been focused on “me” – and my business. Getting my business started, investing in my business, putting a ton of time & effort into building my business. And it’s been fantastic. In 2018, I photographed 18 weddings! That’s WAY more than any of the goals I have ever set for myself.

But when I think about 2019 – I feel like we made a shift. Instead of the focus being entirely on my business, we pivoted & made a huge push for Derrick’s business. And whew, have things come a long long way from the beginning of the year, to the end of the year for Derrick!

Just in case you aren’t sure what Derrick’s “business” is, I can explain. Derrick has always been a little over-the-top obsessed with roller coasters (ever since he was a little boy). A few years ago, I encouraged him to start an Instagram account centered around roller coasters (I had to do something – he was filling my head with unending coaster trivia & he needed an outlet other than me). After running that for a period of time, he started a YouTube channel. At the beginning, he simply created original, unique roller coasters simulations, he would write his own music to accompany the coaster video, and that’s what he would publish. Then, a little over a year ago, he started creating more diverse content – doing park & ride reviews, analysis videos, & telling stories about his own experiences.

At the end of last year, when I wrote my “traditional Christmas letter” for 2018, Derrick had just reached 1,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel & he was finally able to place ads before his videos & collect ad revenue. This was a massive milestone & one he worked SO hard to reach!

Well, in 2019, Derrick has taken that 1,000 subscriber base & grown it to 5,000! He also hit the one million views mark – which was an incredible milestone! His channel has grown substantially & I am SO proud of him! He is constantly coming up with new ideas for new content, writing scripts, recording, and editing his videos.

With all that being said – he didn’t grow his channel by 500% by doing nothing. After last year, when I was pregnant for basically the entire year & thus we didn’t go to any new amusement parks – this was the year. We knew that if we wanted Derrick’s channel to continue to grow & generate revenue & expand, that he needed more content – and more content means we needed to go to new amusement parks.

And so, to new amusement parks we went! In June, we packed up our car & our two sweet babies & set out on an adventure. We started at Six Flags America (which is in Maryland), then went to Dutch Wonderland (which is in Lancaster, PA), on to Six Flags Great Adventure (which is in New Jersey), and lastly we visited Sesame Place (near Philadelphia). Heading into this first trip, we really weren’t sure how things were going to go. This was the first time we were traveling, by ourselves, with two kids. We would be staying in a different hotel (almost) every night, and going to a new amusement park every day. Would this be a major regret?

It was 100% the opposite – in fact, we had the most fun we have ever had on that trip. The kids were amazing & they loved every moment. They traveled so well in the car, they slept so well in random hotel rooms, they were happy & excited & we had a blast.

High off of that amazing experience, we decided: let’s keep this momentum up! So, we planned another trip – this one taking us a little further away! The first weekend of August, we headed north – further north than I have ever been in my entire life. We stopped in Connecticut to visit a small park called Quassy (Braelynn rode her very first “big” roller coaster there!) and then we visited a sister park to Kennywood called Lake Compounce. Then it was on to Massachusetts to spend 2 full days at Six Flags New England. Again, we had a marvelous, wonderful time. On our way home, we did miss a turn (completely unintentionally: we came around a bend & suddenly needed to be 6 lanes over) and we ended up in lower Manhattan. All we needed to do was drive one block up, turn left, and one block back & we’d be back on track – well, that one-block-turnaround took us over an hour – ROUGH. Otherwise, our trip was fantastic & it left us itching for more.

So, we booked one more roller coaster riding trip – this one not so far away & not so intense – we simply went to Cedar Point. We took the kids & stayed at Cedar Point’s indoor waterpark, so we spent a relaxing day playing in the water, before heading in & taking on the “big” coasters the next day. Braelynn loved the indoor waterpark. She was a little nervous at first & would only go down the slides in the little kiddie area, but once Derrick convinced her to give the bigger water slides a try – she was all in. We literally couldn’t get her to stop. She would hop out at the bottom & run right back up to the top! It was hilarious & so much fun!

Of course, in between those three roller coaster riding trips, we took plenty of trips to our home park of Kennywood. After having season passes to the park last year, we simply had to renew them for this year. And not just because we loved going to Kennywood about once a week, but because Kennywood opened a huge, record-breaking, brand-new coaster this year: Steel Curtain.

After a blog post I wrote about Kennywood opened the door for us to go take some behind-the-scenes photos of the park a few years back, we’ve kept in touch with the PR team there. Because of Derrick’s YouTube channel (and our good relationship with the PR team), Derrick was able to get in & tour Steel Curtain several times during construction. He posted regular updates on his YouTube channel & people just ate it up! So, of course, when the new coaster opened mid-summer this year – guess who was there? Derrick & I got invited to Media Day – the day before the coaster opened to the public – to come in, photograph & record the new coaster, and ride it before the general public could. What an INCREDIBLE, once-in-a-lifetime experience (except, not really, because now Derrick is trying to get into a bunch of Media Days in 2020!! Fingers crossed!!) We rubbed shoulders with a bunch of “famous” roller coaster nerds – YouTubers, people who run huge Instagram accounts, major content creators – we recognized SO many people (it was like being put in a room with a bunch of celebrities). The whole day was just an incredible experience – one we will never forget. We even got to bring Braelynn & Leander in with us for the second part of the day!! It was breathtaking to see them watching their Daddy pursue his dreams & actually achieve them!

So, yeah! When I say our year was very much focused on Derrick – now you can see why!

Even though, when I think of 2019, I’ll probably mostly remember all the parks we went to, there was more to our year (believe it or not) than just roller coasters.

In January, we kicked off the year by celebrating Braelynn’s 4th birthday. She was in love with the movie Tangled & the character Rapunzel, so we threw a Rapunzel-themed party – complete with a guest appearance by Flynn Rider (aka Derrick). It was quite the party – especially with a brand new baby boy in our house – he was just 8 weeks old when Braelynn turned 4!

After the whirlwind of that – we had a pretty slow spring. My first wedding of the season wasn’t until May, so I had a glorious 5-month “maternity leave”. What a huge difference from when Braelynn was born & I photographed my first wedding back when she was just 8 weeks old.

Those first 4-5 months of having 2 kids were simultaneously wonderful & so so hard. After getting over her initial aversion to her baby brother, Braelynn’s “big sister” instincts kicked in & she became a huge help. She adored her baby brother & would do anything to hold him, gave him endless kisses, and constantly wanted to play with him (hmm, I guess all of that is still mostly true – except when she is playing & he crawls over & wants to join in, then it’s not always so amicable).

So, as far as learning how to take care of 2 kids – that transition went very smoothly. There were other “complications” though that made life more challenging: like the fact that Leander was a terrible sleeper. He was a fantastic eater – he nursed like a champ from the day he was born. He has always had a super pleasant personality – smiling at everyone – overall a very happy dude. But he had a horrible time sleeping. So many nights were spent pacing back-and-forth & back-and-forth & back-and-forth with an overly-exhausted baby who simply would not sleep. By the time he was 4 months old, I was at my wits end. We were barely getting sleep in 2-hour increments – it was rough.

Which was when we took the leap & hired a sleep consultant. Well, we didn’t actually “hire” her one-on-one, we simply bought her online course. Derrick & I took it, we implemented her plan & within 2 weeks, Leander was sleeping 11-12 hours a night, in his own bed, only waking up once to nurse and taking 3 solid naps during the day. My life instantly changed. I literally went from feeling like a zombie to being alive again. Words cannot describe how those 2 weeks changed our lives. Ever since that time of sleep-training, Leander has been a sleep-king. He loves to sleep & he sleeps SO well.

Braelynn, Leander, & I spent 72 days at the Lake this year. Seventy-two! I mean, I knew we spent a lot of time there, but I’m a little shocked myself after counting up the days! We spent lots of weekends there as a family, but then spent so much time there with my Mom & sister Ruby – it was such a delightful way to spend most of the summer!

One of the reasons we were able to spend so much extended time at my family’s Lake House on Deep Creek Lake in Maryland was because as much as Derrick’s business was growing, mine slowed way down. After shooting 18 weddings in 2018, I was so thankful to book significantly less in 2019. I was a little worried: what did slowing down mean for my business? Would things bottom out after all the hard work I’d put into building it up? It was a little scary – but in hindsight – it was perfect. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I would have booked more weddings than I had. Transitioning from 1 to 2 kids hasn’t been easy, but it also hasn’t been exceptionally hard either – except when it comes to my business. I have had to completely, 100% rethink everything about how my business runs this year. With two little munchkins, the time in my days has shrunk even smaller than it was before & I’ve had to switch up a bunch of things in order to make my business continue to work. It’s definitely been one of the most challenging pieces of transitioning from 1 to 2 kiddos.

So, in hindsight – the 8 weddings I photographed this year ended up being the absolute perfect number. And if I was worried (did I say “if”? Because I was definitely worried for a little bit there!) about my business bottoming out & dying off after 2019 – those fears were completely unfounded. I’ve already booked more weddings for 2020 than I photographed in 2019, so I’m feeling much better & am super excited for next year!!

Derrick continues to work at Shred-It – he celebrated 5 years with the company just a few weeks ago! That’s his “day-job”, but look out world, because obviously his YouTube channel is growing & exciting things are coming in the future!!

With Leander’s arrival, Derrick’s office in our guest bedroom got “re-located” to our dining room so Leander could have a nursery. It was not ideal, especially when Derrick records audio for his videos, but he made it work. Ever since moving into our house 4 years ago, we had planned to renovate our 3rd floor & make it useable space. When we moved in, it was just storage, but we could see so much potential in that room! It took us over a year of work (with some major setbacks), but just a few weeks ago, we finally finished it! And 2 weeks ago, Derrick moved all of his equipment up to the 3rd floor – the brand new XscreamThrills studio space! It also doubles as a guest room (which we’ve already used on 2 separate occasions to host some of Derrick’s family!) and will also be part play-room for the kiddos. So far, just Derrick’s studio side of the room is set up – but boy, is he loving it! He feels so much more official now & you can just feel his big ideas getting bigger now that he has a space to call his own.

Braelynn will turn 5 in a little over a month! We officially started homeschooling her this year (just another reason why my days seem shorter than ever!) We have been doing Pre-School stuff & she loves it. She just eats it all up. Honestly though, I think the aspect of it that she most enjoys is the one-on-one time with Mommy. When Leander takes his nap, we do school, and it’s been so much fun to watch her learn & grow & remember things. She is a very fast learner & is super smart!

She continues to be obsessed with stuffed animals – a “stuffie” has to go with us everywhere – the grocery store, the library, Grandma’s house – everywhere. The silly thing is: she doesn’t really have a “favorite” stuffed animal. Oh, she has the favorite “of the day”, but after carrying the same “stuffie” around everywhere for a week or two, she’ll pick up another one to shower with her love & affection! It’s adorable. And she’s finally grasped the concept of naming her stuffed animals this year – of course, the names tend to stick as well as the “favorite” does, but that’s okay.

She still loves to read books, she loves to draw & create, and she has a great big gigantic imagination. She will sit with a set of figures and play with them for hours (no joke). She especially loves the PAW Patrol TV show (can you guess what her 5th birthday party will be themed to?) and she creates the most elaborate stories with her pup figures. I love to just sit back & (secretly) watch & listen to her – she’s so creative!

Leander just turned 1 year old! He has obviously grown by leaps & bounds this year! From holding his head up, to rolling over, to sitting up, to crawling, and now he is on the verge of walking any day now (I’ve predicted he’ll walk by Christmas – we’ll see!) He is such a silly boy – he loves to smile & laugh – he is constantly jabbering on to us (he has to keep up with all the words his big sister says) and we literally can’t imagine what life would be like without our sweet boy. He is a fantastic traveler (his big sister is too) and he adores Braelynn. He tries to follow her everywhere & she (mostly) enjoys the company – unless she’s specifically doing something & he comes over & interrupts, then it’s: “Mom! Leander’s touching my toys!” That’s typically when Leander switches gears & goes off to look for the dog – whom he affectionately calls, “Abba”.

Speaking of Abby – our sweet pup is now 9 years old (how is that possible?) And, she’s starting to show some of that age: she’s got grey & white hair around her eyes & nose now where it used to be all black. She still loves to chase a frisbee & loves to play, but more often than not, she’s just curled up somewhere, keeping a watchful eye on the kids or sleeping. For ages, we have tried to get Abby to sleep on a doggie bed we bought for her not too long after we adopted her (when she was just a few months old), but she never has taken to it. That is, until about a year ago, when we put it in Braelynn’s room – and now that’s where she sleeps – at the end of Braelynn’s bed. She is such a good dog – super patient with the kids & sometimes a little too affectionate (sometimes she thinks they need a bath – if you know what I’m saying).

Since Abby is 9 years old, that means that Derrick & I celebrated our 9-year wedding anniversary earlier this year. The fact that in just a few months, we’ll celebrate our 10th anniversary completely blows my mind – but I’ll talk about that in next year’s Christmas letter.

PHEW – now you know why I write these Christmas letters digitally. Can you imagine if I printed this beast out to mail to our family & friends? If you’ve read all of this & made it this far – you deserve a gold star! Thank you so much!

Believe it or not, this is not the end! I have so many exciting things coming to my blog soon! I’ve got 2019 highlights from all the weddings & engagement sessions I photographed, the super popular behind-the-scenes post of Derrick & I working throughout the year, an Abby’s Saturday bloopers reel, my 2020 goals – so, lots of fun to come! I invite you to stick around & enjoy!