Traditional Christmas Letter – 2020 Edition

Happy 5 year anniversary of me sitting down & writing a “traditional” Christmas letter! I’m not sure if this officially makes me an old lady or not, but I refuse to give this up. In a day & age where it seems people slip further & further from the “traditions” of the past, this is one tradition that I really love. I remember, as a little girl, getting Christmas cards in the mail & sitting down with the letters my family would receive to read all about my parent’s friends & what they’d done that year. Most of the families I only knew in passing, so it was a ton of fun to get this glimpse into other people’s lives.

And so, I invite you to take a peak into our lives! I love this part of the year! I love sitting down & reflecting & thinking & remembering – it’s one of my favorite Christmas traditions & I simply refuse to give it up (old lady status or not!)
2019 Letter // 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 2020 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!)

So, let’s talk about the crazy year that’s been 2020 (and it’s for sure been a crazy one!)
I want to preface all of this by saying: our 2020 really hasn’t been all that bad. Crazy, yes – but bad no. Sure, there have been some disappointing & depressing moments, but there have also been some really wonderful moments. It’s been a year of pivoting & being flexible, being understanding & being spontaneous!

After the massive push in 2019 to really get Derrick’s business up & off the ground, we had some pretty lofty goals in 2020 to continue that upward motion. (If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about – in 2019, Derrick finally found a way to make some money with his passion for roller coasters – in the form of a YouTube channel. He grew his channel from 1k to 5k subscribers in 2019! Obviously, that’s the super-condensed-nutshell version – read more about that at the beginning of last year’s Christmas letter.)

So, we had some really fun trips planned for 2020 to continue growing his channel & the year started off great.

In February, we took some time off & set off on our first trip of the year! We visited the newly opened American Dream Mall & Nickelodeon Universe – an indoor theme park – complete with roller coasters, flat rides, over-priced food, and Nickelodeon characters (like Chase & Skye from PAW Patrol & Blue from Blue’s Clues!) It was the perfect diversion during the cold winter season when everything else around us is closed down & we had a blast!

On our way home, we further surprised the kids by stopping at The Great Wolf Lodge – an indoor waterpark resort in the Poconos. Words cannot describe how much fun we had on that trip. We just had SO much fun as a family. Braelynn was finally tall enough to be able to ride some of the bigger rides, and Leander was finally old enough (and walking!) to ride some of the family rides as well! The kids loved the waterpark & overall, we have the happiest memories from that trip.

Which, in hindsight, was perfect, because little did we know that March was right around the corner. And, unless you were living under a rock in 2020, you know what that means.

March arrived & with it, “COVID-19” became a daily topic of discussion. Everything began to shut down & we all hunkered down for a few weeks of “flattening the curve” (little did we know that those few weeks would draw out into the rest of the year).

We are so overwhelmingly thankful that, while so many got laid off & lost their jobs this year – that Derrick’s “real” job has remained constant. He has continued going into work every single day, as his job was considered an “essential” service. And while things got weirder & scarier out in the world, we simply hunkered down & stayed home.

I was supposed to shoot a wedding at the end of March, and it was postponed (unfortunately, to a date I was unavailable, so I lost that wedding).
We were supposed to attend the media event & grand opening of Orion at Kings Island in April (their brand new roller coaster), and everything was canceled.
We had plans to take a big roller coaster riding trip at the end of April, and that was canceled.
Normally, my family opens up the Lakehouse at the end of March/beginning of April, and that was put off.
We even stayed home & completely to ourselves for Easter, as we were all under “stay-at-home” orders & everything was just so unknown.

It was a strange, uncertain time for everyone. My business basically stalled out. Derrick still created content for his YouTube channel, but lacked anything new & fresh. We spent a lot of time FaceTiming our family & friends, trying to stay connected, but feeling so isolated at home.

April & May were long, quiet months for us (as they were for everyone). But by mid-May, things quickly began to move forward again. My parents were finally able to cross the border into Maryland to open up the Lakehouse (which we all agreed – if we had to quarantine somewhere, we wanted to quarantine together at the Lake!)

Also, my sister’s wedding was coming up! Amy & Nathan had been engaged for 2 years, and literally nothing would stop them from getting married in June. Like so many couples, they were forced to make some really difficult decisions about their venue & guest list, and finally they decided to completely change everything about their wedding & have an intimate ceremony & reception in my parent’s backyard – with just immediate family attending. We all jumped in to help as they cancelled their venue & we set out to transform my parent’s backyard into a wedding venue. June 6th ended up being the most perfect, beautiful, sunshiney day, and we all had a blast celebrating Amy & Nathan (finally) getting married. Braelynn was a flower girl, Leander was the ring bearer, I took on the role of “coordinator” for the day, and Derrick was the videographer.

As the end of June approached – rumors arose that certain amusement parks were going to finally open for the season. And Derrick & I were faced with a question: would we go? Would we take our family & visit amusement parks in 2020?

After weighing all the pros & cons – we decided to go for it. We planned to go away the first full week of July, and then at the last minute, Derrick & I were invited to attend Hersheypark’s Media Day for the opening of their brand new roller coaster and so our trip actually kicked off on July 2nd. Three days later, we drove down to Tennessee to spend a few days at Dollywood. Normally, we plan our trips out meticulously, but the name of the game in 2020 was “spontaneity”. We ended up staying at Dollywood longer than anticipated (because we were simply having SO much fun & absolutely loved staying on property at the Dream More Resort – we just couldn’t leave!) We then traveled over to Holiday World in Indiana, then on to Kentucky Kingdom in Kentucky, and we finished out our week at Kings Island in Ohio. When we got home, Kennywood had finally opened, so we visited our home park for the first time & suddenly, things started to feel a bit normal again.

Over the next 7 weeks, we packed in as much roller coaster riding as we could. We went to Kennywood at least once a week. We took the kids to Hersheypark for an extended weekend. Derrick & I went to Cedar Point by ourselves for a day. And then we ended our roller coaster riding season with another extended weekend trip to Cedar Point, Kings Island, and the Great Wolf Lodge in Ohio. It was a full 8 weeks, but we did as much as we possibly could knowing that at any moment, things could turn south again & parks could get shut down again.
(And just in case you were curious: we felt 100% safe at every single amusement park we went to this summer. Almost every park had a mask mandate & took your temperature before entering the park. Rides were constantly getting cleaned & sanitized (like we’ve never seen before) and so were every other high-touch surface. Hand sanitizing stations were everywhere & social distancing was highly encouraged via signs & taped-off areas on the ground. We felt safer at amusement parks than the grocery store & remained healthy thru the whole summer.)

The summer seemed to be themed “hold your breath & hope for the best” in regards to amusement parks – but also in regards to weddings. As a wedding photographer, I monitored the news & pandemic situation closely. I had a full season booked & as every wedding approached, I held my breath & crossed my fingers that my sweet couples would be able to move forward with their wedding days! And thankfully, most of them were able to have their weddings – even if they had to drastically change certain aspects of their plans. I had couples who were forced to change their reception venues, change their ceremony locations, find new caterers, and drastically reduce their guest lists – but they still forged forward. In total, I only had 4 weddings get either cancelled or postponed to next year (which, truly was not that bad, as I have friends who had 90% of their weddings get canceled or postponed!)

I am overwhelmingly grateful for my little business, the flexibility it offers us as a family, and the flexibility I can offer my couples, all while still bringing in a secondary income to support our family & doing something I truly love!

Speaking of family – let me give you a little update on the kiddos:

Braelynn turned 5 years old this past January & we packed our house full-to-overflowing (something we definitely took for granted pre-pandemic!) for a PAW Patrol birthday party – complete with a piñata that I made for her. She is now rounding the bend to 6 years old & anxiously looking forward to her birthday next month (which, she can’t decide whether she wants a Toy Story themed party or a Sonic theme – I guess we’ll have to wait & see!)
We did preschool together for the ’19-’20 school season & started kindergarten this fall. Our girl is so so smart – she’s quickly learning to read & write and she loves doing simple math. Her favorite passtime continues to be anything art-related – she will sit & draw/color/create for hours on end (usually leaving an explosion of scrap paper, glue, and markers in her wake). We have to buy her new markers every 6-8 weeks because she literally colors them dry (a terrible problem to have, I know). Our walls & refrigerator are plastered with fresh Braelynn-art & if you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she will quickly answer, “An artist.”
Over the summer, Braelynn graduated from a toddler bed, to a twin bed & she spontaneously seemed to grow from a little girl into a tiny woman overnight. She will literally talk your ear off & is extremely social (you can only imagine how challenging this pandemic has been on her – she desperately misses our weekly trips to the library & lunch dates with grandparents & Sunday School at church). She is quick to make friends with anyone & loves to chat over the fence with our neighbors (who are so sweet & love her to death).
She found a new obsession when we introduced her to the Toy Story movies a few months ago (move over, PAW Patrol!) and Derrick also introduced her to her very first video game. She loves to play Sonic with her Daddy & it’s been a fun bond for the two of them to share. Her imagination continues to be a large as the universe & she loves to play with her little figures & toys & stuffed animals.

Braelynn is a wonderful big sister and she adores her little brother. They play together really well (except for that moment a few days ago when she built a literal wall of pillows & chairs to keep her brother out of her space. “I love him Mom, but I need some space to be alone right now,” she told me – much to Leander’s disappointment!)

Speaking of Leander – our sweet boy just turned 2 years old! He’s 2 – going on 6, just like his big sister – or so it seems! He follows Braelynn around everywhere and attempts to do everything she does. He gets the most upset when she’s doing something that he can’t follow along & do as well – and that goes for talking too! He jabbers on just like Braelynn does, only, we can’t quite understand what he’s trying to say. He’s repeating the things we say more & more, but until that day when he starts spitting out full sentences, we love hearing his little babblings which he thinks are coherent words.
Leander has a blanket that he’s become very attached to over the last year – he affectionately calls it his “gankie”. He carries it everywhere (think Linus from Peanuts) and his soothing mechanism is sucking his middle & ring fingers on his left hand. It’s so darn sweet to see.
He is 100% boy – he loves cars & trucks & motorcycles & trains. If it has wheels (or even if it doesn’t) he’s rolling it around the furniture & walls. He loves dinosaurs & I love to catch him walking his dinos along, stopping to ROAR every few moments. Of course – his favorite thing to watch on TV is the Disney Cars movies & Blaze (a Nickelodeon show about monster trucks). He loves watching Toy Story with his sister too & “Buzz!” is his favorite character.
He remains an excellent sleeper, is a bit of a picky eater, and is an excellent traveler. His favorite ride at amusement parks is the carousel & he officially rode his very first coaster this summer at Kennywood (although, it was honestly a little too much for him & he wasn’t super thrilled with the experience). He loves to be outside & would run around, in bare feet, all day long if I’d let him (he was not a fan of the snow we got a few weeks ago though, mostly due to the fact that he had to wear snowpants, a coat, boots, gloves, and a hat in order to go outside!)

In a nutshell – Braelynn & Leander are our two very favorite people in the whole world & we love them desperately.

Let me get back around to Derrick for a moment! He has officially worked at Shred-It for 6 years now (whew, that’s crazy). He doesn’t mind it, but his heart definitely lies in another type of work, namely, roller coasters & videography. Derrick got himself a fancy new mirrorless camera this year & his videography has improved by leaps & bounds! He continues to work on his skill in capturing roller coasters & creating fantastic YouTube content with his videos & he only gets better & better.
Speaking of his YouTube channel – he now has 8.68k followers. It hasn’t quite been the year of growth that he had last year, but he’s still made some really positive strides forward. Next year, he’s looking forward to smashing the milestone that is 10k!!
Beyond that – he decided to try his hand at something new this year: wedding videography. Derrick has come with me, as my second photographer to quite a few weddings (so he already has a good feel for the ebb & flow of a wedding day), but when my sister Amy asked him if he would do some video of her & Nathan’s wedding day – he said YES. And spoiler alert: he loved it. He then was given the opportunity to do wedding videography for a wedding I was photographing at the beginning of November & after that wedding, he was officially hooked. He came home literally bursting with excitement over how much he loved that experience (a sentiment he has never shared about photographing a wedding). All of which has led us to some exciting ideas & opportunities for next year – stay tuned to see where Derrick’s videography takes him next!

Speaking of YouTube – I decided to hop on the YouTube bus this year & I created a channel too! It’s nowhere close to Derrick’s channel (I think I have 17 subscribers), but it all started back in the spring/early summer when I wanted a place where I could make some videos & connect with my brides & grooms – while we were all living that quarantine life. I made a handful of “wedding” themed videos & had a TON of fun with that (but, WHEW were they a ton of work!) and then, I decided to try my hand at vlogging on our amusement park trips. I had no idea if I could do it – my hands are full as it is at amusement parks – I have 2 kids to keep an eye on, a husband to keep up with, I try to take as many photos for Derrick as possible – and I wanted to add in taking video as well? Was I crazy?
The answer is yes, but after putting together my first vlog from our first trip to Kennywood this summer, I was officially hooked. As much as I loved having photos of the kids on rides & enjoying the park, I realized that I loved having VIDEO of them even more! Seeing their smiling faces, hearing their little voices, seeing their excitement – video truly is magical! And so, I began to capture videos at every park we went to after that & thus began “The Adventuring Abbeys” series. I’m obsessed with vlogging at amusement parks now & literally kicking myself for not doing it earlier!

Okay, aside from amusement parks, we also spent lots of extended time at the Lake this summer with my family and we also took a weekend trip up to Lake Ontario with Derrick’s family. We didn’t really make any major updates to our house this year – after renovating the 3rd floor last year & realizing that the only access to that space (Derrick’s studio space) was thru Leander’s bedroom, we decided to trade spaces with our little boy. In other words: Leander now has the biggest bedroom in our house (we call him “the king”). But, that’s okay, because we count the 3rd floor as an extension of our bedroom.
We have plans to add a second bathroom, update the laundry room, and add a mudroom downstairs – but those plans haven’t started yet. We’re hoping to tackle that project in the spring!

In other pretty big news: Derrick & I celebrated TEN years of marriage this year! Our tenth anniversary was in April, when everything was shut down, so Derrick arranged for us to go over to my parent’s house & have dinner. But not dinner with my family – they kept our kids upstairs & outside while we had dinner downstairs in their basement (which they had decorated with candles & flowers & twinkle lights). It was definitely an anniversary to remember & I am just so thrilled & thankful to have spent the last 10 years with my best friend.

That leads us to one last household member I haven’t talked about yet: Abby. Our Abby also turned 10 years old this summer & her age is (sadly) beginning to catch up with her. Don’t get me wrong, she still loves to chase her frisbee & will play fetch for as long as you’ll throw – but she’s beginning to get really grey around her eyes & nose. She isn’t quite as perky as she once was, preferring to simply keep her spot laying on the couch. She’s still the most loveable, sweet dog – who literally lets the kids do anything to her (including sitting on her, pulling her paws & tail, and dragging her all over the house). She sleeps with Braelynn & she will not go to bed unless Abby is in her room.
I still take weekly photos based around her – you can follow my blog every Saturday for a fresh Abby’s Saturday photo, plus a little update on what we’re up to.

PHEW – so 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 2020 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 2021 goals – so, lots of fun to come! I invite you to stick around & enjoy!