New Adventure: First East Coast Christmas

New Adventure: Our first holiday season in Maryland. It wasn't a very smooth holiday season. The reality is I took down the tree the first chance I got on the 26th, but here's to new adventures still.

A first for us this Christmas season was the rain. I have never in my life been in rain this time of year, went to a tree lighting in rain, picked out a Christmas tree in rain, rain, rain, rain. I am told this was not a typical season, which makes me feel much better. Although I let the rain steal most of my Christmas spirit this year, it is a new experience that I can add to the list.

Rain aside, we had a blast decorating this year. It was nice to get lights up to warm up the house a bit, and the boys absolutely loved decorating the tree. 

 Pretty tree. You're not taking Christmas away from me this year rain!!

....then our little tor-nate-o whirled through the house...

Yes, that is our pretty tree crashed....
We joked that my Christmas spirit this year went down with the tree, but I know that wasn't just a joke. That's the moment I was truly done with Christmas this year.

I felt about like the photo above.
But, in the spirit of not giving up (since the spirit of Christmas was now absent), I pressed on through the season to make it great still...


...starting with Polar Express night tradition!

Yes I even got teary eyes with the "believe" and bell ringing at the end. That helped.

The best parts of Christmas this year included Christmas Eve traditions with family at the boys' Great Grandma's house.

And of course, we spent our first Christmas morning in our new home in Maryland. The boys were spoiled as usual!

Yep...spoiled.

"Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere...."

I miss snow. I miss it so much. It's funny how such a simple thing can make a place harder to feel like home. This South Dakota/Colorado girl wasn't expecting a new rainy Christmas experience to feel quite as sad as it did. There were some very nice moments, and the kids' eyes lighting up Christmas morning will always be one of the greatest feelings in the world, and extended family is amazing. I still smile thinking of all the fun the boys' had with all of their cousins this holiday season.

In the end, the truth in Christmas (imperfect and all), the grace God extends, the family I'm grateful for, and the light in my boys' eyes Christmas morning all became the focus of Christmas this year. Those are what I will remember most looking back at Christmas 2014, our first in our new home.

New experiences together: rainy Christmas season, big family, first Christmas in Maryland, check, check, CHECK!  Bring on the next holiday!