Although it is about to be two weeks into the new year, I took some time after the celebrations and gatherings of Christmas to really reflect on my year. I took some time off social media, spent some time organizing and making memories with my family. If you know me I post on social media at least once a day. Through 2020 I got into a bad habit of checking my phone any chance I had to see what may be going on in the world today. Obviously there was a lot going on in our world. I have been struggling with the idea to delete social media altogether because it has been such a distraction. In reality I use social media for work but I have realized that I have a big problem with using it more for entertainment than the tool I had intended it to be.
The thing is that I started blogging when my big girls were little. I wanted an online journal to keep pictures and memories of our life. I wanted to document the lessons I have learned as a new mom and be able to show these blog posts to them one day. I have been so obsessed with seeing other peoples lives and maintaining followers I lost sight of my entire reason for being in this space. I have decided that from now on I will post a weekly blog. I want to be able to have my children look back and remember me being present and not on my phone 24-7. I will still remain on social media, I will still share bits here and there but I want to go into 2021 with PURPOSE and INTENTION. If 2020 has taught me anything it is that my life still goes on in my home even if the world has stopped. My purpose is to be the best example to my children. We do not allow the girls their own screen or devices and I need to make sure my daily habits reflect that. My in intention with this space is to collect and record our memories. Taking a ten days away from my phone was needed and I realized how much time I didn’t spend looking into my girls faces and watching them change right before my eyes. I also hope to incorporate more videos of my family because the girls always enjoy watching them. I pray that your 2021 is as blessed as mine has already been. Here are a few pictures of Christmas and our celebrations.
We celebrated the beginning of the Christmas week with dinner at my sister’s house. She cooked delicious white lasagna and I made sweet rolls and a salad. We baked cookies and made muddy buddies. The girls ended up spending the night, they were overdue for a sleepover. We all missed each other since they had been vacationing in the Colorado snow the week prior.
We have a dinner date tradition with Ryan’s brother and sister and their spouses. We pick a fancy restaurant and splurge instead of exchanging gifts. His sister moved to Canada in September so it was just two couples this year. Paige and Dillon drove to us and we had dinner at Tommy Bahamas on Market Street and took pictures around the huge Christmas tree.
We attended the children’s mass on Christmas Eve and the girls participated in a nativity play.
Ornament gifts from our church 
Norah was a sheep, but didn’t make it to the barn 
Madelyn the cow 
Mia the Inn Keeper
Ryan’s mom and step dad spent Christmas Eve with us decorating cookies for Santa. We opened up presents and hung out at the creek behind our home Christmas morning. It was a beautiful day to celebrate Christ’s birthday.
Making cookies for Santa with Bebe 
Pop Pop 
Too much Christmas Day excitement 
Her face 
Beautiful Christmas 
We spent Christmas evening at Ryan’s brothers house, we ate an Italian soup dinner with bread, salad and all the dessert of course. We opened presents, watched a movie and spent the night. We made breakfast and let the kids play the next day. The cousins always have so much fun together. I found out later that the kiddos talked about trips we had taken in the past to the Bluebell factory and the zoo.
We relaxed on Saturday, watched movies in their new fort and played with toys.
Inventors kit-made a car 
Movies in the fort 
Play dough butt 
Cuddling with a huge unicorns
Sunday after Christmas was filled with Mass, friends and caroling. We celebrated the baptism of a friend which was catered by an Asian food truck. We then attended a soup Christmas caroling party that evening. We went door to door singing in exchange for donations for the food pantry. So much singing, laughing and whiskey in the Irish coffee. There was a dessert contest and fun conversations with my favorite ladies.
Mass 
Welcome Isabel 
Enjoying the food 
Playing after the baptism 
Caroling with friends 
Irish coffee
We finished the celebrations with driving to Lufkin and spent New Year’s Day at my mom’s house in Lufkin. We ate lunch at my mom’s and dinner at my grandma’s. Norah learned that my aunt and grandma equal food and all the snacks. My niece spent the night and we watched Parent Trap (new version). We spent the next day with Ryan’s dad and step mom. We had delicious soup, corn bread and banana pudding. The girls opened presents and played all afternoon. We were able to sneak away for a date night with Ryan’s dad with live music and appetizers.
Reading before movie time 
My mom niece, mom and sister 
My aunt and grandma 
Ryan’s dad with the girls 
Nana and new toys 
Pa listening to Mia on Ryan’s old recorder
Madelyn wanted a kitty so bad and I was very close to saying yes but changed my mind at the last minute. Thankfully she found one to foster for a few hours at Ryan’s dads house. The neighbors next door were cat sitting but Bella the cat kept escaping and showing up at Pa and Nana’s door.
Our favorite part of the holidays was getting to tell all of our friends and family the gender of Baby Williams in person. We had a long drawn out story which I will write later. It was so funny to keep them all in suspense as long as we could. We enjoyed getting so much quality time with all of our loved ones. We have been so blessed that our family and friends have been healthy. A true gift this Christmas was definitely true uninterrupted time together. 2021 will be so exciting for our family and I look forward to writing about it.
