the old & lots of new

i LOVE traditions. & this year we are having to change & create a few of our own.

this is mine & M's first christmas together as husband & wife {i'll never get tired of saying that}. we had a long debate about what we wanted to do for christmas morning. do we want to spend it together with our girls in our little woodsy home. spend it at his folks house. or my parent's place.

at first the decision was easy. let's spend it at home, just us two & the pups. but then i realized i wasn't excited about christmas morning. the thought of spending it without more family or gifts under the tree made us rethink our decision.

fortunately we live close enough to both of our parents. i know many families aren't able to visit all of their families & loved one around the holidays. though we might complain about having to drive so much, we know how fortunate we are. that being said, we settled with spending christmas morning at my parents. i have two twelve year old sisters who still like waking everyone up at the crack of dawn. after a few cups of coffee & a shower, we will hop in the car & head over to the brotherton's for christmas number two.

M & i didn't buy each other much. we agreed we would just stuff each other's stockings. i'm all about trying to keep things exciting & different. i'd loved to know what all you do around christmas time to make it fun but on a budget. so please share!

merry christmas eve!

pictures are from our hike the other day in northern georgia. the weather was perfect. we had lunch midway through the hike. the girls had a blast exploring & playing. it was so nice.