Simply Sara: My First Hickman Christmas

Friday, January 4, 2013

My First Hickman Christmas

I know this is very, very late, but I'm just now getting a weekend to unwind since the week before Christmas. Brett and I headed to Holden Beach for our first married Christmas. Most people would tell you that holidays can cause a lot of stress, especially if both spouses are close to their families (like Brett and I are). Since we did Thanksgiving with my family, we planned on spending Christmas with Brett's. It was my first Christmas away from my parents. The thing that made me really sad was thinking that neither Chris nor I would be there for Christmas. There would be no waking up and Mom checking to see if Santa came or making sure that Dad was awake and out of bed.

It honestly took me a while to be okay with the idea of not spending Christmas with my family. I had to be purposeful in putting Brett before myself, remembering he missed Thanksgiving with his family. About a week before Christmas, I got to the point of still being sad that I wouldn't be in New Hill, but excited about getting to experience Brett's family Christmas. I looked forward to seeing his family's traditions.

Here are a couple of Hickman traditions:

Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (I had never watched the whole movie in one sitting)
Making Christmas cookies (a new tradition for the Hickman women)
Going to the Christmas Eve Service
Coming down in pajamas on Christmas morning
Getting together with Gail's brother Edward and his family Christmas afternoon
Eating massive amounts of casseroles

At the end of the day, I was thankful to be able to share Christmas with my second family. I love them all. Below is a picture montage of our Christmas.