Married & Mistletoe
Hi there, friends! Happy holidays from sunny Arizona! Today, I want to talk a little bit about what this year looks like for my first Christmas as a Mrs. For those who don’t know my voice as well, I'm Ana Grisham. I am a wife approaching one year married, a dog momma of 2, and a die-hard creative. My husband and I moved to Arizona from Chattanooga, TN, just two weeks after our wedding, and goodness, this holiday season looks DIFFERENT!
Shania is our Great Dane on the left, Rae is our German Shepherd on the right!
Let’s start with childhood, shall we? As a little girl, I always looked forward to the holidays. I remember decorating the house with my mom, watching all the Christmas classics, and going to my grandparent's house on Christmas Eve, where the gifts were abundant and so were the desserts! Every year, my parents would rush me home afterward to make certain I could hop in bed before Santa came. To your surprise, we made it home early every year. Unfortunately, this year, we won’t be rushing home on Christmas Eve because home looks different.
Fast forward to last week, my husband, Stanton, and I were fortunate enough to fly home to Tennessee for an early holiday celebration. Although we continued to celebrate with gifts, food, and the usual Christmas magic, this year was also served with a side of airplane delays, rental cars, and quick hugs. Can I get a woohoo? Just kidding. During our trip, we made sure to see all the people we possibly could, that meant 9 hours in the car, stopping in Chattanooga, Nashville, and Birmingham, AL, not my definition of “Christmas magic”, but it's definitely my definition of family filled!
As we went through our holiday vacation itinerary, it dawned on me just how different things really look this year. Instead of decorating the house for Christmas with my mom, I was decorating by myself while Stanton was on a work trip. Instead of watching the Christmas classics, I’ll watch them with the hubby and our pups snuggled up on the couch. The yearly traditions over the last 21 years of my life are changing.
Although I’m not entirely sure what the new traditions will be for Stanton and me, there is an exciting aspect to change. We get the opportunity to see Christmas lights in downtown Phoenix. We get to kiss under our new mistletoe from the Target “$5 section”, we have the privilege of serving at our new church for the Christmas Eve service, most importantly, we get to spend quality time together building new memories as husband and wife and celebrating the birth of Jesus. I am still a daughter, I still love Christmas, and change is still hard, but there is something so sweet about being able to start fresh, try something new, and build the life I’ve always dreamed about. My encouragement for you this week is: don’t let change stop you from embracing new opportunities. Who knows what beauty could come out on the other side?
I love and appreciate all our readers for supporting my mama and I! See you next week for another blog,
Ana, OUT! ❤