12/25/2021
On one hand, it seems like we just had Christmas. On the other, it’s been a very long and full year! One year ago, we were in California, just us and no family. I was newly pregnant with Gus, Max was a couple weeks away from being 1 year old, and it was our first Christmas without Zoey. The year before that, we celebrated Christmas with just ourselves and Zoey, with Max in my belly a couple weeks from being born - living in a hotel while waiting for military housing. The year before that (2018) was our last Christmas before kids, but of course we didn’t know it at the time. It was one of THE most memorable ones though, because it was in Germany and my family and Mark’s brother visited us! And our first Christmas in Europe, it again was just us and Zoey.
As a military family, you never know what Christmas will look like. For a short while, we thought that Mark would be away on an assignment during Christmas this year - so I temporarily had to adjust my expectations. It was a good exercise in being flexible and accepting of our circumstances! Christmas during infertility also was not the easiest, although family greatly helped take away the sting of that cross. We’ve also had 3 Christmases where we couldn’t decorate due to moving - for 2 of those, we didn’t even have a home yet! This year is the first time we’ve hosted Mark’s parents, and not only do we get to celebrate Christmas Day with them, we get to visit my family next week during the 12 days of Christmas! Our nomadic and unpredictable military life makes me savor these times of “normalcy.” A tree. Lights outside. Wrapped gifts. A homemade dinner. The crèche. Family.
I don’t know what next Christmas will look like. Hopefully similar to this one. But being married to someone who is insightful about current events, especially in light of the eternal, has brought on some serious-themed conversations about what the near future may hold. But for now, for this Christmas season, I want to focus on what really matters: the fact that the Son of God came to earth and was a tiny baby, like us “in all things but sin,” in order to die on the cross to save us. What a Savior. What a gift. Merry Christmas everyone! 🎄