December was full of all of the fun Christmas activities!!
We started off the month by going to the Rock Hill Christmas Parade with friends and as always, it’s a fun and silly way to kick off the Christmas season!
It snowed!! In December in Rock Hill, SC! Pretty crazy. It was just an hour or so of the prettiest and biggest snow flakes falling and it didn’t stick, but it was pretty magical soaking it all in from work! Speaking of work, I moved into my own office in December and it has been a huge blessing! I’m so thankful for the group of ladies I work with and having my own little space to get work done in feels so great!
Every year, Luke and I make a point to see some kind of Christmas show. We both love music and usually attend a concert and this year we went to Columbia to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra with Luke’s cousin, Jonathan and his fiance, Melissa. It was so much fun spending time with them!
In addition to seeing a show, a few of other traditions that are easy and fun for us each year are doing an Advent devotion together, getting starbucks one night and driving around to look at Christmas lights, sending Christmas cards, and ordering a new ornament to commemorate something that happened during the year. This year, it was a little mortar and pestle with Luke’s graduation date!
We also usually either throw a party or host a small game night or something like that to get our friends together – especially our friends who are home only around Christmas! We had a blast hosting a “What Do You Meme?” game night this year.
Throughout the month, we also enjoyed celebrating Ryland’s 1st birthday at his party, our D group Christmas party, our youth group Christmas party at Adventure Air Sports, a movie/pizza night with David and Ellen (watched the original Santa Clause!), watching the Christmas Chronicles on Netflix, Christmas Eve service at church, and of course time spent with our families!
One of the most special moments of Christmas for me this year was getting to lead the congregation in singing “O Holy Night” at two of our Christmas Eve services at church. I have loved singing since before I could even talk in complete sentences and it just fills me up so much. Over the past several years, I had sort of neglected it and half way through 2018, I knew God was stirring my heart and that I had to get back into it and I’m so glad I did by taking a leap of faith to audition for our church’s worship team. Singing “O Holy Night,” with my mom, dad, Clay, and Luke there, feeling so at peace knowing God gave me a gift to share – well, it was just a really sweet moment.
Finally, we brought in 2019 with the most fun friends at the Armstrong’s on NYE and it was a blast. It was a full circle moment to have one of my biggest prayers in 2017 for solid friendships in Rock Hill to be fulfilled in many ways throughout 2018, all coming together on New Year’s Eve surrounded by people I love! Woohoo, bring it on 2019!
