Advent :: 8 Days Til Christmas

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We haven’t done a bit of shopping, or baking or half the other things on our list, but we have just accomplished something we missed last year: Christmas letters!
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It’s always bittersweet to write a holiday letter; to pick out the important parts of our lives and try to surmise so much in so little space. It amazes me how things can be so different from year to year but with the same emotional undertones.

The following was included from last year’s never-sent letters but still applies as much today.

It’s been strange to look over photos of recent years, to read our past holiday letters, to reminisce over how far we’ve come and try not to think of how far we have yet to go. We’ve changed in so many ways and through so many experiences, both joyful and heartbreaking. The choices we’ve made have completely transformed our lives. Our eyes have been open to the delicate intricacies in life, the seemingly insignificant things that shape us, the precious moments that will warm us decades later. Lessons of judgment and patience, of peace and connection resonate in our hearts and then seem to be forgotten amidst the rubble of a busy life, while losses so painful to speak aloud still rattle our souls as we attempt to grasp their meaning as well. And so despite all we feel we have accomplished, we recognize all the fullness of the life that lies ahead.

We’ve been blessed in this life. We have each other and all of you. We love you all, and miss those of you we don’t often see. We pray you’re finding more opportunities to laugh than cry, more times to give than take, more moments of peace than chaos. We hope your lives are swimming in love and that you embrace the passion and joy in life and are able to release all else. We hope the life you desire is the life you create and we hope to rejoice in your successes and comfort you in your heartaches. But most of all we pray you feel our love for you always, as it always remains.