Merry Christmas from the Hofmans!

In my effort to do less this year, I opted to not send out Christmas cards to everyone. Plus I'm trying to work on all of the thank you's we need to write and send!

But of course, we didn't want you to think that we weren't wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas...

It was a little struggle to get Tana to sit for the picture but with a little help from Jameson and his funny faces, Lindsay's quick fingers and Peyton's skill with dog treats, we were able to get a nice family photo.

And once again, from the Hofman family to yours, have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Doing less gives you time to be more

As I have been scouring my ever growing list of blogs, I have noticed that so many people have been talking about keeping it simple this year. Of course, I kept it simple due to the sheer fact that I didn't have a lot of time to plan the Christmas holiday or to even do a lot of shopping for that matter. But now I'm seeing that as a blessing.

September, October, and November were crazy months for us. A new house, a new dog, a wedding and a honeymoon; all took up my time and seriously strapped us for cash. So I decided that presents would be smaller for this year and that I wasn't going to go all out in my decorating. I decided to keep it simple.

A few days ago, I got an email from my mother-in-law letting me know that it was going to be a simple Christmas at their house this year, something that my mom had also mentioned on the phone a few times. And I was relieved.

This year, it is my hope that the Christmas weekend in our household will be less, allowing us to be more. What does that mean you ask? Well it's quite simple actually. I pray that doing less of the glitz and glamour will help us to recognize the reason for the season and to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. After all He is the star of the show this weekend.

So in that spirit, my house currently features a tree in my living room, a wreath on the front door, and a few small Christmas lights on the outside railings. And that's it. I'm not baking cookies and I'm not making pretty packages.

As Griff and I celebrate our first Christmas as husband and wife, and actually our first Christmas together, I pray that this might become a tradition for us, putting more effort into celebrating the joy and love of the season rather than putting the emphasis in other places. Of course as our family grows, my decorating and my baking and my present wrapping might grow but for now, I'm very content with doing less to allow us to be more this Christmas season.

Cards and Cookies, Trees and Tinsel

Oh how fantastic this time of year is! It's like every day is filled with so much joy it's unbelievable. I know that so many of you have been wanting to see pictures from Hawaii and hear all about it. I swear, I will get some pictures posted (we have wedding pictures to post too!).

But with Christmas only 11 days away and the rush to wrap presents, ship things, and get our cards out the door, the only think that I could think about was decorating my tree and making my wreath for the year. So as I sit here and decide which cookies I'm going to bake this year, I wanted to share with each of you our little bit of Christmas here in Montana.

 



We've added a few more presents since the picture was taken. Tana seems to be leaving it alone which makes me very happy. She is very much into tennis balls right now so I was a little nervous about her confusing the ornaments on the tree with her toys. Thankfully she has heard "no" once and that's all that it took.

Of course I had to add in an "H"..I'm very proud to have my little family this year and to know call ourselves "The Hofmans" so I couldn't resist. Of course my wreath is completely made up from items found at Dollar Tree and attached with a few twist ties. Nothing special but it sure is special to me!

Oh and there's a little sneak peek of our new leather couches. A little wedding present to ourselves and worth every penny : )

Now it's time for some cookies...pizzelle anyone?