Merry Christmas! {See you in 2014!}

Merry merry Christmas week to each one of you! I hope that wherever you are, you're getting a chance to relax and enjoy Christmas and New Year's. I can't believe that Christmas is just two days away.

Before I head off, I wanted to share our Christmas card with y'all. We love sending out postcards because they're cheaper to print, the postage is a little less expensive, and there's no extra step of stuffing envelopes - yay! We had them printed at Overnight Prints and I'm really happy with the quality (plus, they were the best price I found). The paper is nice and heavy as well.

The photo is from our trip up the Pacific Coast Highway this summer. I converted it to black and white and added the "Merry Christmas" greeting to it. On the backside, Jackson got his chance to be in the spotlight to wish everyone a happy new year. It was a fun little project!

I'm signing off for the rest of the year (that sounds so weird!) to spend some time with my family, unplug, and practice being present. I've been feeling really convicted lately about being in such a hurry all the time that I have a hard time just being, listening, etc. Not taking time to recharge really starts to wear you down after awhile, you know? I'm guessing I'm not alone in that. Perhaps you feel that way too, especially during this busy season?

Also, yesterday I heard a really great sermon from our pastor at church, and part of his message was that we need to be fully present to be able to experience the Lord, which is really what I feel like I'm missing right now and I want more than anything. At that moment I knew that it was time to slow down and step away from technology for a bit since that's where I seem to spend so much of my time these days. I feel like I get so caught up in what's going on right this second on Instagram, Facebook, my favorite blogs, etc. that I'm in an eternal state of distraction - and that makes it really hard to focus on the present and listen to what the Lord might have to say to me. :)

So, that being said, I'll be back here the week of January 6th, (hopefully) recharged and raring to go. I hope that y'all have a wonderful next couple of weeks! 2013 has been a fantastic year, and I can't wait to see what's in store for 2014!