homemade holiday

Christmas this year was a bit different. Being smack-dab in the middle of an international adoption changes things. It changes how much money we have to spend on gifts. And it changes our perspective on how much stuff we already have. So we cut back on what we spent on gifts and we made things for each other. Audrey and Patrick get the awards for best hand-made gifts.

Audrey made me a picture of an Ethiopian flag out of yarn. I LOVE this gift.

Patrick made each one of us something special. He spent hours on our gifts and each one means so much to us. For me, he carved our initials in the tree in our backyard and then took a picture of it and framed it.

For Audrey, he was able to get a hold of one of the posters from her spring dance recital. He added a picture of her in her costume and framed it.

For Liam, he worked hours creating a football game. This was the second edition of the game and it's much more complicated now! Liam loves it!

And for Ethan, he made up a firefighter game that the whole family enjoys.

This year was different. But it was special. And it was meaningful. I do believe we'll carry on some of these new traditions.