With the end of the year comes plenty of joy: whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or any of the other wintertime holidays, there’s a lot to love. 2020 kind of sucked, but that’s not all it was. From beloved friends’ weddings to early-year vacations and more, there were some good things, too.
That was the theme of Christmas this year: find ways to enjoy it. Many families had digital Christmases, with family calls over Zoom and Skype and Discord. Others decided to separate completely, using the year as a reason to experience something a little different and re-center themselves.
Allison and I kept things quiet and safe, ourselves. Allison had a small Christmas with Salem, Damien, and her husband Kenny. I did the same with Tristan. He woke up to presents under the tree, his reaction different from the usual excitement Allison sees from Salem and Damien. It was quiet, with him just asking in his tiny voice, “Mommy. There’s presents. Santa came?”
When I said yes, of course, his eyes lit up. Tristan opened his presents like in the movies, throwing wrapping paper up and behind him as if he was a Christmas hurricane. Allison and I got together for a small gathering, too–Damien and Tristan had a blast making cookies and doing craft-time, and Salem was happy spending time with them. Being able to see our families smile was the best gift of all.
Christmas is only part of the season for us, though. With the end of December comes the beginning of another year, and with it, a time to reflect. Like I said earlier, 2020 kicked a lot of our butts, but now that it’s over, it’s time to refocus and make sure we’re ready for when 2021 brings safer times.
Allison’s major focus: self-care. It can take a million different forms, whether it’s maintaining positivity for whatever work throws at us, kicking back to read a new novel, or taking a road trip with family. It’s easy for anyone to get lost in the daily grind, but being a small business owner, the pressures are often higher. We need to remember to take care of ourselves, to be able to turn off the Business Switch when we can and just be ourselves.
Same goes for me, really–I want to be able to adjust my schedule for a better work/home balance. I’m lucky that I can take care of Tristan and still have time for photoshoots, but I want to turn off my brain every once in a while and just snuggle up to watch some Disney movies with my son. It’ll help give me time to read more (I want to read 100 books in 2021!), and it’ll force me to become more efficient while I grow and improve my skillset, too.
Exercising kind of went by the wayside for me, too. I think it did for a lot of people: 2020 was rough. Getting back in shape will help clear my mind, though, and that means I’ll be able to really focus on work to get rid of debt and narrow in on the form all of this will continue to take.
With that said, though, there’s one big thing missing from all of this: you guys. In a year where we’re so distanced from one another, even though the reasons are good, it’s been even more important to stay in touch. We can’t thank all of you enough for helping to support our business, and I hope that we can see our lovely couples in person some more soon.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Love,
Jo
