Merry Christmas and joy to the world, from our family to yours!! Sending — and receiving — Christmas cards is far and away one of the happiest holiday traditions, and we loved mailing out our Christmas card from Ivy and Linen Design (a local Raleigh business and friend, too!) this year!

I must admit that it was harder than usual to pull together our Christmas card, especially with our typical summary of the year on the back of our Christmas card. I was really at a loss of what to include on our usual year in review for our family and friends. The year has been so very different than usual, and while there still is a lot of good and many happy memories, it has been a hard and unprecedented year in countless ways. We decided to forgo the usual year in review post and instead share a Christmas message of hope. We also, unsurprisingly, have very few non-selfie photos of us from the year! Our usual trips, adventures, and activities were at a minimum, and we had about three photos to choose from. Fittingly this one was taken on Easter on our back deck, where we logged more hours than we could’ve ever dreamed. We included a couple more photos of our year on the back, our favorite Christmas verses from Isaiah, and, as always, a little personalized, handwritten note to each person we mailed them to.

Here’s a look back at our 2017, 2018, and 2019 Christmas cards (by Minted, Ivy and Linen Design, and Minted, respectively). Wishing you and yours the happiest holiday season, friends!

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

PS: you can see the rest of our Christmas decor here, if you’d like!