Dear family and friends,

I wasn’t going to write a Christmas letter this year, because 2012 was kind of one of the greatest years of all time.  But then I thought that maybe I would write a Christmas letter because I did it last year, and I like to write and talk about our life.

Our year was a lot calmer than it was last year, though seems to have gone doubly fast.  We celebrated our first anniversary two months before our original wedding date – June 8, 2013 – which is still really weird to think about.  My parents hosted a wonderful brunch and we had a wedding cake and my mom even went as far as getting a floral arrangement that was put together with the same flowers that were in the arrangements on our wedding day.

For our first anniversary, Peter and I talked about no gifts because we were looking for new living room furniture.  So I didn’t get Peter anything.  And then two days before our anniversary, one of Peter’s close friends from his hometown got drafter to the Cowboys.  It was wonderful and exciting.  And then, one of my coworkers said, “You know Sara, the Packers play the Cowboys in Dallas this year.”

After a few hours of deliberation, I decided that for our anniversary, I would get Peter tickets to the Cowboys v. Packers game in Dallas, with one stipulation: he had to bring ME to Dallas with him.  I made sure that I delivered that news when he was elated that I got him the tickets.

I kept the secret for about 10 minutes after Peter got home from work the day before our anniversary and then legitimately practically forced him to open it.  It was a good thing that I got him the tickets, too, because he got me beautiful diamond earrings.  Win-win for everyone, I’d say.  Though I DID tell him not to expect such an extravagant/creative gift for anniversary number 2.

Our friends had a lot of babies, and then we welcomed our nephew Joshua into the world.  All of these babies around kind of makes Peter and I like ummmm maybe we’re not super ready for kids since sometimes we like to eat ice cream for dinner, but we DO love snuggling all the new babies in our lives!

The rest of the year was pretty mellow and awesome.  So mellow that I can’t remember specific details until closer to the fall.

We went to quite a few Packer games this year.  Peter bleeds green and gold.  I do not.  Although, I do think that in general you could say that I enjoy the Packers.  All it took was marrying a die hard Packer fan, living in the Frozen Tundra for 3 years, and going to 3 Packer games in one season.  GREEN AND GOLD OVERLOAD.

Packers vs. Lions
October 2013

I think that our greatest accomplishment for 2013 was that we survived our first year of home-ownership, though just barely.  JUST barely.

We are soooooo lucky to have such great neighbors that were (and still are) VERY willing to help us when they realized that we were helpless.  One couple actually told me that they couldn’t believe that I grew up on a farm, because we were some big city slickers.  I can’t help that we didn’t have a vegetable OR flower garden.  And that we didn’t think about what it meant to own 3 acres.  Or need a lawn mower.  Anyways, they seem to enjoy our company and our naiveness, so that’s nice.

In conclusion, our year has flown by, and every day we find that we are far more blessed than we could ever deserve.  We are at a wonderful place in our marriage, relationships, and careers.  What we could have ever done to arrive here is unknown, but we could never be more gracious.

We are also thankful for all of you who add so much to our adventure by sharing in our stories.

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.

Sara & Peter