Creating Christmas Memories: Making Up for Lost Time

When you adopt a teenager you feel like you have a lot of time to make up for! Creating Christmas memories can be overwhelming if you’re not careful. My heart is that the traditions and memories that we make each year, will be carried on for generations to come, but most importantly, that Christ would be at the center of it all. I had the ornament above made the year we first met Teck. I know, I know, I left you hanging in my last post. I promise I’ll share the rest of her story before Christmas!

Anyway, that was the year we became foster parents in an attempt to help her escape the life she had been living for 6 years, since being brought from her home in Malaysia to Georgia. I was pregnant with Elli after 9 years of trying and I wanted nothing more than to be Teck’s Mama and give her the family she so desperately wanted. We were able to see her briefly at a Christmas party for the foster kids, but our contact for almost a year was only through Facebook.

Last year we created this DIY felt Christmas tree that will last us for a few more years for sure! You can get the pdf for your ornaments and step by step instructions HERE.

We also started doing a nightly devotion using the Jesse Tree ornaments and scripture guide. We have a hard time keeping Elliana engaged right before bed, but it’s a lot of fun and helps us slow down together as a family. How cute are those ornaments?

Picking out our Christmas tree is always so much fun! Our church hosts something called Buy a Tree, Change a Life which raises money for children locally and in Cambodia by selling Christmas trees and wreaths. It’s a great way to ensure your money is doing much more than buying a tree that will die in 4 weeks. You should check to see if you have a BATCAL location near you!

One of my favorite traditions is sending (and receiving) Christmas cards! Phil created a way for me to display them all using only 4 materials. Last year we used Tiny Prints to create our cards and I just loved the way they turned out, so we decided to go with them again this year. Our sweet friend Mel McLellan from the McLellan Blog had recently did a Senior shoot for Teck and a mini session of our family, so I had a hard time choosing a card because I wanted to use 50 pictures! If you ever have that problem, just go straight for the tri-fold format.

We went with the ‘Wonderful Life’ style because 2016 represents a wonderful life in the Sokic household! It’s the year we finally made Teck an official member of our family AND we bought a home here in Franklin, Tennessee!

I think one of my favorite things about Tiny Prints is that you can customize everything from the colors and text, to the fancy lettering on your envelopes and my favorite, personalized postage! {I like to address the envelopes by hand, but Tiny Prints can do that for you too!} If you hurry, you can get your cards delivered by 12/16 and use their coupon code JINGLEBELL for 40% off!

Have you created your Christmas cards yet?

Disclosure: Big thanks to Tiny Prints who partnered with me to bring you this post. I love them and every opinion is 100% my own. They are my go-to for cards, stationery, canvases, prints, photo gifts and paper goods.