15 Holiday Traditions To Start With Your Husband

It is getting to be that most wonderful time of the year! For all of you newly-weds (or almost newly-weds) who are going to be celebrating the holidays with your new husband for the first time and are not sure how to combine holiday traditions for your childhood...start your own holiday traditions as husband and wife!

1. Put up your decorations together.

2. Send out Christmas cards.

3. Have a hot chocolate night by the fire.

4. Watch Christmas movies.

5. Go to Christmas festivals.

6. Check out Holiday themed hotels and have a date.

7. Take a horse drawn carriage ride.

8. Build a snowman/make snow angels.

9. Make gingerbread houses.

10. Read the Christmas story in the Bible on Christmas Eve.

11. Bake Christmas cookies together.

12. Go see whatever big blockbuster movie comes out on Christmas day. 

13. Make something special for breakfast on Christmas morning.

14. Get a new ornament together for your tree each year.

15. Go work at a soup kitchen together on Christmas or Christmas Eve.

There are so many holiday traditions you can start with your husband, and these are just a few. What holiday traditions are you going to start this year? 

With love, 

Whitney

Engagement Stories: Sarah & Jamey

This month's engagement story is a love story several years in the making. Their 2 year wedding anniversary was on November 10th. Everyone, meet Sarah & Jamey. 

How did you first meet?

We met at the University of Massachusetts.  We had both gotten into a 10 week program to do research there for a summer.  He is from Georgia, and I'm from Nashville, so when I look back on it, it really does feel like it was meant to be.  We first met at an orientation lunch for our program.  I remember thinking that there was something familiar about him and that he was someone that I could be friends with.

What did you do on your first date?

First, I (Sarah) feel like I should explain the context of this date.  This date was a huge deal to both of us because it took Jamey forever to ask me out.  We lived in the same dorm and we, along with some other people that lived in the dorm, were spending almost all of our waking moments together when we weren't at work.  I started to feel like Jamey liked me at about 2 weeks into the program.  There was another guy in the program that also liked me.  He asked me out about 5 weeks into the program, when it was about halfway over.  I went out on a date with him but promptly let him know that I didn't think we should date due to the fact that he lived in Wisconsin and I lived in Tennessee (In reality, we had differences in our beliefs, and I was starting to develop feelings for Jamey).  Jamey was unaware that I had turned the other guy down, however, and assumed that we were dating.  He found out differently about 7 or 8 weeks in, so he ended up asking me out the last week of the program.  By the time he asked me out, I would say that Jamey was already in love with me, and I was close to being in love with him, but we had no idea whether we would ever see each other again after the program.  

Anyways, neither of us had a car, so we took a bus into a nearby town called Northampton which had fun shops and yummy restaurants.  He had made reservations for us at a very nice restaurant called Sierra Grill which has the best "smashed" potatoes I've ever had!  It was the first time in my life that I could truly say that I enjoyed a first date.  It felt like all the guys that I had dated before Jamey just absolutely paled in comparison.

How did you know that Jamey was the one?

It sort of just built up over time.  One of the first things that I noticed about Jamey is that he is incredibly generous.  He would just give things to people for no reason and pay for people's food when we went out.  Throughout the Massachusetts trip, he was constantly finding sneaky ways to pay for things for me, so I tried to find sneaky ways to pay him back.  After sneaking a $10 bill into his room (which he always kept unlocked, so it really wasn't that hard), he climbed 2 stories to tape the bill on my window at 2:00 AM.  I was really surprised that he didn't fall because the only thing on the outside of the building that he could climb on was bricks in the corner that were jutting out.  After that, I was thinking, "Wow.  This guy really likes me.  I don't think anyone has ever liked me this much."  It really felt like he would do anything for me.  That thought sort of stuck in the back of my mind throughout our relationship. He continued to prove that to me by driving up 5 and a half hours every other weekend to come see me when we were long distance, by giving me the most thoughtful gifts of anyone I've ever met, and by being incredibly consistent in his love for me.  

How did he propose?

He planned a trip for us back to Massachusetts where we did all the things that we liked to do together the summer we first met.  On the last day of our trip, he took me to the restaurant from our first date, with the yummy "smashed" potatoes, and asked me there.  He's not good with words, and he knew that we would both be embarrassed if he did it inside the restaurant, so he was on one knee for about a split-second outside the restaurant while he said, "Will-you-marry-me?" about as fast as he could! lol

What are some things that you enjoy doing together?

Jamey is a home-body, so we spend a lot of time at home together.  We play a lot of video games and board games.  We also both really like food!  Our stubbornness gets in the way of us cooking together, but we like cooking for each other and providing food for one another. 

What is your favorite thing about him?

Well, we've been together for 6 years now, so it's changed over time.  At first, I admired him for his generosity.  He really taught me a lot about being thoughtful and generous with my gifts.  Now that we've matured in our relationship, I would have to say that I admire his sense of humor and his reassuring steadiness in his beliefs and in bad situations.

What Jamey has to say:  

I'm spending way too long on this, and our story is not that interesting (he wants Sarah to scratch his back and play a game with him right now).

If you want to be featured in the Engagement Stories series, leave a comment or send me a message! If you want to read other Engagement Stories, you can click here and here. 

With love,

Whitney