In my Full Focus Planner, I had written the task "Start writing Christmas letter". I read it on Monday, November 1st and groaned. The purpose of starting it so early is that I have plenty of time to reflect on the year and create a thoughtful letter that accurately represents our year. As I sit here on Sunday, November 7th looking through my planners for this year, I remind myself that I WANT to write this letter and that I ENJOY the finished product. I just need to enjoy the process; this is a lesson I feel I must continuously learn over an over again -- enjoy the journey.
I feel like the entire letter could be -- we moved to Florida as everything about this year has been about the move and adjusting to our lives here. I know it might have come as a shock to many when we announced that we were moving to Florida. Everyone who knows us knows that this move was not my idea (because I tell anyone who will listen 😁). This was more than just Anthony wanting to leave Virginia. He felt God calling us to move to Florida; that God has big plans for us here. I wish I could tell you that God said the same thing to me, but he didn't. All I heard God saying was "Trust Me, trust your husband and stop being a bratty wife". I am still working on this; particularly the bratty wife part.
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Our new patio
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On February 14th, between ice storms, we drove to our new home in Odessa, FL and have been working to get settled in ever since. Other than a handful of boxes, everything is unpacked and put away. Almost all the pictures are hung and the home enhancement projects have begun. First we expanded our patio and then we had a fence installed. We purchased a sturdier umbrella so we could sit on the patio and watch the sunsets. Anthony would like the next enhancement to be a hot tub.
We've had a couple of guests visit -- Dylan came in May for Mother's Day. His Mother's Day gift to me was a trip to Universal Studios. Kathy Clifton came to visit us in October and we had so much fun. Rachel will be here next week and we are so looking forward to seeing her as it's been 2 years since we have seen her smiling face in person. We are hoping Leighton & Kavya will visit us soon. In addition, we met up with one of my childhood friends, Lori Wooten, when her family vacationed in St. Petersburg. We really appreciated Lori and her family making time to visit with us on their vacation.
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| Me, Anthony & Kathy at goat yoga |
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| Me & Dylan in Ybor City |
I am fortunate enough to be able to keep my job in Virginia. I have returned to Virginia for work 3 times and have another trip scheduled in December. Besides these trips, Anthony traveled to Virginia for a wedding, to Tennessee to see family and to Texas to visit Dylan and spend some time with Jessica. We had 2 cruises scheduled for this year that were both canceled so we really didn't have any R & R vacations. Instead we spent time trying to get to know our new community. We have visited Tampa, Clearwater & St. Petersburg. Even though we live closest to Tampa, we enjoy Clearwater and the smaller surrounding towns. Perhaps our favorite town to visit is Tarpon Springs. We really like going to the sponge docks, trying the Greek wines and eating at one of the many Greek restaurants. We are enamored with natural sponges and the history of them. We have visited several parks and tried out the walking trails. In October, we bought bikes for our birthday and are looking forward to many biking adventures.
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| Trying out our new bikes |
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| We found wine!!!! |
We miss our kiddos. Leighton and Rachel still live in Brooklyn and are still doing well. Dylan likes Texas, but I don't think it would take much enticement to convince him to move to Florida. We are hopeful that 2022 will bring more visiting opportunities.
In 2020, I created 4 life goals that I try and live my life by. One of these goals is to focus on relationships -- to make sure the people I love and care about know that I love and care about them. I hope that you know how much I love and care about you and that you have seen that not just in my words but in my actions.
Merry Christmas!
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One of the many sunsets from our patio
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Merry Christmas!
The Snyder's
