We’re so excited to be back in the office after a week off for the holidays – hope everyone had some great holidays with family and friends! Here’s a tiny recap of our Christmas break:

 

This is one of my favoritest ever Christmas cards we’ve done for our family, and I almost didn’t think it was gonna happen. There’s just so little free time, you know? One day very close to the pending holiday I started scrolling through pictures on my phone, and came across this one that fit the caption in my head perfectly. I love Joy’s less than jovial expression and Phil’s jubilant messing around… This thing just makes me smile.

The week before Christmas, we went with a group of church friends to the Westin hotel in Savannah to check out their massive gingerbread house display. It was the start of a really long, super fun day out with the kids, including going to visit Santa at the Savannah Mall Bass Pro Shop.

If you haven’t been to Bass Pro for the free Santa pics, that’s the only way to fly. If you hit them up in the morning on a weekday, there’s almost no line, you get a free printout of the photo they take (But I liked mine better because it was less staged and better composed, and oh also I’m a huge nerd.)

Santa was an interesting thing for Phil this year… The boy is at a crossroads.

Anyone who spoke to Phil in the weeks leading up to Christmas break knew the three things he was hoping Santa would bring. A remote control Grave Digger, a vacuum, and a screw gun. (A screwdriver for those of you that don’t speak Philip-ese) For the screw gun part of the equation, Santa found this really cool set of play tools that included pieces and parts that went together to build a toolbox. And for the vacuum, Santa was thinking wouldn’t it be cool if he could find a really lightweight real vacuum? He brought Phil this inexpensive super lightweight Dirt Devil.

So Christmas morning, the family opens presents. Not to much later after that, Phil makes the comment that he was hoping Santa would bring him a toy vacuum, not a real one.

Strike one, Santa.

But then, the next morning as he was playing with the toy tool set… he mentioned that he wished Santa would’ve brought him some real tools to build stuff with.

Strike two, Santa.

This boy is balancing delicately between being a big kid and being a little kid, and it’s really interesting to watch. All of a sudden with this transition, he’s asking for the glass bowls and metal spoons for his breakfast cereal. But he still wants to drink from his sippy cups.

Not totally big, but not totally little anymore, either.

It’s the same with Joy! She turned 9 months old on December 21, and on Christmas Eve Eve she popped out her very first tooth. I’m writing this the day after a very sleepless night last night, and I’m pretty sure she’s working hard on popping out another one. the poor kid’s gums are so swollen and she’s having problems sleeping…

Which means the rest of us are having problems sleeping, too.

Overall (teething aside), we had a really chill week.

And also a really chill New Year… I was fast asleep on the couch by 11:30pm like a champ.

But still, it’s a new year, time to celebrate, time to reflect. What’s working in your life, what’s not?

Over Christmas break, I started a plan for my social media channels over the next year. I really hope I can keep up with it – it’s ambitious, and involves planning out posts that will be blasted out every single day over the next year… But if I can keep it up the results will be super awesome!

Goals for Hearts and Laserbeams this year include:

• Stay busy all year long with no typical holiday lull
• Start saving up for a change in office location in the next couple of years
• Complete a couple of business classes I picked up during 2014
• Finish and publish my children’s book about Phil’s alligator dream

I know that kids book’s been on tap for a while… Having kid number two really threw a wrench in the productivity works! 2015 is the year, though, promise. I’m looking to have it available for purchase in time for your next Christmas shopping spree!

So how was your Christmas break?

Any juicy stories to tell? What are you working on for yourself or your business this year?