DECODING OUR 2021 CHRISTMAS TIME CAPSULE wreath

It’s that time of year again and we are back with the latest addition to our fantastic family tradition!  Our Christmas Time Capsule Wreath.  Here we go!  

After one of the most unusual years in our lives in 2020, the Santa Family found our footing and decided we were going to live our lives to the fullest in 2021.  2021 was a year of travel for us.  We did what we needed to do to keep everyone safe and got out there and mixed it up.

In December of 2020 I created the Santa Dad and 2021 was the year I, Santa Mom, and the Santa Sisters fully introduced ourselves and began sharing our adventures with the world.  Santa Dad is everywhere … Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook … and we took all of you wonderful people with us every time we got into some new Christmas-colored fun.  And there was a lot of it!  Beach trips, Christmas in July, all the holidays throughout the year, and as December rolled around we really cranked things up a notch with our first annual Christmas Across Georgia tour, plus Twinkle Reels!  So, when it was time to think about what this year’s family time capsule wreath might look like, we had plenty of options and selected the very best memories that we wanted it to whisper to us during future Christmas seasons. 

To begin the build, I asked the girls to think back on the year and tell me what stood out to them the most . . . things they enjoyed, what they were most proud of accomplishing . . . whatever it was that really defined their daily lives.  It didn’t take long and we knew what had to be on this year’s wreath so all that was left was to get to building.

Innocence.  Energy.  Passion.  Creativity.  Excitement.  Together.  Love.  Home.  Safety.  The Santa Dad , of course.  These were the key words we felt best captured our lives over the past year.

The girls were were still thrilled with how much we had been able to be together.  As a parent and a dad, I was so thankful that they felt safe, and loved.  We were still living with the threat of the virus every day, but the girls had a clear understanding of what was happening and what we were doing to keep all of us safe.  The Santa Sisters (at ages 6 and 4 at Christmas) continued to amaze us at how resilient they are and how they often are the seemingly infinite source of strength and motivation for Santa Mom and myself.  These powerful examples, coupled with a heaping helping of emotion, certainly had a heavy hand in the final look of the wreath.

watch:  creating our 2021 christmas time capsule wreath

We had a lot of fun building out this year’s Christmas Time Capsule Wreath. 

The bones

This year we went with a snow white wreath to capture the innocence of our girls, while simultaneously conveying the cold clarity that 2021 provided us in so many ways. 

 

THE COLORS

Given each year’s wreath has a specific theme we want to express, the colors we chose to use in this project are always of vital importance.

RED

The color red was back in our family wreath design for 2021. A traditional color of the season, red stars once again as it symbolizes the energy of our year.

Spurred on by the ideals of the Santa Dad, red represents the positivity, confidence, motivation, passion, and desire that was evident in everything we did in the past year.  Every adventure, every challenge, every opportunity 2021 afforded us, all of it could be described by these words.

With all of this in mind as we looked back on the year, the power of red was once again the perfect accent to our family wreath. 

 

WHITE

Representing purity and innocence, as a color white also promotes self-reflection.  A true balance of all colors, white was the perfect starting point for our 2021 wreath. 

The simplicity of white represented our refreshed notions of who we are, what matters, and why we do the things we do.  The clarity it brings simplified and balanced our view of the world.  It also provided a clean slate.  One upon which we could create and document our story.  

Without a doubt, white was the only option for our 2021 Christmas Time Capsule Wreath.

SILVER

Silver is a color that inspires and illuminates, while simultaneously acting a calming and restorative force.  Along with its dynamic properties, silver encompassed the spectrum of our family’s collective emotions over the past year. 

Whether centering our family’s emotional health and learning, illuminating our path forward, or shining brilliantly around our Santa Dad adventures, silver was a dynamic representation of our journey. 

A SHINING STAR

Our 2021 Time Capsule Wreath is crowned with a shimmering pair of Mickey Mouse ears to commemorate the girl’s first visit to Disney World, but they truly represent much more.  This wreath will shine Christmas season after Christmas season to remind us of the year we “opted in” as a family and continued to write our amazing story. 

2020 was so very difficult for all of us, and though the challenges of the world are still very much present, 2021 marked a change in trajectory for our family and this beautiful keepsake captures the journey wonderfully.  

We believe in living for what matters and being truly grateful for those who choose to travel by your side.   We believe in seeing the world for what it is, but also actively seeking all that it could be.  We believe in living a life worth sharing and spreading beauty, truth, and light in the world. 

We are thankful for the blessing of time which allowed us to recognize the things in this life that are truly important, and gain an understanding of why along the way. Why we need each other. Why we work and play so hard. Why we must take time to appreciate the daily gifts we all are guilty of occasionally taking for granted.

We choose to celebrate a year that while still challenging us, encouraged us to grow. Our 2021 family wreath shines as a testament to our shared story and is already beloved.  I am most proud of the fact that in a year that offered relief in fits and starts and left so many feeling calloused and raw, my daughters inspired us and led us to remain open, vulnerable, and positive.  As we slingshot into 2022, we are energized, feeling powerful, and thrilled to continue writing the next chapter in our beautiful story. 

 

Keep ChristmasChristmas treewell all year ‘round, friends!

Santa Dad

 

 

Christmas has come to bethlehem


I’ve written those words and shared a new version of Christmas in our home each holiday season for the past two decades.  I do that because I love Christmas.  Everything about it.  The traditions.  The history.  The memories.  The way it makes you feel inside.  The smells.  The tastes.  The opportunity to not need a reason to help someone else.  The joy.  The innocence of the season, especially now that I get to see it reflected back at me in the faces of my two young daughters.  The magic.  The fun! 

 

This Christmas season is different for all of us for so many reasons.  Many things are uncertain as 2020 comes to a close and that can lead to unease, anxiety, and even fear for any of us, but especially our children. Even so, there is still much for us to celebrate and be grateful for this holiday season.

 

In our home, that has meant that we will continue to do what we’ve done all year and lean into the one thing that 2020 has offered us in spades.  Time.  We’ve fully embraced this opportunity to spend more time together, just ejoying one another’s company, truly seeing and appreciating everyone and everything in our little world with genuinely grateful and open hearts.

 

And that brings me to why we’re all here.  I created because I love Christmas so much and I see the wonder it brings to our lives every day, I decided to share as much of the experience with you as possible.  It is my goal to give the gift of sharing our Christmas lives with you here, along with lots of other surprises like traditions, recipes, crafting ideas, and much more, even the occasional product review to keep your stockings full all year ’round.  I hope you’ll visit often! 

 

In keeping with my annual Christmas tradition, I’ll leave you with a look at some of our Christmas decorations this year.  I hope seeing them brings you as much as joy as putting them up brought us.  

 

From Bethlehem to wherever you are in this old, wide world and from our home to yours, Merry Christmas from the Santa Dad!

  KEEP CHRISTMAS WELL MY FRIENDS