This is my wife and I’s very first Christmas away from our families. Other years we’ve either been close enough to them to just drive home (Chicago) or we were blessed with surprise plan tickets home (Texas). But this year we’re all by our lonesome. So we’ve been trying to come up with ideas for making this Christmas special and enjoyable away from the people we love.

I’m excited because, hopefully, this will be where our own Christmas traditions are born.

Right now we’re brainstorming about celebrating Christmas on a budget.

Ideas are definitely welcome.