The Stockings Were Hung...

Christmas cards, round 1 are out.  So, a bunch of you will be getting them in the next few days.  I already had to order more cards, so round 2 should go out tomorrow.  If you don't receive one, please let me know.  I sometimes drop addresses off my list inadvertently.  Please know it's not intentional.
With that said, we included our adopted daughter's name on the card.  We are using this way to announce her name.  I never liked the idea of calling Jenna by her name before she was born.  I guess maybe it's some kind of stupid superstition, but I just felt like the name wasn't really hers until she was born.  Although, we never thought she didn't look like a Jenna and I don't recall ever being wishy-washy about her name once she was born.

Anyway, since I'm kind of weird like that, the idea of naming this child while we were so early in the process was a huge turn off to me.  But I did LOVE talking about potential names.  Me, Jenna and Steve would sit around and call out names and then go, "Nahhhhh" or "OK" or whatever.  But after a while, it was awkward trying to refer to this child.  I mean, really, how you do say it?  "Our adopted daughter", "the other child", "our other daughter" etc.  Nothing ever felt right.  So, we narrowed down the name choices to about three.

When it got to be time to do Christmas cards, I knew the photo we would use.  This one we took for Orphan Sunday has become my new favorite.

But then for people who didn't really know our story yet (yes, there might be a few!), I figured the picture might not make sense.  That's when we decided to choose her name and include it on the card.  We had three top choices for first names and couldn't decide.  So literally, we put them all in a bag and let Jenna draw.  And that was the name.

For your curiosity, the names were...Layla, Kylie and Anna Faith.  One of them Steve liked best and one of them Jenna and I liked best.  The other we all 3 liked equally.

All that to say, when you get the Christmas card, you'll know the name of our new little girl!  But if we don't exchange cards with you, keep reading...

Somehow this year my stocking has gone missing.  We aren't a family of all matching stockings, so that didn't bother me too much.  But I thought what would be more fun than buying myself a new stocking and adding a fourth to the lineup!?

First, here is Steve's...it's a Harley Davidson stocking and I think it's perfect for him.

And of course, I bought Katie a stocking when she joined our family last year...

And when Jenna was only a few months old, her Nana (Bertie, my stepmother) made her a stocking.  Yes, this is ENTIRELY handmade.  And I love it.

So, I decided I was going to buy myself a stocking that I really liked.  I got on Etsy and it wasn't long before I found one that I loved...

And the same seller had the one that I ended up buying for our new addition.  Introducing...

Kylie!  We won't decide on her middle name until we know who she is.  If it works out, we plan to use part of her Chinese name as her middle name.  If that doesn't work, she'll be Kylie Faith.

I'm not sure Santa is actually going to fill her stocking this year, but hopefully by next year!