Back in July, I lost my mother after she battled ovarian cancer for four years. These past five months have been so crazy. Not only because of her passing, but I started college, my sister and her kids moved in, and then my dad got married. My house went from three people, to two (usually one, since I was in school), to seven, and now there are nine of us. Under one roof. Same house. It's slightly crazy.

What I have learned in that five months is that the blending of families can be hard. No one has the same routine as you or does the same things as you on a normal basis. Especially with Christmas just passing, we quickly learned that it is a very difficult task to try and fulfill everyones traditions. We had to incorporate our traditions, with my sisters, and my step-moms. IT WAS CRAZY TO SAY THE LEAST.

This has made me realize that nothing will ever be how it used to be. This year we have started so many new traditions that I hope will last a lifetime.

The other day my dad said something along the lines of "you know when you get married one day you'll have to do this all over again." And no dad, I did not.. So thanks for putting that thought in my head from now until I get married. I guess we will just go with the flow and figure things out. But until then, I have my traditions and he has his. To my future husband, I am sorry but we will be getting new pajama's for Christmas Eve every year.

If I had to give advice to anyone who is in a blended family or will be blending families, I would say this: don't be afraid to speak what's on your mind. If you end up not liking something then try to communicate with the other person that you would like to incoorporate your own things, too. This will help prevent any miscommunication and upsets, trust me.