Christmas 2014

Christmas was so wonderful this year!! We opened presents early at home then headed to the in-law's house. Christmas Eve we were able Skype with my family. It was so peaceful and wonderful having daddy home with us for 2 1/2 days. We sure do love him!

Camden thought it was too early to be awake. He held onto the candy and was interested in his Mickey Mouse car the majority of the time. Mommy and daddy helped open a lot of his gifts.

These cars changed everything! He was so excited to open up his gift and see them!

With a new weight bench, pull up bar, trimmer set, and clothes daddy's going to be one hunky and ripped stud next christmas!

Mickey Mouse and cars- he was in heaven. 

Mommy was given some kitchen gadgets, clothing, shoes, and a set of real pearl earrings to match the pearls given to me by my grandmother.

My Uncle and Aunt came by to visit today which was a treat as well. I'm so grateful for them and how close we've been since I was little. We love you!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Firsts

It's almost Christmas! I feel like I'm a little girl again with how excited I am. I think as a parent the excitement is for your kids as you anticipate their reactions. This year is even more exciting because Camden is older and starting to understand. I cannot wait!

Here's a few things we've been up to:

Christmas Sunday! I love it so much. The music is beautiful and uplifting as is the message. And I LOVED Camden's outfit yesterday! He also went to nursery all by himself and loved it! 

We made our first gingerbread house for family night. I thought it would be easier than it was with a toddler. He put a few candies on at the end, but it mostly consisted of him eating the candy and tearing it off the house. Oh well!😊

We were able to get our first tree this year! We went to a local tree farm and cut it ourselves. It's so much fun and I'm excited for this new tradition!

Decorating my own home feels amazing! There's more decorations that have been added and a few things moved around. I can't wait camden is older. I remember feeling something so magical when the decorations came out. I hope it feels the same to him.

Most of all, we love our savior. It's a beautiful time of year, but should also be peaceful. I'm grateful we have felt that this year. 

25 Days of Christ

It's the most wonderful time of the year! It truly is! I get so excited for this season of peace and happiness. It's tangible and everyone seems to act more loving, gentle, and kind. Not to mention all the yummy food!

We've been talking about traditions since it is our first year of having our own home, tree, and space to decorate. We're still holding strong to santa not bringing gifts/Camden thinking he is real. We really needed something more to help us remember this season and why it's celebrated. Here are some of our family traditions:

1. We start decorating November 1st, although the tree and outside decorations get put up after Thanksgiving. There are some people who don't agree with it because it takes away from Thanksgiving. I do understand their argument, but here's a few reasons why we do it. First, we want the month of the December to be peaceful and focus on our Savior. Having the decorating done makes one less thing that has to be done. Second, it's so exciting! Why only have one month of beautiful decorations when you can have two!

2. We start Christmas shopping November 1st. Once those presents arrive we wrap them up and store them until our tree is up. Once again this also saves time in December and is less distraction. We found some huge sales and saved a lot of money. Plus, we don't have to fight the crowds!

3. The title of this post and the thing I'm most excited for is the 25 Days of Christ. It's like an advent calendar, but much more spiritual. It's a kit of 25 wood ornaments. You do have paint and assemble them yourselves, but it is so easy! 

The booklet that is shown has days 1-25 and the corresponding ornament. 

Along with the ornament in the booklet is listed scriptures, quotes, videos, gospel art pictures, etc. One just has to look them up, watch, listen, or whatever you prefer to do. Once that's done the ornament gets hung on the tree. That's it!  It's so simple and enables you to make it as long or short as you would like for your kids while giving them a daily story of the Savior.

Tonight was the star. Since Camden is young, we were able to do a short 5 minute lesson before bed.

He loved looking at the pictures. By the end of it I could ask him where baby Jesus was and he would find him. It was such a sweet and tender moment with him.

I'm thrilled to do this with my family every year to help us remember Christ. The presents and decorations are so much fun, but we mustn't lose sight of why this holiday is really here. Christ truly is "the reason for the season".

If anyone is interested I ordered the kits from here:

http://25daysofchrist.com