celebrating the holidays in style

The holidays are so fun with a kiddo. I love that Elle is old enough to get excited about stuff. She loves "San-sa", Christmas lights, and snowmen. Earlier this month it snowed pretty good, and it wasn't bitter cold outside, so Elle and I built a snowman. The snow was perfect for building snowmen - wet and sticky. It didn't stay cold for long, but our snowman held on pretty well.

Elle loved that snowman. Every time we ran errands Elle would say, "Bye no-man" as we drove away. Our Frosty just kept leaning further and further. He never tipped over though. One day it rained, and the rain dissolved him. Elle was pretty sad that day. We were at church, and on the walk home she saw her melted buddy, "Aw, no-man...". It was a pretty sad day.

The gingerbread house was a much bigger hit than the gingerbread cookies. Elle loved eating the frosting and candy. Eventually she caught on to the whole decorating part, and stuck on a few "cannies" of her own.

That's a pretty good looking gingerbread house if I do say so myself. I was lazy and bought a kit at Target. It worked out great. It was nice not to have to make the frosting and buy a bunch of candy.

After asking around, I heard that Riverwoods and Trolley Square have the best Santas, and that you can take your own pictures. We decided to make it a night and go to Trolley Square and hit up Temple Square after to see the lights. Elle wasn't so sure about Santa even though I tried to prep her the best I could. We even FaceTimed Santa a few time earlier that day, but it didn't work. Even with the candy cane offering she wanted nothing to do with him.  Maybe next year, Santa.

 

Temple Square was a hit. That picture isn't the best quality, but it shows the joy that was on Elle's face the entire time. She loved the lights. It was definitely worth the 1.5 hour drive up to Salt Lake (twice as long as it should have taken).

It really is a sight to see. This was my second time seeing the lights, and it is breathtaking every time. We were really lucky with weather, too. The temperature was in the 50's, and since it was threatening rain it wasn't incredibly busy either.

It ended up being a pretty late night, but we had a lot of fun together as a family. We are home-bodies, and don't get out much. Every time we have a night like this, though, I wish we would fight our laziness and get out more.

25 days of Christmas

I love Christmastime. I love the magical decorations, the incredibly cheesy movies, and delectable treats. I always joke with Mister on Halloween night about how Christmas commercials will start the next day. I secretly love it. Mister hates it because Thanksgiving gets looked over. As much as I love Christmas, I always have a hard time focusing on the true meaning of the holiday. You know, the birth of the Savior of the world. It really seems ridiculous that one of the most important moments of history can be overtaken by a jolly old elf.

I was really excited when the LDS church came out with a 25 days of Christmas. Each day is an attribute of the Savior, and ideas of how you can try to emulate it. Most ideas are very simple, others are more time intensive if you so choose. It has been a great way for me to keep the focus of the season on the Savior, as it should be. If you would like to join me on my 25 day journey, download the calendar here. Also, below I'm going to link my favorite nativity movie. May the spirit of God be with you this holiday season.