christmas prep

christmas, for as great as it is, climbs to a new level when there are little ones at home. i found that i was forty times more excited for all the fun of the season this year simply because i knew that it was all going to blow violet's mind. i was never disappointed- she loved every minute of it.

it started with decorating the house. as we picked out our tree, set it up, and starting embellishing the rest of the house, violet was on could nine. every morning, she would run from her bedroom to the livingroom and ask me to turn on the lights. she would count to three (oftentimes skipping "2" because of the excitement) and i would watch her smile as i turned the lights on for her. pure bliss.

the excitement continued as we drove around and saw all the lights on the houses. it got to the point that she didn't like going in the car during the day because there were no lights to see. she would demand "lights, please!" from her back seat- so we always did our best to find them for her.

i remember christmas at home was always such a fun time. as a child, i pretty much had butterflies in my stomach from thanksgiving to christmas day. with that in mind, i want to make sure that my home has the same excitement in the air. one tradition that i look to continue is that of the advent calendar. growing up, my mom had a few advent calendars she had made around the house. my older brother and i would always race to be the first one up in order to move all the advents along, bringing us one day closer to christmas. my sister and i decided to make our own first advents together this year.

it was a fun time to get together with family as we ate yummy food and crafted together. cade told us to pose for this picture...

the kiddos loved the opportunity to veg out and watch mickey's christmas shows.

ivy loved the opportunity to get some gramps love.

we all loved the opportunity to get some more christmas spirit. i really do love this time of year!