Our Little Reindeer

Maddie's learning to love the season just as much as we do!!

Tonight, Spencer and I ordered some pizza and watched "The Santa Clause" by the Christmas tree. Maddie joined us for the first little bit, but had to go to bed half way through. She seemed to enjoy the movie, though, or maybe her eyes were glazed over with sleepiness. :)

We're trying to do something "Christmassy" each night so that we can make the most of the holidays, so tomorrow we'll be doing some Christmas shopping during the day and then we'll be attending "The Living Nativity" tomorrow night. I'm really looking forward to seeing it, and we'll let you know how it is. But honestly, who could go wrong with the Nativity story?!?

20 days till Christmas!

Our Home at Christmas...

To give you a mere glimpse at our house during the holidays, here's some pictures....

Entryway


Foyer


Sign below stairs


View from stairs


View from kitchen


Advent Calendar on Kitchen Table

As i said, this is JUST a glimpse--there's a lot more decorations elsewhere, but one of my close friends put it this way, "It looks like Christmas threw up in your house." Nice, i know, but a very effective analogy. :) And tomorrow, we're putting up the outside decorations, so stay tuned for those! Let the countdown to Christmas continue!!!! :)

The Beginning of the Holiday Season

During the Thanksgiving break, our little family traveled down to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with Spencer's family. This was Maddie's first time down to Grandma and Grandpa's, and she did really well. I was especially worried about the car trip down and back (6 hours in the car, both ways), but Maddie did really well--of course she did--she's always so good natured. And normally I dread the drive as well, but I had Stephanie Meyer books to occupy my time...that's right. I gave into the "Twilight" craze and started reading the books before I went to see the new movie. I finished the first book in less than a day and had the ENTIRE series read in less than a week. They are SUPER addicting, and I fell absolutely in love with them. So, needless to say, this time I didn't mind the trip to and from Vegas because that gave me some time to read! :)

We had a great time with our family and are super excited to be going back for Christmas!! I love this time of year as anyone who knows me can tell you. I am somewhat obsessed with the Christmas season and I try, in every way, to make Christmas a part of my families' lives as well. We had our Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving (thank you, Spencer!) and we've been enjoying local Christmas festivities. On Monday, December 1st, our little family went to the "Lights On Celebration" in Provo. Down Center street in Provo, UT, the city decorates and lights up the entire street starting on the first day of December. So we were there to witness the official "beginning" of the season. Maddie absolutely LOVED it--when the lights went on after the countdown, she could NOT stop looking around! All the trees were lit and lots of decorations were put up--needless to say, she was occupied for most of the night! Later that night, we came home and had homemade hot chocolate. It was a fun day, and we're trying to do something fun each day to bring the Christmas Spirit into our home. So for now, Happy Holidays to all, and we hope you enjoy the season as much as we will! :) Goodnight!

Pictures from the "Lights on Celebration"

Daddy and Maddie


Mommy and Maddie