Christmas Eve

We had one of the best Christmas Eves to date in my book. My sister is here with her wonderful family so our families spent the day together and then had a white elephant chocolate exchange, followed by a delicious ham dinner, and then a visit to the temple to see the lights.

Amelia and Shaun enjoying the last rays of sunlight on Christmas Eve

My little pumpkin. Oooh I love those squishy cheeks. So kissable!

The Millers as dusk comes upon the temple grounds.

Our little family enjoying the lights and festivities

Shaun and I have been able to visit the Temple every Christmas Eve since we've been married unless we were traveling. I think this year made six out of eight. It's such a wonderful way to spend the evening, focused on the true meaning of Christmas and visiting our Savior's Holy House.

Inside the visitor's center Nana enjoys her grandchildren

In keeping with Williams tradition, my parents gave their presents to the girls Christmas Eve. Nana and Papa bought Ella a beautiful doll. Ella was in love. She named her Aurora and has been joined at the hip with her ever since.

They got Amelia a horse. She is also quite smitten.

The ladies taking a break from ham dinner prep for a photo op

Sarah and Katie played carols on the piano while we prepared

Shaun gave Nathan a hard time

And the cousins enjoyed many good times cuddling, kissing, and teasing.

Lacy and Amelia sharing a moment

The best part of the day was really just being together as family. Seeing my girls enjoy their cousins and laugh with them was the best gift for me. I only wish we could have the rest of our family with us as well. We miss Shaun's family so much with them being so far away, and my other sister and brother and their families were missed too. Hopefully 2012 will allow for visiting with them at some point. But we are truly grateful for a most wonderful

Christmas Eve!

Church Christmas Party

My girls had a BLAST at our church Christmas Party last weekend!

It was casual dinner/entertainment with some of the church families performing various Christmas songs, some fun and some spiritual. Whenever a fun song came up, Ella was right up there dancing. She got up and river danced with a family during their performance of, "It's Christmas in Killarney." I don't even know where she picked up these moves, but below is a shot of her in action. She loves performing! My little ham.

She also enjoyed all of the chocolate and treats she get could get her hands on. I really tried to monitor her sweet intake, but she is quick I tell you.

Amelia also enjoyed the performances. She was very excited to sit up front with the older girls. I love this photo of her... so precious!

Amelia and daddy having a grand ole time, even if it looks like Amelia's a bit spacey.

I love having a ward family to look forward to spending holiday celebrations with. The friendships I have through the gospel (current and past) make my life feel richly blessed.

Deck the Halls!

We've been busy getting ready for Christmas at the Calderwood home.

Shaun won the light battle again so colored lights it is!

And yes, that is our nativity in the fireplace. Seemed like a good focal point.

I love the ambiance of Christmas!

Our foyer. Shaun's says it looks like the trees are on fire. Don't be worried. They are just "glowing" as all things should at Christmas time.

Happy Birthday Nana and visits with Santa

Tonight we celebrated Nana's "29th" birthday with dinner and cake... Nana's favorite, German Chocolate. Ella was very excited to give Nana her birthday present and waited patiently all weekend to give it to her today. Christmas is going to be fun.

And speaking of Christmas, Ella got to visit the big man this weekend. We took the girls to Gum Drop Square in Old Town where Ella got to sit with Santa and choose two little gifts for us (though she said they were actually for her). Amelia didn't go for the big man in red. She took one look at him and started crying. Ella was very excited but when she actually got on his lap she froze. She was a bit intimidated I think after all our talk of him knowing if she's been naughty or nice. She told him she wants the Repunzel that sings and glows. Very exciting! It's a good thing Santa went shopping at Amazon.com and took care of all these orders right away:) We are enjoying the Christmas Season and it's especially fun to feel the magic of Christmas through the eyes of a child. The littlest things hold such joy and excitement... from nana's nutcrackers and ornaments, to the lights on the tree that Amelia keeps trying to pull off. The girls are enjoying the Season which means I am enjoying the Season! So Happy Holiday Season to all of you! I hope you are enjoying the wonder and excitement this time of year brings!

The girls are having fun together these days when Ella's not getting mad at her sister for trying to take her toys.

Ella was a little less intimidated with Nana's fake Santa. She warmed right up to him and gave him hugs and kisses. Amelia has been loving on him all week too.

Amelia helped Nana celebrate with lots of loves and drooly kisses.

Giving Thanks

This has been a wonderful Thanksgiving. We missed traditions of years past, but we embraced new traditions as well. With my parents out of town visiting my brother, we decided to have a couple of families over from church. We split the work in thirds, we split the cleaning in thirds, and we enjoyed it three times as much as I think we would have otherwise. No photos though. Sorry to disappoint.

This is a wonderful holiday! I love the idea of getting together with friends and family and sharing in good food and gratitude for what we have. Here are some of the things I'm grateful for this Thanksgiving:

* Amelia started walking! She's absolutely adorable in what looks like her drunken stupor. She's wobbly but she's getting it. I think she's had it for a while, but she's finally gaining confidence to do walking more than crawling.

* Ella and Amelia let me sleep this morning while they played. Sure the house was a wreck when I woke up, but with a few baby gates and safety locks they were good to go. They're growing up and they're so adorable!

* Shaun is so helpful. He really tries to make me happy. He even did all the mashed potatoes this year.

* We have wonderful friends and family. We are so greatly blessed!

* I'm grateful to have the Christmas Season to look forward to. Now if only I can manage to teach my children the true meaning of Christmas as commercialism competes for my three year old's attention (my attention too for that matter). It will be a fun Christmas though. Ella's at a great age for Christmas morning!

A most glorious weekend

The first weekend in November has been a good one for the Calderwoods. We enjoyed having the sister missionaries over for dinner Friday night, and Saturday Shaun let me go on a four mile jog in the wonderful sunshine (after being at the gym four days in a row I loved being outside). Yesterday evening we got a sitter and went out to dinner with friends from church, and then for the first time since we've been married, Shaun and I attended the adult session of Stake Conference (a meeting for the adults of our church in the local area). It was really nice actually... a meeting free from distraction, unless it was self created. And to top off our weekend, we spent the day today driving to the mountains and enjoying the scenic overlooks of skyline drive. All in all a most glorious weekend! Here are some photos from today.

I've continued to focus on how much of what we make of this life is choice based. "Choosing to Become" healthier, happier, and holier has helped me also think about choosing to love. At stake conference last night many of the talks were on marriage. One speaker said, "Love is a choice." You don't fall in and out love, you may fall in and out of lust or infatuation, but not love. Love is a choice. I love that! Love really is a choice. Today I choose to love my family with all my heart. I choose to love my husband even when he's grumpy and tired. I choose love over all the other options out there. I'm grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who lets us experiences the freedom of choice!

Skunk or Treat

Our little Family, Halloween, 2012

Little Miss Elle was the Belle of the ball. Her sitter got her this beautiful Belle costume and she was so excited to wear it to pre-school and trick or treating.

Amelia, well Amelia got her first of many costume hand me downs I'm sure. She was a Stinker, our little PU Skunk. She was so dang cute. I don't think the pictures do either one justice of just how cute they were. But we had a nice time. We visited a few neighbors before heading to our church "Trunk or Treat". I'm enjoying Halloween more now with little ones. It really is a great holiday. Now if only I can get rid of all that candy, and by "rid" I don't mean in my belly. I took most of it to work today, left a few things Ella will enjoy but wont tempt me. Anyway, Happy Halloween! Now on to my favorite season... Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!