Christmastime!

Christmastime is such a magical time.  I absolutely adore seeing it through the eyes of our little ones.  It brings so much joy and anticipation into our home!

We decided that the weekend after Thanksgiving would be a fun time to take the kids to Salt Lake City to see the lights on temple square and to take our oldest two to do baptisms for the dead in the Salt Lake Temple.  And though the lights on temple square are always breathtaking and the sights around the city, the weekend after Thanksgiving may not be the best time to go and see them!  It was so crowded you had to plow through crowds to walk through the temple grounds and push your way to the front to see anything.  It was a little claustrophobic.  But, the next day at the temple, we rose bright and early and were some of the few patrons at the temple that early and it was quite peaceful and beautiful and made the trip worth it.  It also started our Christmas season off with some wonderful perspective.

One of my favorite parts of temple square are the large candy ornaments that they display in the Macy's windows each year.  These unbelievable creations are HUGE and so amazing.

I am still getting used to the fact that I have a decent camera on my phone now and I forget to take pictures, but I at least snapped this one last fleeting shot.

We also did some shopping along the way and one of our favorite stops was at Smith and Edwards.  Smith and Edwards has EVERYTHING!  Including Santa!!  Whitlee of course, wanted nothing to do with him!

Whitlee is terrified of Santa and lives in dread all season that someone is going to make her sit on his lap.  Fortunately, the REAL Santa comes to our library each year.  Whenever he walks in, I always get a little teary, I just love that guy.  I was finally able to convince her to just stand by him and by the end of talking to him, she was willing to give him a hug.  We even got her to sit on his lap for just a minute to take a picture with best friend Josie.

We also had plenty of opportunities for Christmas crafts this year!  These are just a few!  All of my kids love, love, love crafting all year long.

We also had so much fun making and dipping chocolates with our cousins!

After the chocolates were dipped, we put together a Christmas video as a surprise for Grandma and Grandpa.  This is something that we have done every 5 years for the past 15 years.  These little videos are so priceless to go back and watch every year together.

Family time is one of the greatest gifts of the season!