Christmas-Time in Colorado

We went to California for Christmas, but before we left we had a lot of fun doing "Christmasy" things as a family here in Colorado. We had fun making treats, looking at lights, decorating the house, visiting Santa, and most importantly we tried to teach Lila about the true meaning of Christmas. Lila loved all of it!

Her favorite Christmas movie was "Frosty the Snowman". She loved singing "Frosty" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" she learned both of those pretty well. She would say "raisin" instead of "reindeer" haha! It was so cute.

Lila loved pulling ornaments off the tree and going and hiding behind it. We initially had non-breakable ornaments on the tree, but every time she would take one off we would move it up high so she couldn't reach it. So after about a week we had a very top-heavy tree. But that's just our season of life right now.

We took Lila to Centerra to go visit Santa. We went their last year and really liked it. So we went back! It was a long line on a Saturday. So I think by the time we got to see Santa, Lila was kind of done. She didn't cry, but she was really cautious and apprehensive about sitting on his lap. On our way to go see him we asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said a "froggy" haha! Not sure where that came from. We couldn't get her to say anything to Santa. But she did warm up to him at the end when he gave her a candy cane. Better luck next year!

Lila loved all the Christmas lights on everyones houses. She loved driving in the car at night and seeing them outside. We also took her to see the lights at The Gardens on Spring Creek, which she loved.

We made Christmas cookies and treats for our neighbors and some friends. Lila loved to help roll out the dough and put the cookie cutters on the dough. She loved eating the cookies and even tried to sneak a few spoonfuls of straight frosting. She was my little helper in the kitchen helping me bake things. I'm not a huge baker. Other than the occasional batch of cookies, the only time I really bake is at Christmas time. Lila helped measure, pour, still, and was the official taste tester.

Also, Paul and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Dec 17th. We went out to dinner down in Old Town. We went to Bisetti's, which has become somewhat of a tradition for us. This is our 3rd year going to their for our anniversary. It's so yummy! Paul surprised me and got a special private room-- kind of by accident haha! When he made reservations he told them it was our anniversary and that he wanted to sit at the most romantic table in the restaurant. Well, we didn't know they have a cute little private room with a little table for two. So we were both kind of surprised when we got there. It had a window out to the street so we could see all the lights in Old Town and it had a little fake fireplace. It was really cozy and just perfect! It was a fun night just enjoying being together and reflecting on memories of when we were dating, engaged, just married. When we went to CA we went on a little belated anniversary get-away after Christmas... but more on that later.

Most of all this Christmas season we were grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I really tried to focus on that with Lila. Someone in our ward gave us a little kids nativity set. Lila loved "rocking" baby Jesus and putting him to sleep. We loved watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional together. I love the music by MOTAB and I loved the talks-- especially Elder Clayton's. I've reflected on the peace that comes through Jesus Christ and how fitting it was that the angels sang "peace on earth, goodwill to men" Christ bring eternal, lasting peace, that the world cannot give.

Anyway, that was our Christmas Season 2015 here in Colorado.