The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

Another Christmas has come and gone. Where does the time go? There are two Christmases that stick out in my mind as being the best Christmases of all. One of them was five years ago from now. I was serving in Hamburg, Germany with my dear friend, Stephanie Hansen. Being a representative of the Savior during the season when the world celebrates His birth was simply wonderful. The other favorite Christmas of mine was just three years ago. Sean and I were three days away from welcoming our first baby into the family. It was just fun having a Christmas morning for just the two of us. We won’t have a Christmas like that again for a LONG time. However, as fabulous as those Christmases were, they don’t even compare to this Christmas. Anika will be three years old tomorrow, so she fully understood what was going on. She’s talked about Baby Jesus for a month now. She kind of understood the whole Santa thing. She definitely got into the tradition of opening presents on Christmas morning. Avery was into it too. Watching the girls get excited about their new toys was so much fun. It’s just made me even more excited for the coming years. Christmas with kids is the most magical thing in life. I love it.

Here are a few pictures of our fun holiday season…

A total pain to make, but they turned out pretty! (Not as yummy as Bethany and Trevor’s, but still tasty!)

Anika and I made some sugar cookies together. She really is my little helper.

On Christmas Eve we had some of our good friends over. The kids had a great time decorating the sugar cookies. YUM!

  

We also acted out the story of the nativity. Thanks for putting it together, Britt!!! These are our wise men and a shepherd. (Shyler, Sean, and our missionaries.)

I’ll try and get our Christmas morning pictures up soon. They’re still on the camera. We love you all and hope you had a lovely Christmas as well!!!   

Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Call…

For those of you who don’t know, I am very close with my grandparents. They live in Orem, Utah, and were basically home away from home for the seven or so years (minus a mission) that I lived in Utah. In fact, they are two of my closest friends. Sean and I preferred watching football and basketball games with them over anyone else, honestly. We ate dinner with them every single Sunday for the last two years that we were in Utah. It’s a tradition that I miss more than anything. One of the most special parts of having lived close to my grandparents was watching them with my daughters. Anika still talks about Grandma and Grandpa Call. She had such a strong connection with them from the moment she was born. I truly believe that they have known each other for a lot longer than Anika’s almost-three-year-long-life. And things aren’t much different with Avery. Avery just turned one in October. The last time she saw Grandma and Grandpa was last May, when she was only seven months old. However, lately she has been doing the most adorable thing. We have a picture of Grandma and Grandpa up on our fridge. Just this past week, Avery has started to sit in the kitchen, point to the fridge, and whine and cry until we pick her up. When we finally do, she continues to point at and lean towards the fridge until we walk over to the fridge. When we finally get there, she touches the picture of Grandpa and Grandma Call and smiles and laughs. I have a feeling that she has known them for a bit longer than 14 months as well. We REALLY miss Grandma and Grandpa, and are forever grateful for their love and friendship. Enjoy the video!