Lamens Family: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I just love this time of the year more than anything, and having kids to share it with makes it all that much better! I love seeing everything through Ella's eyes now that she really understands Christmas and gets excited about all the fun things we do during the holiday season. I love that Lucy loves looking at the lights and hearing the sounds of Christmas. I think Cody sometimes rolls his eyes at me because I try to pack so much into the month of December, but I just love it all and thankfully he goes along with it :). So much fun making memories and traditions with our family.

Ella loved helping us decorate for Christmas this year...someday I dream of having one of those beautiful, matching color-coordinated Christmas trees. But Ella loved looking at each ornament that she has been given or that Cody and I had from our childhood and hearing the meaning behind each one. So for now, we'll have our randomly decorated tree with all the ornaments we have collected throughout our lives. Maybe someday we'll have two trees because I just can't give this kind up!

We did an advent calendar for the first time this year and Ella looked forward to opening her "surprise" each morning during the month of December. Some of the things were simple like reading a Christmas book or watching a Christmas movie. Others were activities like decorating the Christmas tree, making a gingerbread house, writing a letter to Santa or making Christmas cookies. Or there were fun outings like going to Snowflake Lane, going to see Santa, or going to the Nutcracker. One of the new traditions we started this year was that Ella met her "Elf on the Shelf" who she named Spice. She got so excited about finding Spice in different silly places each day and was on her best behavior since he "reported back to Santa each night". Some nights we got creative, and some nights he simply moved to a different shelf depending on how tired we were ;).

I realize now that I should have broken this super-long post up into little ones, but oh well! Here is our last month in lots of pictures...

Our advent calendar...

{I loved adding Lucy's stocking to our family's this year}

Ella LOVED Snowflake Lane this year. So different from last year when she hid from all the characters because she was so terrified of them! This year, she walked up to them and gave them hugs, danced with them, and was mesmerized by the snow coming down. It was a special treat to meet up with Uncle Beau for dinner beforehand and so fun that he could join us for Snowflake Lane...

We got Ella her own nativity scene this year and she has loved playing with it and acting out the Christmas story. Most days she insists that we address her as "Mary", and she calls Lucy baby Jesus, Cody is Joseph, and I'm the Innkeeper :)...

Lucy enjoyed the nativity scene too...

{Sidenote: I cannot believe how long Ella's hair has gotten! She doesn't want to cut it and I'm not in any hurry to. I know she might not always love her curls, but I sure do!}

Our annual family trip to Molbaks. Yes, I made us all wear red, because I love pictures by the poinsetta tree...

Adding stickers to her advent calendar she made at preschool...

Starbucks/Christmas shopping/dinner date with just Ella and me...

Making a gingerbread house...

We went to the "Reindeer Festival" at Cougar Mountain Zoo with Jess, Bennett, and Dempsey. The kids got to see Santa and feed all his reindeer, including Rudolph!

Bennett and Ella are such cute little buddies!

Jess and her sweet boys...

Bundled kids!

Cookie decorating party at the Ehrlichmans...

We got to watch Ella at her preschool Christmas program...so cute! All the classes stood on stage and sang a handful of songs while a narrator told a little story about Christ's birth. Ella's class is the youngest kids at the preschool, and they mostly just stood and did the hand motions instead of singing :).
She was so excited about getting to wear a fancy dress that spins...

Ella's preschool is at the same church where Cody and I had our wedding, so she was excited to get to be on the same stage where mommy and daddy got married :)

We visited the Bellevue Botanial Gardens with the Gai's to check out the impressive Christmas light displays...

Ella and Olivia - such sweet friends!

Silly girls!

We went on a family outing to get hot chocolate in Christmas jammies and drive around looking at Christmas lights. Ella has been very into seeing the pretty Christmas lights on houses so she was excited we found two houses with lights that were coordinated to music...
Excited to go!

Laughing so hard because she couldn't keep her eyes open with the camera flash - love this silly girl!!

Annual holiday date night to Daniel's Broiler with my love...

My mom, Ella, and I spent a very special day together going out to lunch and to the Nutcracker at PNB. Ella had been talking about going all month and was so excited when the day finally arrived on Christmas Eve's Eve. She couldn't wait to see the ballet dancers, wear a pretty dress, and spend the day with her grandma and mom. She's such a grown up little lady now and did great sitting quietly through the ballet, clapping when appropriate, and following the storyline.