The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Love this time of year.  Love smelling that delicious pine fresh scent whenever I walk in the door.  Love listening to Christmas music all day long without annoying anyone.  Love all the traditions and simple joys of this season, and they are all even more enjoyable as Elli gets older.

One tradition from our childhoods that we were thrilled to begin in our own family was picking a Christmas tree together as a family.  We didn't even have to teach her to play hide-and-seek with Daddy in the trees!

I love this progression of anticipation and joy as she hid from Daddy.

She loved helping Daddy set up the tree, staying as close as she could.

While Daniel and I decorated the tree, Elli got to play with the Nativity set her Grandma H gave her last year.  I acted out the story for her with them several times at her request, although at the end of each enactment, she would hold up her Buzz Lightyear toy as if to say, "And what did Buzz do in the Christmas story?" 

Oh, I love this girl!!!  She makes every day so bright!