Christmas Time!

Love this little ham! :)

We had an awesome month of December as a family. It was great to visit with so many family members and decorate the tree and see lights and parades. We were so busy all month long, but it was definitely worth it. :)

We started the month by going to a parade in Richmond. We also went and saw the lighting ceremony that they do in Downtown Richmond each year. Caleb had an awesome time dancing around as music was played.

First taste of a funnel cake. Needless to say, he loved it! :)

Mr. Christmas. Caleb could not stop looking at all of his blinking lights.

Waiting for the parade to start.

My boy and me.

My goofy boys.

Caleb loved watching this guy and the basketball. 

After the parade, there was this guy banging a beat on these buckets and lids. Caleb could not take his eyes off of him.

He stared at him and then started dancing. It was super cute. 

We decorated our tree together as a family and it watching Caleb as he tried to help- which mostly involved him taking decorations off of the tree.




We went to the Parade of Lights on the James River. It was kind of late (it didn't really start until 8) and Caleb was tired, so he spent most of the time running around in a grassy area with Jeff while I watched the lighted boats float by. It was pretty cool.

Our ward had a Christmas Luau and Caleb had a blast dancing around in front of the stage and watching the dancers. Then he had fun running around the halls of the church while Jeff chased after him.

We went to the Miracle of Christmas-Live at the Zoo (Live Nativity). We got to see the animals afterwards and Caleb loved that!! As we were leaving, he kept making goat sounds and it took me awhile to realize that he was mimicking the baby goat that we saw.

Waiting in line at the zoo for the live nativity.

You can't tell, but that shepherd is holding a baby goat. Caleb loved the baby goat. 

This camel tried to kiss Caleb. 

We went on our annual Tacky Light Tour with our family, which is always fun. Caleb really enjoyed the lights this year (last year, he slept the entire time).

Captivated by the lights.

Tacky Light Tour

We took Caleb to see Santa, but he fell asleep in the car on the way there and slept while we waited in line and even when we placed him on Santa's lap. In fact, he didn't wake up until we were in the car again.

We celebrated Christmas eve with Jeff's family. We had a lovely dinner and stayed the night. Then we opened presents the next morning and then headed to my dad's mom's house in Powhatan. It was nice to see everyone there.

Jeff's parents' house.

My grandmother's house (dad's mom).

Caleb and his cousins.

We went to the temple and Jeff and I got to do a session with his brother and brother's wife, sister and sister's boyfriend. Jeff's mom came with us and she watched Caleb for us while we were in the temple. Then we got to enjoy some of the temple lights which were very pretty. :)

At the temple.

We celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family on December 30th because my aunt Melissa  was in town then.

My grandparents' home (mom's mom and dad).

Caleb got this bunny (The Velveteen Rabbit and the book to go with it) from my mom. He loved it. Here he is giving it a big squeeze.

So, the entire month was filled and awesome!!

In addition, we tried to complete acts of service throughout the month. The idea was to do one service each day in December- however, we failed. Hopefully next year, we'll do better. We did great for the first ten days of December and then managed to do service other times in December, but didn't manage to do something each day. We did things like giving money and water to a homeless man, donated money to the Make-A-Wish foundation, donated gifts to a family, wrote down things that we could work on individually and then pledged to work on those things throughout the month, prepared dinner for a friend who lost a loved one and visited for more than an hour, we made cards for military service men and women, and more. Jeff and I decided not to give exchange gifts this year so that we would be able to fund the acts of service that required money. And, you know what? I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. It was neat how often my mind was thinking about different ways that I could serve others. I had written out a list of things that we could do throughout the month before the month started, but I also wanted to be open to things as they came up. So some of the service that we did were previously planned, while others were spontaneous. Hopefully next month, we'll be even better at it and we can do all thirty-one days. :)

Anyway, the month of December was awesome and fulfilling and I feel like we were able to focus more on others throughout the month- which was part of the goal. It was great spending time with family and friends as well. And I feel like my life is blessed! :)