It's the most wonderful time...

I love Christmas-time! It is always so fun to spend time with family. It does make our lives so busy, but it is totally worth it to spend time with loved ones. We have already had our McEwan and Page family Christmas parties, as well as our ward party, so we are well seasoned party-goers! It is always good to see those family members that we don't get to see often at the Christmas parties. I love the memories that Christmas always brings back. It is so fun to think of years past and the things that we did. I can't help but think of future years as well, as we establish our own family traditions with our children. This is our first Christmas with Sydney, where she actually is somewhat aware of what is going on. So we are excited to watch her open presents. It has been a kick to watch her look at Christmas trees and lights. She always points and says, "oooh!" We bought a real tree this year, our smallest yet, so our apartment smells nice and piney! We had fun decorating it while listening to Christmas music. It has been a stuggle to teach Sydney not to play with the tree, but she is doing pretty well, and is getting used to having it in our house. On Sunday, we also went down town to look at the lights on Temple Square. This really is one of my favorite traditions-that we did not do last year with a newborn. It is always so neat to feel the spirit on temple square and to look at all the happy faces. I love to look around at all the people, and can't help but think how uniting this holiday is. It truly is an honor to Christ, because people care about oneanother more at this time of year. I think my favorite thing about Christmas this year, is teaching Sydney about it. She has no concept of Santa Claus, but she does have a concept of Jesus. She really does know who he is, which has been amazing to me. We have pictures of Christ around our house, and a statue of Him with children in Sydney's room. Every morning when Sydney wakes up, she points to that statue and says in her own language, "Jesus." We ask her, where Jesus is, and she points to the statue or the pictures. It brings tears to my eyes, to think of her innocence. This past week, we put up a manger scene, and we have been teaching Sydney about "baby Jesus." She will pick up the baby and hold it. I hope, that as she gets older, we can continue to teach her about Jesus, and keep the holiday focused on Christ. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!