Little Women

"Sisters, sisters there were never such devoted sisters..." When I had the opportunity to take Jane to my homeland of Redmond WA I arranged a great friend and photographer to do a little shoot for us. I got a little idea stuck in my head that wouldn't get out of having a "sisters/mom" photo while up there. It was a crazy busy weekend, but the hair brained idea was pulled off! 

I love how a picture can be treasured for all time. It can be a part of a families history, for generations to come. This is why I desired this photo. I wanted to capture our families women together in a moment of time. There is so much JOY in families and so much you learn from one another. Is that not why we are meant to be in families!? There are things you cannot learn in any other way than from your parents or siblings, and then things you never dreamed of when you become a parent and have children. There is such importance in the family unit. And a sisters relationship is a unique one. I love the movie "Little Women" and watch it each year around Christmastime. The interactions and things learned between the March sisters reminds me so much of my own sisters. And Marmee is awesome!! She and my own Mama are two examples of a true mother. I cherish these photos and cherish the people in them. Hurray for women, sisters, mothers, families!

Ice Ice Baby

We have some MASSIVE icicles on our home right now. They are beautiful!! I love to see them grow inch by inch each day. How blessed we are to have a warm home to sit in while we enjoy the beauty of winter through our windows. I love this time of year and quite enjoy being stuck inside with my buddy. 

The icicle at our front door is twice the size of Jane-dear-reindeer!! Quite amazing! 

On Christmas Day, On Christmas Day!

Christmas in a child's eyes is magical! Jane loved ripping open presents, eating all day, going on a snow drive, reading books and being an absolute Joy!

The colors of Christmas are my favorite! Reds, greens, whites and creams...they are colors that make me so happy!

It was so fun having a WHOLE day just being together as a family, chilling and laughing together. I loved playing games with my Mister James!

Food glorious food! Today was full of good food!!! Mmmmmmm holidays are delicious!

We have a spot we call "our place" that we like to drive to in Idaho Falls. Today we enjoyed seeing it covered in snow and looking over our city for Christmas. I love my little family and the joy they bring me! We are full and jolly after this wonderful Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!! A few of our family traditions for this festive night are dressing up for a fancy game hen dinner, opening pjs from Mr & Mrs Claus, reading from Luke 2, and giving a gift to Christ in his white stocking.

The dinner this year was epic! We mastered the best game hen recipe yet, Jane loved and Mister James' was kicked clean. We did fresh green beans with homemade hollandaise sauce, Swedish bread with apple butter and sparkling cider of course!

Eating by candlelight is so fun and special as well! It was a festive evening and really special. Watching Jane open her first present ever was simply adorable!!! I LOVE this sweet babe of ours. What a special time of year this is and so magical with a child to watch experience all its joys!!

The Lighting Ceremony

A Christmas tradition I treasure and have kept from my family is an evening for a "Lighting Ceremony." For this tradition you light up different parts of your Christmas decorations and sing a song with each piece. Celebrating the light of Christ! This year we had two dear families from our ward to join us in this event. The first song we sang was "Jingle Bells" to ring in the Joyous news of Christs birth. 

Then we lit up our Christmas Village...Bethlehem. This is a special one because the village I grew up with was so beautiful. And I was usually always the one to set it up. I found these beautiful ceramic pieces at a dollar store and got them as an early present to myself. With this we sang "Oh little town of Bethlehem."

We then lit up a candle next to the Angel. Choruses of angels singing to the king. Heralding the shepards to come and witness His birth, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

Our Christmas star is another favorite of our Christmas decorations. I love having a star lighting the top of our tree! When I think of that joyous light guiding and announcing His birth and coming, it is a sign of hope to me! With this we sang a song out of the LDS Childrens songbook, "Stars were Gleaming."

Then the most important symbol of all; the Nativity! Each year we give a sibling a gift and then it rotates. This year the Lara Seaver family had us, and they gave us a Toy Nativity for Jane and our kids to enjoy. Jane loves it. As we lit the stable we sang, "Away in a Manger." I am so thankful for the birth of our Savior and the light and hope He brought to the world! 

We then closed singing this song, "Have a Very Merry Christmas" also in the LDS Children's songbook and a VERY neat song, and watched this video;

http://youtu.be/tXXwtFWpAI8

And then dug into treats. We made our new tradition of Watermelon Smoothies at Christmas for everyone (we slurped them up before I took a photo :) ). It was a lovely and wonderful evening!

Christmas at the Zoo

Jane, Mister and me adventured to the Zoo today! They are open for just a few days around Christmas and Santa is there, it's decorated fun and they have the winter animals out. We made it just in time for Jane to meet Santa and get a candy cane!

It was fun to see the zoo all decorated for Christmas! The monkey house was my favorite! They even gave them wrapped presents to rip up.

Jane loved watching all the monkeys swinging around in their cages. She is so much fun to observe. She's definitely a curious, loving and excited young gal!

From the Spencers!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 2014 has been a wonderful year. It started out with a bang with Jane-dear-reindeer being born into our family and it's ending with James having begun the dream job. We have been blessed with flakes of joy all along the way this year....visits from family and friends, a new sister in law, Mary-Katherine, joining the family, wonderful news of our brother and sister in law, Matt&Paige, getting pregnant, James filming a short film, Carolyn getting called into the Relief Society presidency and pulling off many activities....countless flakes that have made this year shine!

We have loved becoming parents and have learned so much by having Jane join our family. She is a true JOY and a beautiful blessing to us! Watching her learn so much in just a years time has been incredible. And laughing at the many adorable things she does keeps our home filled with a youthful happiness.

How grateful we are to supportive and loving family, and to dear friends that make our lives so happy!! We can't thank you enough! Merry Christmas to each of you and may you look back on the year of 2014 and discover your golden flakes as well! Bring on 2015 and the joy it holds in store!

Love,

The Spencers


Go visit our this years message/theme of gold flecks here:
https://www.lds.org/pages/flecks-of-gold?lang=eng