Happy Advent, friends! This is undoubtedly my favorite season of the church year. While it's a busy season, it's also filled with joy, anticipation, wonder, and mystery. My big kids are growing up before my eyes, and the baby is three months old today. Where has the time gone? With each passing season and year, I tend to hold onto our family traditions which yield lasting memories- or at least, that is my hope for my children.

We missed out on a lot of memory-making activities and traditions this fall, due to having Cosette right when school was starting, and I had surgery to heal from. As the holidays began to approach, I was absolutely determined to make sure I would be able to keep our holiday traditions going. This is harder to do each year because my husband is busier and gone much more than any other time of year during the holidays.

We're still finding time to do the things we love- making Advent wreaths as a family and lighting the Advent candle each Sunday during Advent to prepare our hearts for the coming of our Savior. I remember doing this as a child with my parents and doing this weekly in church during Advent. I was proud to watch my son light the Advent candle during our church service yesterday.

Doing little things like opening an Advent calendar door each morning, finding our family Elf, making holiday treats for neighbors and friends, and reading parts of the Christmas story every day as a family fill our hearts with joy and warm fuzzies. It's not easy to get it all done, to orchestrate it all, and to remember to move that silly, impish elf (which I did after waking up with a start at 2 am a few nights ago). These things are so meaningful to all, though. Forget any presents under the tree on Christmas morning... THIS is my gift to my family, and their gift to me is the joy they experience as we spend this time together.