My little Ellie James turned one last Friday!  I can hardly believe it's been a year.  It seems I hardly blinked, and I have loved every phase of this first year with her, and treasured it up as much as possible.

(pictured above: Oli & Carol Nelly Elephant)

It's funny how when you welcome a new little person into your family, it's like they have always been there.  It seems we had an Ellie sized hole, and didn't even know it.  I'm so glad she came to fill it, and like one of you so eloquently put it, she is the calm in our joyful storm, for certain.

(pictured above: Party Hats; Plates; Little Elephants)

After sort of a hectic fall, we celebrated with just our family, and it was really sweet to have the time together.  We set up the play table in the living room, and bedecked it with fun plates, Christmas decor, confetti crackers, and little elephant favors.  Love those little guys - one was also the perfect cake topper!

(pictured above: Confetti Crackers; Elephants)

We were going to decorate gingerbread houses, but after the cake and presents and inevitable dance party-ing, it felt like too much, so we are saving that for another day.  I cut those little elephants out of cardboard and painted them for a fun backdrop, along with the cardboard sign.

(pictured above: Ellie's highchair)

It's really fun to incorporate all the Christmas trimmings into celebrating Ellie!  So fun that this has become a party of our Christmas season.

These three have my heart.  It's also nearly impossible to get a good pic of them all together!

We had so much fun celebrating our precious baby!!  Now, I guess I should move on to getting the Christmas shopping done . . . still have so much to do!

(p.s. check out my guy gift guide, friend-or yourself-gift guide, and little girl and baby gift guides!)