First off, our Christmas Eve celebration started with Logan wrapping himself in swaddling clothes and lying on the footstool. And showing me the cheeziest grin!
After a beautiful lesson by Ryan, I took this picture of the kids by the tree. All the presents were wrapped and ready for morning!
Every year, the kids get a new ornament on Christmas Eve. This year I decided to switch it up a bit and got them each a snow globe with the year 2009 imprinted on the front. Do you see my awesome wrapping job? Good old Target bags!
Christmas morning! I took all these pictures before the kids woke up. We had decided they could get up at 6:00 to open presents, but my funny kids slept until 7:20 before they came running in our room. I only slept for a few hours, because I was so excited, I couldn't stand it! I never sleep past 5:00 on Christmas morning. Santa must have been very pleased with our kid's behavior this year.
A new kitchen for Lindsey. How adorable is that? It is really sturdy, and has wooden food in the fridge and freezer. One of the things Ryan and I gave her was a large set of play pots, pans and utensils. This girl is in cooking heaven!
An amazing game for Brevan. This game actually reads your mind! The players construct an obstacle course and then put on a headset, and use their MIND to control how the ball goes through the course. My word, technology has come a long way!
A wooden race car track for my baby boy!
And Santa brought this dollhouse for me . . .er . . .I mean Brynlie. It is the cutest thing I've ever seen, and I've had so much fun fulfilling my childhood dreams of owning something like this.
We left chocolates and toffee for Santa, and Brynlie wrote him a note because she was concerned he wouldn't be able to find our tree, since we put it in the basement this year. Santa, of course, ate most of the food, drank his milk for strength, and wrote on the bottom of her note.
A close-up of the darling letter to the "dear man."
We woke up to an actual white Christmas! The odds are not good to have snow on Christmas here in Missouri, because it only snows a few times a year. How exciting! It was fun to see ACTUAL snow on the wreath on the front door!
Check out those snow drifts on the front porch! Good thing Mother Nature knows how much we hate shoveling, because if you look in the background of the picture, you can see that all the snow blew off our driveway. What a great Christmas present!
I thought it was so cool how the snow had drifted into the corners of the windows.
And on to the present opening! I played a new game with the kids this year. All the presents had a word written on them, such as "TURTLE" so they didn't know which gifts were for them. I would tell one of the kid's that the next present was for them if they could fill in the blanks on a Christmas song I would sing, such as "On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, two BLANK doves, and a partridge in a pear tree." They would get so excited to answer the question and go through the presents to find which one was theirs.
I gave Ryan a GPS system for his new truck (I love his reaction to the present!) and a nice piece of luggage for his business trips. He got me all new dishes, mixing bowls, serving bowls and silverware. I was especially excited to have new square plates, because I've been wanting them. To be completely honest, I picked out all those items myself, because I like to shop for my own gifts or tell him exactly what to buy me. It works well for both of us, because then he doesn't have to go shopping!
This was my favorite present of all. It says "To Ali, From Lindsey" and has the awesomest wrapping job I've ever seen from a 5-year-old! Inside was a seashell I bought for her a couple years ago. She was excited to give me something that was so special to her!
Brevan and Brynlie bought or made gifts for everyone in the family. Brevan made Ryan this wallet made out of duct tape. Every Dad needs one of these!
After a fun-filled morning of opening gifts, I set the timer on my camera and got a couple photos of our whole family. I love these pictures. I am so blessed!
Brevan's favorite present was Keva blocks (pictured below) that allow him to use his love of physics to make models and contraptions in all shapes and sizes. His other presents from us were: a year subscription to the Discovery magazine, 3 books of perplexor puzzles, and a machine-gun-type Nerf gun.
Brynlie's presents from us were: A large Polly Pocket set, the Guess-Who electronic game, a dress, cute brown boots, winter hat with gloves, and some leggings.
Lindsey got 2 small babies to use when playing Barbies, a pink jewelry box with a dancing ballerina, lots of new Barbie clothes, and a set of cooking supplies for her new kitchen.
Logan got a rubber golf club with balls, a large set of foam blocks for building, a toddler bowling set, winter hat and gloves, and 3 wooden puzzles.
And now, more pictures of the dollhouse, because I just love it that much. I had to take pictures of all the beautiful rooms with their wooden furniture!
And finally, the real reason for the season . . .
Merry Christmas!!
And finally, the real reason for the season . . .
Merry Christmas!!
3 comments:
What an awesome Christmas and post! Boyd told me about the assembly of the kitchen! Ah, the good old days. He loved it. Merry Christmas!
Hey, we have a dollhouse similar to that! It's pretty awesome! Those gifts look AMAZING!!!!!! I love how my mom and you are so excited for christmas! My mom woke up when we woke up, but still wouldn't let us go into her room until 7:00!!!!! Merry Christmas....
That is one rockin doll house! Awesome furniture, and a flat screen! The kitchen is awesome too! I love that the food is wooden-those cardboard boxes of food never hold up. Merry Christmas:)
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