Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was, of course, wonderful. Our gang wakes early. We're early risers anyway just even more so on Christmas :) They can't wait! Brandon and Nicholas were in our room at 4:30. No you didn't read that wrong ;) We made them crawl in with us for a bit. By 6:00 there was no more trying to sleep! I told them to wake their sisters and we'd get started.

The rule is, no one goes downstairs ahead of me! I want to be ready, so while they're waking everyone, I'm downstairs pouring coffee and readying my camera. I always take a picture of them on the landing of our stairs as they come down. It's very cool to see how they've grown throughout the years!

Santa doesn't wrap the presents he brings to our house. There's always one for each child and a basket full of books, movies, and games for the whole family. That basket is a favorite here. The kids were poking around that basket before even noticing their own personal gifts from Santa!

After Santa's gifts have been thoroughly checked out, the kids exchange their gifts to each other. One at a time, they go to the tree and get all the gifts they chose and distribute them. I didn't take too many pictures at this time as I was very much just enjoying their excitement!

Then they get their presents from Mom and Dad ;)

Russ and Judy came over around lunchtime and the fun started all over again :)

We sat with our coffee enjoying all the joy and love around us. We talked about Jesus. Nick prayed for our breakfast and included a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" in his prayer. (precious!) We relaxed. We watched our new movie from Santa, Despicable Me....twice ;) And we played with new stuff!

It was a great day :)