Christmas Morning

Gooood Morning!

The kids spent the night in the family room upstairs together.
Jason and I prepared breakfast and brought it up to eat.

We ate our (new) traditional crockpot breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls and orange juice. Yum!

Before we go see what Santa brought, my kids LOVE it when I ask them to line up youngest-to-oldest... not.
But I make them do it any way, because it's tradition!

Everyone headed to their couch or corner.

Jason had been wanting a dashboard holder for his phone. I guess he was on Santa's "nice" list and found one by his stocking.

We each received cereal by our stockings. I got Craklin Oat Bran...yum!

Piggy bakingware with cake mix, frosting and sprinkles...Abree's "gift of learning".

"The Boy Doodle Book" for Treyson's "gift of learning".

Taylee was crossing her fingers, and hoping to receive the book on her wish list, "The Mark of Athena--The Heroes of Olympus book 3". Wish granted..happy Taylee.

Abree's face says it all...

she was excited about getting a new doll (American Girl type). Her name is Ayla and she has beautiful red hair.

Treyson opened pet bedding as a clue to his "want gift".... 

2 turtles!

He named them Scooter and Lucy.

Taylee said she was confident that she would get her "want gift" off her wish list... an i-pod!

She was right.

For Rylee's "want gift" received a charger/radio/speaker unit for her i-pod and some i-tunes gift cards.

Jason gave me a new quilt set for our bed. I appreciate the thought and care he put into coming up with something that he thought I would really like. Thanks Honey!

Each year, as we continue our "3 gift rule", I find myself wondering if it's going to be ENOUGH.

Will the kids be disappointed? Will they focus on scarcity, rather than abundance? Am I scaring them for life? Will they "get it"...and eventually appreciate it?

This year was no exception...I worried, then was once again reminded that it was ENOUGH. The kids were excited and happy. We played together and enjoyed one another's company all morning long.

It was a joyful Christmas morning.

Christmas Morning

Christmas was on a Sunday this year, so we got dressed in our church clothes before we ate our breakfast.

Ok, we did hair AFTER breakfast and opening presents. :)

Guess who?

No make-up = the blanket shield.

We spread out a sheet and ate breakfast upstairs in the movie room.

This year we had a delicious crockpot breakfast casserole along with cinnamon rolls and orange juice. Yum!

Rylee is being a good sport and letting me photograph us...even without her make-up on.

The traditional line-up... youngest to oldest.

We decided to see what Santa brought BEFORE church... and would open the remaining presents AFTER church...such torture. :)

Treyson showing off one of his gifts from Santa...goggles.

Nice.

Abree got a cute little "teacup pig".

Have I mentioned she LOVES pigs?... because they are PINK, of course. :)

Rylee is trying out her new cup.

She's been wanting one of these for some time now (?).

Taylee showing off some of her favorite gifts... pink zebra-striped duct tape and Sharpies in a variety of color.

This girl LOVES her craft/school supplies!

After digging through our stockings, we had plenty of time to relax and finish getting ready for church. And yes... I finally got around to taming Abree's wild bedhead. :)

Christmas Day

Christmas morning, when we started hearing rustling, I got up and put breakfast in the oven.

Our Christmas morning breakfast usually includes sweet rolls (orange or cinnamon) and orange juice. This year I decided to add to our tradition... "Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole". It not only has eggs and ham, but 3 different kinds of cheeses...including CREAM CHEESE! Yum.

We brought the breakfast upstairs to the family room where the kids had been sleeping.

We ate our mini cinnamon rolls, breakfast casserole and orange juice as the kids anticipated what Santa had brought downstairs.

When breakfast had been cleaned up, the kids got into the traditional line-up-- youngest to oldest, and came downstairs.

As the kids filed into the room, they each went to their own stockings. Jason, Grandpa and I wondered when they would notice the family gift sitting on the coffee table. We waited and waited.

Finally Treyson said, "Hey, what's this hamster food for?" (by his stocking).

I said, "Hmmm, maybe it's for that" (pointing to the cage).

Santa had brought our family a cute little dwarf hamster! There was squeals of excitement and a rush to the hamster cage to check her out.

Grandpa Waite got a BSU Coach Chris Peterson bobble head.

Rylee was in LOVE with the hamster! She played with it ALL morning, including chasing it when it escaped from the exercise ball accidentally. She didn't need any other gift in the world. She was content with this cute little addition to our family.

The hamster was named Nibblet, after much discussion and consideration.

The "aftermath" of Christmas morning.

Look how cute we are with our new Christmas clothing. :)

In the evening, we headed to Grandma McKinley's house for dinner and gifts.

Sterling sporting his reindeer hat.

Grandma had outdone herself. We had baked ham, rolls, a variety of salads and lots of snacks and treats to enjoy.

Tyrel & Levi

I finally got to hold sweet little Sterling. I had been keeping my distance, up to this point because I wanted to make sure I was healthy and that he was stronger. He was such a sweet little bundle!

We all opened gifts from one another. Our giving "theme" this year was food storage and/or emergency preparedness. We received a box of cream soups and the book (and workbook), "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey, from Brinton and Amber. Thanks!

I've read the book, going on 3 times ,and have enlisted Jason to read also. This is good.

We enjoyed our books from Grandma and many started reading right away. :)

A wonderful day, filled with family, fun and giving.