Christmas Day 2012

 Our last hiding spot for Bernard...at the feet of Jesus!

 The tree

 Stockings were hung...

 Judah's and my Mom's stockings

(Poor Judah...never got him a stocking this year...next year buddy!!)

 Josiah was first up.  No surprise.  I told him he could NOT get up before 6 am, and that he had to come get ME up but wake NO one else!  So he was at the side of my bed at 6:00:00 ready to go :).  Sweet boy.  I loved watching him open his stocking and appreciate each thing.  This was a USC gamecock ornament that lit up!

 After Josiah was done with his stocking, I went back to sleep for another 45 minutes until Judah woke up at 7 :).  After I was done feeding Judah, Josiah showed Judah his stocking stuff :).  

 "Look Judah! Look what you got!"

 Josiah read Judah's new book to him

(See Judah's little hand on the book?  so sweet!)

 Trying out his new toy.  He's just started reaching and grabbing for things, so this came in handy!

 Callie was next up.  She came stumbling down.  She is SO much fun to watch when she opens things because she exclaims so much!  :)

 Daddy was next and the kids were excited to see what he got!

 Finally a little before 8, Caleb and Jacob came down to open their stockings.

 It was so good to see my four kids sitting with each other...this close...and being sweet to each other.  Being excited for each other. Sharing joy!  My heart needed to see this. And be reminded that yes, we have work to do. We ALL do. But they are precious, wonderful kids. And I am thankful.

 Nerds is his favorite candy...when I put this huge box of Nerds in his stocking, there was no doubt in my mind that they would end up on my carpet very quickly :)

 I got a foot polisher thing in my stocking, and so Jacob offered to try it out :)

 We take it very slow with stockings.  We like to soak it all up.  Really enjoy it.  It's one of my favorite parts of Christmas morning actually.

 We have some Christmas donuts and it gives us just enough sugar to get through!  

 It buys us enough time to get showered and dressed before eating a REAL breakfast...and then we can actually begin the present opening!

 Captain America Daddy!

 Aunt Daree got all the kids new books!  Hooray!

 And then we began the opening.  This was really special.  The kids each bought each other presents.  This was the first year that Jacob and Josiah had their own money that they wanted to contribute.  So it made it very special.  And was so precious to see!  They each got so very excited about watching their siblings open what they had picked.  Callie picked new play doh for Jacob (because ours gets mixed and nasty very quickly..)

 Callie picked football cards for Josiah

 Jacob picked the Captain America shield for Caleb

 These "thank you" hugs...meant the world to me to see...they DO love each other!

 He about hugged the pants right off of him!  :)

 Jacob and Caleb went in together to get a nerf gun for Josiah

 Josiah picked some Avenger guys for Caleb

 ...which he LOVED!

 Josiah got Jacob a wallet...and it's just like the one he has!  :)

 Okay, here we go!!!

 Cinderella Blu Ray from Gramps

(I felt guilty putting this on Callie's list...because I knew it was just as much for me as for Callie! So excited when I heard it was coming out of the vault in time for Christmas!)

 Pirate Ship from Gramps

 Lazer Tag set from Gramps

 This circuit board thing is awesome.  Had never seen anything like it before, but if you have an analytical kid who loves building and putting things together, following instructions (like a lego kid), then you have GOT to get this kit.  It comes with an instruction manual of 300 different projects and configurations that you can build - it is VERY cool and super fun!

 Judah was in and out of Christmas.  He'd wake up, eat, be awake and watch for a while, and then back to bed.  :)

 LOVE Animal books!

 Carolina shirt from Kelli & Scott

 Kelli always gets the kids a book (it's the Ph.D. in her!) and Caleb's book was a Batman Look & Find - perfect!!

 Baseball mitt & glove for Jacob

 Kim & David got my mom a heated throw blanket - isn't that the coolest?  Never seen anything like that but it sounded wonderful!

 Mom got Callie a Bitty Baby - and to say she was excited would be an understatement :)

(The fun thing is that we bought it from my neighbor...her daughter Abby was ready to sell it and Angela told me about it.  Everytime Callie goes to their house, she always plays with Abby's babies and so I knew she would love it.  When Callie opened the present, she screamed and said "Awesome!  It's just like Abby's bitty baby! "  :) )

 Mom opening our present to her and saying "I hope this is what I think it is!"

 And it was! I always make her a calendar and we LOVE seeing the pictures from the past year :)

 For our kids, they each get 3 gifts.  1 physical gift (for their body), 1 emotional gift (something that they love or are passionate about), and 1 spiritual gift (that will help grow them spiritually).  It makes their gifts very purposeful and helps keep it from getting so overwhelming.  Caleb's (and Judah's) physical gift was a wagon (that I bought at the consignment sale months ago and had hidden away)

 Callie's physical gift was some new clothes (that I had bought from the consignment sale months ago and saved!!)

 Josiah's emotional gift was new USC phiton necklace. His physical gift was a new USC pullover (thanks consignment sale!) 

 Callie's emotional gift was a cupcake set to play, bake, and decorate with - she loves to help me cook and so this little set looked just perfect for her.

 

 Caleb's emotional gift was a Captain America.  He is obsessed :)

 Mom opening her present from the 4 K's.

 Inside that big box was this little envelope...

 A little ferclempt :)

 This is what she opened!!  We are SO excited!!  :)

 Now we can all play and relax and enjoy!!!

 This was Jacob's emotional present - a tabletop air hockey game.  His physical gift was a USC pullover too :)  (I don't know why I don't have any pictures of him opening them!)

 For their spiritual gifts, they each got a book from William Lane Craig - one of David's favorite authors and defenders of the faith.  He has written a new series of children's books that help describe the attributes of God.  Really neat books.  They each got one (God Is Spirit, God is Three Persons, God is Everywhere, God is Self-Sufficient) and they have been really great conversation starters and helping to explain some huge concepts to kids.

 Judah didn't open his presents until that night :) He got some new elastic bands for his bottles/cups with his name on them!

 And he got a jumperoo! (Again, thank you consignment sale!  I got a lot of stuff and just hid it away for months! It was so nice to have a good chunk of my shopping done at the sale and done early!)

 It was perfect timing - he was just old enough to be able to do it!

 i LOVE it!!

It was a great day.  Just to be.  We had a delicious dinner that night of prime rib, homemade mashed potatoes, asparagus, artichokes - it was wonderful.  But mostly the day was perfect just being together.  The night before watching the kids act out the Christmas story was priceless.  Seeing them get so excited over the gifts they had picked for each other.  Seeing soft hearts and responsive hearts was wonderful.  Memories.  Precious memories.