Christmas re-cap

I love the feeling in our home on Christmas Eve! A warm and quiet house filled with the smells of Christmas, precious thoughts of the birth of our Savior, and the anticipation for the morning! It was fun to have Naunie and Grampa with us for this very special holiday.

There were quite a few more gifts under our tree with Naunie and Grampa visiting!

The stockings were hung...

Oh, look! Santa came!

Sophie's place on the couch

Mom and dad got her this parrot she's been wanting for months
(ever since she saw one our neighbor's have!)

Naunie came through for her and brought her the Bump-It!! It is so cute to watch her put it in - I have to try really hard not to laugh, this girl hates being laughed at! With her beautiful hair I think she can totally pull the look off (confession: I tried it but it didn't work for me...)

And she also got this story book maker - perfect for our girl who is constantly making books out of construction paper and staples! She was thrilled about this one.

Here she is chilling out with her new stuffed animals, and the mp3 player she got to put her Scripture Scout's stories on for bedtime! Sophie's been asking for a violin for a very long time... Brian's parents actually had one at their house and sent it to her for Christmas! She was so excited but when they asked her (on a webchat on the computer) if she was going to take violin lessons she said, "No. I just wanted a violin!" Haha. Silly girl. I am going to have to look into some lesson for her.

Nora's place on the chair

Nora wanted a gumball machine really badly - thanks Santa!

A Dora camera - now she has a camera like Sophie does!

A baby panda bear that sleeps and squeaks - Miles loves it, too!

A Hungry Hungry Hippo's game - this was at the top of Nora's list this year.

A Color Wonder book - she loves these - and I love the look on her face in this picture!

Naunie also made Nora this beautiful Sleeping Beauty dress - so cute!

and here is Mile's spot

of course he got cars (and this very cute track from Naunie),

cars,

and more cars!!

He was very happy with all of his new cars!

Here is Naunie and Grampa opening their gift from all the families - a family album.

Brian got a dartboard from Naunie and Grampa. It was so funny because right after they bought it they brought it downstairs and wrapped it. Brian walked in about 10 minutes later and my mom told him it was his. He said, "Oh yeah, it's a dartboard. I can tell by the shape of it." Of course he was totally guessing, but it took us all by surprise! It was pretty funny to watch him open it and find out that it really was a dartboard! We all had a good laugh over that!

Brian and I decided to do our Christmas shopping together this year - I got a pair of shoes, a necklace and earrings from the kids and a sweater and coat (okay - I bought the sweater and coat after Christmas but I am counting it as part of my Christmas!) Brian got some grapefruit spoons, a bag of jelly belly's from the kids, and a mousepad with pictures of the kids on it to use at his office at the school. And he's still in search of some new suit pants...

We had a great time being together and giving each other gifts to celebrate Christmas! On Christmas day we got to do a music program at a Nursing Home/Care Center that is near our home with our friends the Seedall's. It was so fun to be there. Of course they asked John if he could come back (hmmm... I just realized they didn't ask the rest of us!) It was a wonderful day!