Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas to you! Before we opened stockings this morning, we asked the kids, "If you wanted to give someone your most precious possession, what would you give them?" The answers ranged in scope from "all my toys" to "my brother" to "I would give myself to God"... We then tried to explain how God gave us Jesus as His most precious gift to us. I don't know how much connection was made for the kids, but it gave Leo and I something to ponder today. Our morning was very laid back- slept in, opened stockings, ate orange rolls and lounged in our jammies until noon or so :) Here's the whole crowd, anxiously awaiting the stockings.

Malachi and his treasures. Babies are so refreshing. He pulled the first thing out of his stocking and that was all he wanted. He wasn't frantically reaching in to try to find more, he was happy with his one thing. Good lesson for all of us.

Isaac and his new pocket Bible. We got each of the kids a small Bible this year and are all focusing on spending some time each day in the Word.

Nezzie- she was thrilled with her new watch and necklace and rings. Oh, and the AIM caribiner :)

Kaiden and his plane (I think that's what he's holding!)

Lizzy Lou, digging deep. Her initials are "ELF" ( just like Leo's mom) and she is loving all the elf stuff at Christmas time. She is quite proud because she even thinks she has pointy elf ears.

We made the kids take turns opening their stockings this year- youngest to oldest. Poor Neddy, had to wait such a long time! I told Leo afterwards that I love that our kids are still at the age where we can get all the boys essentially the same things (toy pistols, cars and airplanes) and they all totally enjoy the gifts. I know that time won't last much longer.

Rylea played with the new girly tinkertoys for hours this morning. Here she is with her mama and baby flamingos.

And here's Samuel with the Lincoln Log train set. Again, hours of healthy entertainment. We have so many things to be thankful for this Christmas. Lots of love to you too!