Christmas morning

Christmas came early around here - this morning, Dec. 22. It was the best and most relaxed Christmas we have had in years. Just the five of us. I think I'll do this every year. The kids loved sharing the gifts they bought for each other. Such delight in giving and receiving gifts. Derrick and I loved giving our gifts to them and having time to watch them play with them all day. No hectic schedules. No overload of gifts from extended family. Just time to enjoy our family of five.

I'm pretty excited in this picture about my new kitchen scale, but was even more excited by Sweet Andrew's gift. He found a plastic jewel and wanted to make me a ring. The kids and Derrick worked hard last night to put it together. It is beautiful...especially since I know it was given with so much love.



We gave Amanda some hand-me-down babies clothes and accessories - from herself! These were all clothes she wore as a newborn that I've saved for her dolls.

Here is Amanda as a baby...

And here is her baby, Merry, today wearing the same dress. It was one of my favorites. Amanda loves it also because it is pink and has "dot-dots."

Both boys enjoyed opening their new tool kits...plenty of real tools to help around the house. They even used the wire cutters to open their next gift...

Nerf guns. These really were the big hit for the boys. I did not see them today without weapons in hand. We have a few near-accidents and several "teachable" moments, but we went to bed with nothing broken.

We completed our Christmas morning with Breakfast Casserole that was made in the Crock Pot overnight. Delicious and easy!

It was such a fun day, full of great memories.