Christmas morning we were laying in bed and we could hear the kids wake up and find their stockings. They were SO CUTE. They knew they weren’t supposed to open their presents without us, so they sat excitedly whispering about the stickers they could see, new socks, and the cracker jacks. Marion got a little honey pot for her Winnie the Pooh that she was happy about. They just talked and played together for about 45 minutes and we didn’t want to get up and spoil it. It is one of my favorite memories of the day. They really were so sweet and excited for each other too. Here is Elora hugging her stocking and her new socks.
The kids all got flash lights – here is Marion saying, “Look! The moon!” while shining her flashlight on the wall.
The kids got a lot of beautiful new clothes from their Nana and Grampy that they were excited about, but I love in this picture how excited Oliver is for Marion’s new clothes.
Marion bought Oliver a new coloring book and a gummy pizza for Christmas. Here he is hugging her while holding his gummy pizza. He has always wanted to get one, so I was impressed when Marion remembered that and bought it for him at the store.
Elora was so excited about Marion’s gift she bought that she had to whisper to Oliver what it was before Marion opened it! It was a coloring book with Dumbo in it (perfect, Marion loves Dumbo) and also a glow in the dark snake (also perfect, Marion loves snakes). Elora couldn’t decide which to buy for Marion, so she bought her both of them. From Nana Marion got a kitty shirt, which you can see she changed into right away. She loves kitties.
Oliver was even excited to get new underwear!
Elora made a me a book called “How much I love Mom”. I knew she had been working on something for me for MONTHS. And it is the sweetest gift I have ever received. It had lots of pages of why she loves mom, including “I am thankful for the ice mom puts in my water”. She is so adorable.
Oliver got a Peter Pan set from Uncle David which is PERFECT. We had to open it and play with it for quite awhile before we continued to open presents.
I just broke my whisk before Christmas, so I was super excited to get a new one for Christmas. With a RED handle to match all my kitchen appliances. Perfect!
Chris always gets summer sausage for Christmas. The kids kept talking about how Chris’ stocking smelled like sausage. It was awesome. And the sausage was also awesome, we all really enjoyed it (except Oliver since he is weird and won’t eat sausage).
Chris got an Abe Frohman, Sausage King of Chicago t-shirt. It’s pretty awesome, and he was pretty excited about it.
Elora and Marion got matching outfits from their Nana. They are really cute and the girls love the cute puppies on the shirts.
I took Oliver shopping to buy gifts for his siblings. He picked out Marion and James’ right away, but he wandered around the whole store looking for the perfect gift for his big sister. He saw a lot of really nice things he wanted to buy her, but when he saw this little castle his face lit up and he insisted that this was the perfect gift for her. He was so excited to give it to her. He LOVES Elora. They really enjoyed playing with the castle together.
Elora got a Hello Kitty bag stuffed with art supplies from Nana and Grampy. She loves it, of course, and started using it right away.
Marion got a duplo train. She loves legos and Daddy helped her build her new train.
Oliver got a fire truck lego. I think he had the most excited face of the day. He LOVES legos and he LOVES firemen, so this was perfect and he got it out to build right away.
James hadn’t slept well the night before, so he slept in late in the morning and missed all the excitement. When it was time for him to open presents he really didn’t want to, he wanted to play with everyone else’s toys. We finally got him to open his present from Elora. Notice Marion changed shirts again, into another kitty shirt she got for Christmas.
Chris took Elora and Oliver skiing, and while they were gone James finally grabbed a present from his stocking, but instead of opening it he ran away giggling.
I got him to open it eventually.
It was a car, which he promptly started Vrooming all around.
Eventually he came back from playing with his car and decided to check out the stocking. Every time he pulled something out, he put everything else back in. He would also pull wrapping paper off and then try to put it back on. I think he couldn’t figure out why no one was mad that he was ripping up paper.
Yay! He is opening a present!
Yay! He is opening another one! This took all afternoon… I think Marion ended up opening about half of them.
Elora the little ski princess. It was a beautiful day for skiing.
Oliver the goober monkey.
Marion saying, “Yay! I go skiing now!” She LOVES to ski with her Daddy.
Marion pointing at the chairlift she wants to ride.
James finished opening his presents after everyone was back from skiing. He loved his soft blocks he got from Uncle David and was throwing them around the room, while being repeatedly photobombed by Daddy. (The block above his head is actually in the air because he likes to throw things!)
Merry Christmas everyone! I am so grateful for this beautiful time of year to celebrate the birth of the Savior and to spend time with my family that I love so much. I am so grateful everyone was healthy on Christmas (they all got sick right after that, but it was so nice to be well to celebrate this special day).
