The Excitement of Christmas Morning

The Setup: (I went downstairs first to get a better angle for pictures)

Love the play by play.
A bit sleepy... (We had to wake our kids up on Christmas morning due to their late night on Christmas Eve and us having to be at church on time.)
Jeremy made the girls a bunk bed for their American Girl dolls. It is adorable! (And he is willing to make one for sale to benefit our adoption fund if anyone is interested :)
I even did stockings for the girls' dolls. Ruthie & Kit got matching outfits. :)
Titus' main gift was a "top" for his train table. I found this great train table for super cheap at a garage sale (I think I paid $25) for it! It is solid wood and has two huge drawers on rollers that go under it for storage, but the top that has the design on it had been peeled off. I was able to find a table close in size that sold replacement parts. They sent me this new top for under $20 including shipping! Jeremy trimmed it up and the table was as good as new!


My gift from the kids- a container from the $1 store. :)
Faith waits for Daddy to get out her "Barbie" that Grace picked out for her.
Another super easy & frugal gift were photo albums for the girls. When print were free/cheap I sorted out all the pictures from the past couple years of just the girls together. I made them "sister" photo albums. They loved them!
Grace opening her gift from Faith, a princess art/sticker pack. Don't you love the dramatic face? I have no idea where she gets that from.
Titus opening his rocket plate. Hooray for no more eating off princess, hello kitty, and flower plates.
Our big splurge was on the Disney Princess dolls I got on a Black Friday deal. The girls really loved them.
Sometimes I start to feel guilty about the fact that most of my kids' Christmas gifts are stashed away yard sale finds or handmade. I realize the world doesn't always "get" our life. Why we live on one income, are getting ready to adopt, let our son sleep in our bathroom...

But, when I see my kids' faces in these pictures I realize they were grateful and excited not disappointed. I hope they will grow up with a different set of ideas about what makes a gift special. Not that its new, but that its thoughtful and given with much love. I often see when God asks me to step out in faith in an area my kids are already running playfully ahead. Not worried, but enjoying the joys of a childlike faith. Isn't that what Christmas is all about? God being willing out of love to send the perfect gift, his son, even though the world wouldn't understand. Only this gift would cost him everything so it could be free to me and you. Isn't that the real excitement of Christmas morning?

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve the plan was to go to church with my family and then to my parent's house to enjoy time with my mom's side of the family. Great plan. We were running a bit late due to picking up some pics for my sister. But, we weren't too worried until approximately 12 minutes into our trip we realized neither of us had packed the veggie pizza that was our contribution to the annual Christmas Eve appetizer feast. Opps! We turned around at the next exit but now we were super late. We were rushing because at the end of the service families take communion together. (one of my favorite parts of Christmas each year). We literally waltzed in as our family was going up to take communion. We were there 3 minutes and left. Oh, well better luck next year.

Here are a few pics from the night.

Titus opens his Christmas pjs.
Alison & Kara- gorgeous girls. I enjoyed time to visit and get caught up face to face with Kara and the girls couldn't wait to see their "China cousins."
Bingo


Late night. Kids are in their pjs and ready to head home when they catch their first glimpses of Home Alone 2 on the TV. They were so mesmerized. The Home Alone movies were a favorite at our house growing up. Our kids are still too little for them, but I think it will be fun watching it with them in the future.

Wish we'd gotten a few more pictures. But sometimes you are too busy having fun (or eating) to capture it with a camera.

Over the river and through the woods...

to Grandpa Rick & Grandma Leeanne's house we went for Christmas.

Here is Grandma Leeanne's new crocheted nativity set. You know how I LOVE nativities and this one was adorable! (hint hint ;)

The girls were excited about their real tree. They really picked up on the fact that some people have live trees unlike our artificial one.
Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.
This is the second year Grandma has given the grandkids recordable books. Faith especially has LOVED the two we have. She will sit and "read" to herself during rest time for quite a long time.
This year we got Frosty the Snowman.
Grace and Faith's request for a castle was fulfilled with a neat block set that let you build your own castle.
Titus loved his truck and football.
This is a really cool nativity floor puzzle the kids got.

Love this one-not sure why she was pouting but its classic for sure.
Opening stockings.
Watching Polar Express in their new pjs. This was one of the first movies Titus showed interest in watching because he loved the train.
Jeremy got a backyard firepit as his gift. (guess I missed getting a picture) I am super excited to break it out this Spring. I am seeing lots more hot dogs and smores being consumed in our near future!!