A very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

The whole fam before heading out to Christmas Eve Service last night.

 When we got back from church the kiddos had hot chocolate in special mugs rimmed with chocolate and crushed up candy cane's, while Papa read the story of Jesus' birth from the bible.  

 Finn kinda liked hers :)

 They all got to open one present that was already under the tree.  Ty was psyched.. and made sure he kept his stash close by :)

 Then all the kids got into their Christmas jammies and Jackson read 'Twas the night before Christmas.  It was quite a magical evening.

 I was reminded that although sometimes things get a bit hairy around here,  I am never alone as God is always with me and blessing me in miraculous ways.

 I snuck in a snapped a photo after santa did his damage, before the kiddos got their mitts on it...(see the after photo a few shots down)

 So much excitement

 The notorious orange tic tacs make their appearance in everyones stocking.

 I'm getting crazy sentimental about this one lately... next year will not be the same as he will surely have to travel home for the holidays.  He's my true bud...

 Papa has already taken this toy and called it his own :)

 I've made Mina and Finn storybooks filled with photos about their time in China and coming home, so I just finished Ty's...They all love them and Ty has already wanted to read his several times.

 My little rockstar...  he actually had a ball this morning and took no time jumping in with the rest speeding through the gifts.

 I need to think of a new Christmas morning tradition,, the free for all method isn't working for me... I could barely see any of the gifts they open..and seriously I want a payoff for all the work that is put into it all...I want to see every stinkin' smile!!! is that too much to ask.. i mean seriously i wrap every last thing, even the pack of gum in the stocking and it is all over in 20 minutes??  ok, rant over, back to the fun stuff.

 Here is the aftermath!

 My most precious gift this year!  What an amazing blessing

 All the kiddos got big super comfy stuffed animals... they love them!

So here it is 4:00 Christmas day, I'm still in my jammies.  We've played tons of games and made a lot of memories.  Dinner is going and in the oven, I even had a moment to steal away and post Christmas to the blog.  What a wonderful day!  We will be singing Happy birthday to Jesus and remembering that he is the reason we celebrate!  We are so blessed.