Christmas

a hint of the dinner decor:

the feast and guests:

the way we raise our arms to make room for more food:

the live action nativity:

the matchy-matchy Christmas eve jammies:

the cookies for santa:

The MORNING:

We really enjoyed having my parents drop in on us early, first thing in the morning, before we even finished opening gifts.  This is something they've never been able to do before because of company and it was a real treat for me to have them here. 

  While here Dad gave Mom her present: a little bling, bling!  

She'd asked him to fix and resize her wedding ring and also Grandma's.

  and Dad made me an omelet... a real treat! 

 I haven't had one of his omelets in years!  YEARS! and yes, it was worth waiting for!

Darren and Loalee stopped in later towards lunch but by that time I'd set my camera down and couldn't find it, so we are kind of shy on christmas morning pictures.

Santa brought Mark and Gavin MiP robots, which were a real hit.

I kept singing John Denver's "Marvelous Little Toy" - all morning.

When I was just a wee little boy, full of health and joy

One Christmas morning I received a marvellous little toy

A wonder to behold it was, with many colors bright

And the first time I laid eyes on it, it became my heart's delight

It went zip when it moved

Bop when it stopped

Whirrr when it stood still

I never knew just what it was

And I guess I never will

 I fondly remember the year I also got a Spirograph for Christmas.

 Santa brought me a finish nailer, and now I have no excuses.

Hannah had asked for more wire and tools, Hyrum was surprised with some video editing software, but the real hit of the morning however were the Kindles.  Surprise, surprise. Jotham and I spent almost the whole day before Christmas setting them up, making them safe and putting parental controls on them, but come Christmas morning, we discovered we'd locked them up so tight they couldn't do anything.  ARghh...spent most of christmas day re-figuring it all out and undoing most of what we'd done (imagine this, times five).  But, boy have they enjoyed them.

Another fun highlight for me was watching the kids open their gifts that I'd labeled "K".  After so many years of marriage, our wedding gifts are starting to wear out.  So black friday I stocked up on a few new "K"itchen appliances that were needed.  And let me just tell you, Hyrum was thrilled with his new 4 slice toaster, and Hannah beyond delighted with her Crock-pot, as you can only imagine.  A few pancake flippers and hotpads to fill in the gaps, and now all the kids have a stake in the kitchen and one more gift to open.  Brillant! As an added bonus, I'm hoping they will remember how much fun it was to is received kitchen gadgets -- but , any whooo...

it was a very Merry Christmas!