Christmas Morning

Shawn made this little trough in 1997.  We lived in Nebraska and he was in dental school.

I wanted to start a new family tradition, and without powertools or any tools to speak of, Shawn made this for our family.

We have it out and use it every Christmas.

And on Christmas morning, baby Jesus is always there for us to welcome to our home.

Shawn got up before anyone on Christmas morning and started a fire in the fireplace,

it was amazing to gather around the fire and open presents.

Savannah, Christian, and Ty really embraced gift giving this year.

Each of them saved and purchased or cleverly made a gift for each person.

The kids always laugh at the fact that the stocking stuffers

never, ever, actually fit inside the stockings (this year our merry little buckets)!

Although, I have included this shot of Shawn's 'stocking'... see?!  His fit, there, it can be done!

We have no rhyme or reason to digging into stocking gifts... we just go at it.

But the presents under the tree are all handed out and then we take turns opening and oooohing and aaaahing.

One of this year's highlights, is the treasure hunt Christian created for his dad.

Shawn had to read 13 different riddles, one at a time, figure them out... go to the location, and retrieve the next clue.

Hilarious!

Final clue led him to Christian's bedroom closet,

where Shawn found a glow in the dark key chain that Christian got for the key to Shawn's new mower.

And the fact that the key chain also has a real scorpion in it, made the fellas think it was the coolest thing e.v.e.r!

I have to make note that our family once again got a wonderful album of pictures from our neighbors,

capturing sweet, everyday moments our children have spent together the past year.

 

My sil, Alisha, and I hostess the 2 biggest family dinners each year. 

Alisha does Thanksgiving and I do Christmas.

She and I used to dream of having special sets of dishes for these meals,

but truth be told we rather spend our money on gardening supplies, composters, trees, crusty antiques, etc.

But I did finally get some holiday dessert plates this year.

I saw them, fell in love with the random 6 patterns, and took the plunge.

These should  more than fill my urge for Christmas pretties for the table!

Very thankful for the time we now have with Shawn home,

we laze around, get a few tasks done, but otherwise we truly hang out together.

Love this time of year!!