christmas morning

christmas morning, pre kids waking up, is quite possibly my favorite few hours of the whole christmas season.  dave and i get up early as the coffee brews, he lights the fire that was already set up the night before, we give each other our stockings and pray together for the day ahead, for Christ to be remembered on this crazy, but holy day.  

the stockings were hung laid by the chimney with care.

and then we get them :) and they are beside themselves with excitement. 

stockings first of course!  this year the girls got to do theirs before ian woke up. 

 pinterest candy cane for christmas breakfast.  (and premade breakfast burritos :)) 

ian's stocking, followed by the christmas story from JSB.

this is another favorite part for me, watching the kids give to us and to each other.  

i love ashton's face in this one. 

 fun presents from our neighbors!  thanks bree!

dave snapped these as i was explaining their 3 gifts from us.  just like the wise men gave Jesus.  an educational one to help their mind grow. a spiritual one to help their relationship with God grow. and GOLD, their big gift. 

i made a marker roll for their educational gift this year.  i don't even know how to sew, but fabric fusion was my best friend for this project.  i love how they turned out and they get TONS of use around here. :)

they got new workbooks to go with their marker rolls. 

their spiritual gift was a The Pond cd.  the girls listen to these before they go to bed.  it's a radio program for preschoolers, they are perfect if your kids aren't quite old enough for adventures in odyseey. they are great, and really funny.

and then they got sent on their wise man hunt to find their gold gift.  after the other presents are opened, we send them up to their room and we tie yarn to the tree and wind it around the house, leading to their GOLD gift.  (thank you tosha williams for such a fun idea :))

ian got match box cars and a track. 

the girls yarn led them to the computer playing  a virtual tour of a Build-A-Bear workshop and a gift card for both of them. 

special, special family time. 

and while we were reading the Christmas Story, there was a knock at the door and one of our neighbors had a plate of cookies and she had wrote the kids names on them!  

that was a sweet blessing!