Oh the JOY of Christmas DAY!!

I have often said, I wish we could just bottle up their little JOY on Christmas morning and open it up in 15 years.....these are the good years. When they Believe, squeal in delight, and jump up and down when they open something special. This year was so fun from the opening of the very first present....Josh opened his Santa gift and found the much desired Disney pirate boat which was met with sweet squeals and much jummping up and down! Jared and I couldn't help but get choked up a little! Christmas is perhaps the one day of the year where your love spills out and embraces everything around you. How can it not be the best time of the year!! We love Christmas at our house and enjoyed it this year. We had our traditional breakfast after most of the gifts were opened. Aeble skievers with apple pie, jam, and butter pecan stuffing....drizzled with syrup. We love it! We spent the day in our jammies putting toys together and reading books and napping. It is so much fun. This year we played many rounds of air hockey too!


Santa brought: Carter a Lego Troll Ship, Hanna an Art Easel and canvas, Jake a Star Wars Lego ship, Josh a Disney Mickey Pirate ship, and Cole a Train table to share with his siblings! He also surprised them each with a Zhu Zu pet each. We hadn't heard of these before, but they are all the rage and very hard to find.....that Santa is quite the fella to surprise us!

Carter's Pile
Some of Joshy's treasures (Cole's mixed in)
Smiley Jake
Tender moment
Happy Brothers
Hanna exclaimed "Are You guys serious?! When she opened her gift from Mom and Dad, it came with a clock/ charging station for her room
Jared spoiled me with a floor steamer, more nativity pieces, and a tripod!
Jared got this BYU golf jacket, along with a Blue Ray player, and tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld in Vegas the night after Christmas! I was most excited to give him the tickets even though he already knew because he opened them in the mail....and also he found the Blue Ray player on the door step one day after work (so frustrating!)

Hanna is enamored with Kaya
Sweet baby.....who doesn't love a baby at Christmas? He crawled around through everything and 'enjoyed' everyone's gifts. He got a cute pull along puppy that he loves. He loves to say "woof" right now to anything with four legs and says "H-H-H" when he sees Santa.
Samantha got a new winter outfit
These chairs were a hit. Carter and Jake got them. You can plug D.S.' into the side and the sound comes out speakers
Happy Christmas chaos!
The surprise table that no one noticed hiding under a blanket upstairs in the bonus room as they hurried to run down to see what Santa had brought! After everything was opened, Jared and I had the kids run upstairs....They were all so excited! Cole thought it was a jungle gym so we had to move it away from the sectional!
Carter had his troll ship put together by the evening-- he is an awesome LEGO builder!

Some of the cute memories I don't want to forget: Josh opened up Mr. Freeze and yelled "It's Mr. Freezer!!" Carter pinched himself and then said, "Yep, I'm awake!" Joshy telling Jared later in the day, "Next Christmas I don't need any new toys. I have all I need!" Joshy's favorite phrase right now, "By the way!"

This year was also special for us because we were able to share some money with some friends and family members who were in much need of it. Grandma and Grandpa Jackson also held off on a lot for us for Christmas so they could send big money donations to some family members who really needed it....like my mom's brother Uncle Gary who was recently paralyzed from an accident this fall. These are the most significant JOYS I felt this season and I hope my children have learned how important it is to give not just during Christmas, but always.