Although she was a little overwhelmed at first, she quickly warmed up to the idea and went in and out of the family room during the course of opening her other gifts to try them out:
The disco ball was a BIG hit.
We took our time opening our gifts and enjoyed every one of them. Zach gave Rob a model car for the two of them to put together sometime after Christmas.
Zach gave Gloria one of his Beanie Buddies- she was very surprised and happy:
The pups stayed out of our way for the most part, still working on their gifts:
I decided to make Zach work for his gift. It started out in this big box and by the time he finished unwrapping all of the smaller boxes inside. . .
. . . he found this very tiny, but impressive, Ipod Nano:
Gloria happily opened a "Julie" American Girl doll:
She also got a High School Musical journal:
Our good friend, Ric, gives the kids a gift every year and this year it was a Simpson's Clue game. Should be interesting!
Gloria introduced Julie to her new drums:
Julie was duly impressed:
My mom and dad came over later in the morning to visit us:
The kid's told the Christmas story with puppets they made a few years ago:
Zach read the Christmas story . . .
. . . and we lit the Advent candles:
Every year I try to take the focus from all of the gimme-gimme's and put it back on the birth of Jesus. Sometimes it just feels like another ritual, but this year, Jeanie truly made it happen. When we went to her house at noon, she had a basketful of gifts for each one of us that she wanted us to open before we opened any of our presents. They were actually gifts to Jesus in each of our names. In the weeks before Christmas, she painstakingly wrote a letter to each one of us telling us how we are each gifts to Jesus. It was amazing and moving and a very special way to begin our gift giving time together.
We laughed . . . we cried . . . and each one of us felt special and loved.
I was amazed that Jeanie was able to read them all herself. That is, until she got to her hubby's . . . Colleen had to read that one for her.
It was pretty special.
On to the gifts. . . We gave Kelsey a bag full of makeup. . . she seemed pleased with it!
Colleen and Tony gave Gloria her much desired scooter:
Zach got a remote controlled Dragonfly:
Cody opened a very cool neon guitar clock:
Rob went a little overboard on the tools for his dad. . .
Zach spent some time putting together his Star Wars Legos . . .
It was fun to watch McKenna open her gifts. She's still excited about boxes and ribbons. . . I'm afraid those days are long gone for us. . .
Even Rob got a cool toy- a tiny remote controlled helicopter:
Our good friend, Ric, gives the kids a gift every year and this year it was a Simpson's Clue game. Should be interesting!
Gloria introduced Julie to her new drums:
Julie was duly impressed:
My mom and dad came over later in the morning to visit us:
The kid's told the Christmas story with puppets they made a few years ago:
Zach read the Christmas story . . .
. . . and we lit the Advent candles:
Every year I try to take the focus from all of the gimme-gimme's and put it back on the birth of Jesus. Sometimes it just feels like another ritual, but this year, Jeanie truly made it happen. When we went to her house at noon, she had a basketful of gifts for each one of us that she wanted us to open before we opened any of our presents. They were actually gifts to Jesus in each of our names. In the weeks before Christmas, she painstakingly wrote a letter to each one of us telling us how we are each gifts to Jesus. It was amazing and moving and a very special way to begin our gift giving time together.
We laughed . . . we cried . . . and each one of us felt special and loved.
I was amazed that Jeanie was able to read them all herself. That is, until she got to her hubby's . . . Colleen had to read that one for her.
It was pretty special.
On to the gifts. . . We gave Kelsey a bag full of makeup. . . she seemed pleased with it!
Colleen and Tony gave Gloria her much desired scooter:
Zach got a remote controlled Dragonfly:
Cody opened a very cool neon guitar clock:
Rob went a little overboard on the tools for his dad. . .
Zach spent some time putting together his Star Wars Legos . . .
It was fun to watch McKenna open her gifts. She's still excited about boxes and ribbons. . . I'm afraid those days are long gone for us. . .
Even Rob got a cool toy- a tiny remote controlled helicopter:
This is one of my favorite gifts of the day. My brother-in-law, Tony, welded this replica of Rob and I making music out of nuts and bolts and other odds and ends. It is just incredible:
No comments:
Post a Comment