Catching Up December: Christmas Morning 2009

Our Christmas morning started at 3:12am when Jack excitedly came to my bed and woke me to see if we could go see if Santa had come. I told him to go back to sleep and try to wait until 5 or 6 o'clock. At 5:05am he woke me again and was more than ready to go wake his brother and sister... and I must admit, at that point my excitement almost matched his. I went to turn on the coffee & Christmas music and get the camera ready while he woke the rest of the family.

~ Excitement! ~

Cooper still says that this Wii game was his favorite Christmas gift.

He was SO excited!

Jack got the DSi that he had been dreaming of.

(and he has played with it non-stop since Christmas)

These are the kind of "looks" that makes Christmas so exciting for me.

When we were just about done seeing the gifts that Santa brought, Allie found the thing that she REALLY wanted but was positive that she was not going to get. A concert ticket to a show that had sold out in a matter of seconds. Santa must have had a pretty quick elf to have wrangled those tickets! ;)

~ Really?!?!? ~

~ the "money shot" ~

~ Brothers ~

~ my pretty girl ~

~ Buddies ~

~ Allie and Daddy ~

At Halloween, Jack received a Dallas Cowboys football jersey - something he had wanted for a long time and the perfect thing to make him a "football player". Corey was telling him that he should be very proud of his jersey and take good care of it and somehow in that conversation he mentioned that he had never had a jersey. That day, Jack knew exactly what he wanted to get his daddy for Christmas - the jersey that he had never had. He talked about it for weeks and was so excited to give it to him on Christmas morning.

~ Daddy & Cooper ~

~ framed photo of Allie and me in New York City ~

~ me and my boy ~

The gift that Cooper gave me was something I really wanted and something that I was not sure that I would get. At this point, this book - Eyes That See - can only be ordered online, and I was not sure if Corey would think to do that. Thankfully, he did. Cooper is the person that "gave" me this book for Christmas which was significant since he is the child that connected me to the story that this author, Christina Levasheff, writes about. (He is about the same age as her son - the boy who this story is about.) The author of the book is also the author of a blog that I have read for years and have linked to from here a few times. The story is that of her son, Jud, who had a devastating disease. He passed away tragically and quickly, and her blog documents her Christian walk through this horrific trial. I have learned so much from Christina, and was looking forward to getting to read her new book about her story and her faith.

Once all of the gift giving and receiving was over, we had another surprise for the big kids. It started with a note that we found on the Christmas tree. It was the beginning clue of a scavenger hunt that led them all around our house...

... then to the back porch where they found bikes that they were not expecting. Cooper had received a bike from Santa, and we decided that it would be nice if all the kids had bikes that they could ride together.

~ my 3 ~

After "gift time" we ate Christmas Breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent playing with all of our new gifts... in our PJs almost the whole time. It was a perfectly, wonderful, laid-back Christmas!

Jack built Legos almost all day.

Lego Rock Band was a hit with everyone.

~ Trying out their new bikes ~

(Yes, Cooper is in shorts and barefoot... and there was still snow on the ground. Crazy kid!)

That afternoon my parents came by for a while. The kids were excited to show them their new toys, and we shared a non-traditional meal of Texas BBQ.

That night, I made Corey's favorite pie - Pecan - and Allie's favorite - Pumpkin.

(I'm still waiting on my favorite... Corey said he would make it. Maybe for New Years)

All in all it was a very fun day spent making my family feel loved and celebrating Christ's love for us. I can't say it enough... I LOVE CHRISTMAS!