Christmas Morning 2014

We had a very fun Christmas morning!  Thank you to all of our family who thought of us this year.  Thank you for the gifts and cards.  We love you!

An owl flew in through the window with a letter from Hogwarts addressed for Ivan.

Christmas Tree 2014

Our great kids on Christmas morning :o)

They're ready for the fun to begin!

So, we begin by watching me look in my Christmas stocking.

Jay opens the first gift of the morning.  It says from Ivan, but it is a gift created by Emily (watch the fun begin)...

Oh, no! not another guitar!!!!!

Well, hold on, there's another gift inside...

It is a pan.  This pan looks very familiar, but, there's yet another gift inside the pan...what could this be?

it's a nicely square and carefully wrapped box.

A round wrapped object inside the now empty kleenex box.

Is it a baseball?

What do you know!...it's a fresh, delicious orange! and it says:

"Orange you glad I didn't get you a guitar?"  Yes, I'm glad, we have about 6 guitars right now leaning against a wall in our livingroom.  Thanks Emily for a giggle this Christmas morning :o)

Beautiful (and warm) quilt made by my mom.

Having a little fun :o)

This is another quilt made by my mom.  I think she worked very hard this year to make such beautiful gifts.

The other side of the quilt.

Having fun.

All Ivan all of the time....

and Emily :o)

Dad's turn.

A needed warm cap for the winter.

Emily is holding a tardis notebook. The outside looks like a tardis and there is a tardis on every page! 

Jet waits patiently.

Another warm item.  This will come in handy on our trip to the UK.

It looks great on him, too.

Socks are always needed...especially for Jay.

Ivan reading his letter from Hogwarts.

What could it be?

A wand of his own.

It is from Ollivanders, too.

Here is a close-up.

Ivan scored big time from his sister.  Would you believe it if I told you she made all of these items herself using "stuff" she found lying around the house?  She is amazing.

This is a bracelet for Emily.  It says: "You only fail if you stop writing."  How perfect for her!  She really does love to write.

A very nice wallet for Jay.

"Sigh".....

and..."ho hum," says Jet.

Ivan looks handsome in his new hat and scarf.  He will be warm in the UK, yay!  He mentioned it was his first "very own" scarf (cool).

I love my scarf!  It goes with just about anything and brings color to everything!

Emily's beautiful scarf and headband.

Ivan wins an awesome gift from Max and Frankie!  It doesn't get better than a love note :o)

This game will keep him busy for hours.

See what I mean?

A sweet and "perfect" ornament from our ornament exchange.  We just love it.  Thanks.

Ivan had these put togther in no time.  They are really cool looking.  Did you know Ivan really likes dragons? 

Jay gets to try the addictive game, too.

A new purse! Yay! It's beautiful.

Emily made this ornament for me.  I love it.  It is funny, too, that there seemed to be a snowman theme this year.  We also got a snowman ornament for our family ornament exchange.

I like the date on it.  It's a great thing to remember :o)

Emily even made me a Christmas card.

A little Emily humor.

Abstract on the back of the card.

I know it seems like this blog focuses on the material part of Christmas and the "getting" aspect, but I wanted to thank all who have so kindly sent gifts and cards to us this year.

As part of our "Christmas Season" we always spend the month of December reading special books.  We read "The Mansion" and "The Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens and the birth of the Savior from Luke 2 in the New Testament.  This year we also read a book about Handel and the story behind his writing the oratorio "The Messiah."  This was a great prelude to our actual being able to attend this great oratorio in London at St. Martin in the Fields.  It lasts for two hours!  It was so amazing.  They had such talented singers and musicians.  This may have been the highlight of our family trip for me.