christmas day!

please be forewarned:

there are ALOT of pictures!

we started christmas morning with the adults waking up before the kids

(except for hallie maybe)

which was good, because it gave us some time to get breakfast ready before the kids

came in

here are all the girl cousins before seeing their stockings

i have started a tradition to put

mittens and hats in their stockings each year,

i like it because it is something fun to put in the stocking and they need them

they also got some candy to start the morning off with :)

after the kids looked at their stockings,

singing happy birthday to jesus with breakfast cake,

a yummy breakfast of breakfast cake, pigs in a blanket, sausage egg casserole, and monkey bread -

our stomachs were filled and we got started on opening the gifts!

we open gifts one at a time in our family

starting from youngest to oldest

i love this tradition because it helps you focus on the person opening the gifts

and really enjoy each gift!

it does make for a long morning of opening of gifts!

duncan loved this guitar he got from emery kate

campbell opening this fun/spunky purse from aunt B!

jayden wearing the mask and cape from aunt b

(it was actually duncan's gift, but jayden put it on!)

jayden gave my mom this cardinal he made at school

funny thing is that he was suppose to give it to me,

but he insisted on giving it to mimi instead

even though i was a little sad :) i let him!

i told her she could give it back to me someday :)

B & hanj opening a nativity set

(which B collects)

love this

mary beth gave my dad this picture she drew of my mom

the cool thing about the picture is that it is made of the word "faith"

no lines, nothing but the word "faith" -

it is AMAZING

and such a great statement of faith!

campbell opening her first baby doll from us

i got it at fao shwartz in nyc

thought it would be a fun gift for her!

(trying to help her have girl things to play with instead of just trucks :))

jayden, duncan, and emery kate all got laptops

all of the kids

hard at work :)

i got jordan a sweater vest

looks good on him!

after gifts

we got dressed and started working on the meal

jordan carved the turkey this year!

we had one long table

the kids table

our family

love this-

we tried :)

the marable girls

hallie jane

pretty thing

the sudans

love this pic!

i think they look alike in it!

after a long, fun wonderful day!

amy and i were exhausted but

loved being together with our family and celebrating christmas and all it means!

christmas eve (& the day before)

we were in waco for christmas and had a wonderful time!

it was our holiday to be with my parents so it was a packed house

but we had a great time!

friday night we went to uncle dans -

the boys found these helmets fun to play with :)

christmas eve was so much fun

we had a relaxing morning

and then the festivities began!

we started off with our annual christmas cookie decorating contest

we usually do this earlier,

but because of the engagement (and our trip)

christmas eve worked out better!

amy & i had the kids nap

(except for jayden)

which made it a little easier to do on the front end

they woke up by the end to decorate and eat some cookies :)

jayden really enjoyed doing it this year!

the artist helped create wonderful color combinations for our icing

blake was very strategic and had not only his traditional santa,

but a whole scene that went with the santa

glad we were in my parents kitchen and not mine

(a lot more room to work with!)

this is alex and his sweet mom

blake's winning cookie scene!

pretty good if i don't say so myself!

some of the finished work

with the "love birds" by mary beth

lots of cookies were made! (and eaten)

after that we went to antioch's christmas eve service

it was such a sweet service

i went solo because jordan had to go back to dallas for

our antioch christmas eve service -

which went really well too! i was sad to miss it,

but thought it was a bit much to take the kids back and forth for it

is this a happy or mad face duncan?

could be both :)

sweet little thing!

after dinner we gave the kids baths and got them in pj's

and had our

annual christmas eve service with our family

this year was so sweet

my dad had us write down ahead of time any miracles that we have experienced in our lifetime

we all shared -

it was amazing to see the amount of miracles that have happened to each one of us in

our family,

ways that God has moved that couldn't be explained by

anything but

his sweet grace and mercy

it stirred us all up in the Lord

for if God has done this in the past,

why can't he/won't he do it now?

the kids enjoyed playing ring around the rosy

aren't they cute in their matching pj's?

my parents got them these - and they looked adorable!