Christmas Morning, Part 3

Cille's frankincense gift from Mawmaw and Pawpaw was a collection of Gigi books...

Watts got a Noah's Ark book...

Their gold gifts from their grandparents were animals that they asked for...

Cille loved her kitty...

Watts got a fancy car track...

Cille also got a special bracelet from Aunt Sarah...

And Watts got a gift that keeps on giving...and by giving, I mean making lots of noise: a popcorn popping elephant.  Thanks, Aunt Sarah.  Tripp's now getting a bullhorn for his birthday...

It was finally time for the grownups to open some gifts.  Pawpaw was excited about his...

...a camouflage blanket that the girls made themselves!  Mossy Oak Break-Up, of course...

Mawmaw got a new angel charm for her grandmother's bracelet...

Funny story about Mawmaw's jammies...she bought them especially for Christmas and did so because of the cute bows she noticed on the pants.  She did not, however, unfold the shirt and notice the large bedazzled martini glass in the center.  We had lots of fun picking on her about being the Christmas lush.  In the immortal words of Mimi, "I need a martini and a tranquilizer; my nerves are shot!"  Mawmaw probably did need a martini after spending Christmas morning with our crew...

Grandma Tonie got the most beautiful calendar ever...it was full of pictures of her grandkids...

Pawpaw and Mawmaw also got their annual Our Adventures Together book from the kids...

And they got a book of the year for each kid...

Damon is holding one of my favorite gifts this Christmas...a fingerpainting Watts made for me and Daddy at school...

After all the grandparents were on the road back home, Stella shared one final gift with her daddy.  This year at school they had a little store where the kids could buy gifts for their family members.  I gave Stella a set amount and she got to decide how she wanted to spend her money.  She chose to buy gifts for Daddy, Mommy, and Cille, because they didn't have any baby items for Watts.  She was so eager to give the gifts that only Daddy's made it to Christmas morning still in the wrapping...

She chose a Christmas-themed tie that played music for her dad.  What a perfect gift!

It is so sweet to see Stella's generous and loving spirit.  Isn't that just like Christmas?

Christmas Morning, Part 2

I already mentioned the kids' "gold gifts," and those of you unfamiliar with our Christmas traditions might be wondering what exactly I meant.  Since Stella was born we have only given her three Christmas gifts each year.  We started this in an attempt to keep the focus on Jesus and off of receiving gifts.  I mean, if three gifts were good enough for baby Jesus then they're good enough for our kids, right? We eventually started selecting gifts out of three categories to further symbolize the gifts that the wise men brought the savior.  The "gold" gift is something that our kids want and place value on, the "frankincense" gift is something to aid their spiritual development, and the "myrrh" gift is something that can be used for their bodies.  This year our myrrh gifts to the girls were princess dresses from the new movie Frozen...  

They were so excited about the dresses!

Watts got a church outfit complete with vest and clip-on tie.  He was not impressed...

We even took a time out from opening gifts to watch some clips from Frozen on the computer.  It was so nice to be able to slow things down and allow the kids to truly enjoy their gifts.  Christmas day can get a little rushed for us, so this was really sweet to me...

And have I mentioned how much we LOVE Frozen?  We loved the sister relationship because it reminded us of our own sweet girls.  In one of the opening scenes the little sister jumps onto her sleeping older sibling and announces that the sky is awake.  Cille does the exact same thing to Stella, only she says, "The sun is awake!"  Plus, they sing a lot, and that's kind of a big thing in our house...

For example, Cille is probably performing "Let It Go" in this picture...

For her frankincense gift, Stella got her first big girl Bible...

Cille got a collection of Adventures in Odyssey Bible stories on CD...she had no idea what that was, but she does now...

Watts got a book about David that his big sister can read to him, and a puzzle that he'll be able to enjoy one day, but can share with his sisters now...

He was more interested in the Bible...

Next the girls opened gifts from Grandma Tonie.  Cille was so excited about her Chilly doll...

Watts was ready to start hammering...

And Stella was super-excited to see that she had gotten exactly what she asked for...notebooks!

Next up were myrrh gifts from Mawmaw and Pawpaw...

Stella specifically asked for a seat pet, but then had no idea what it was when she actually received it...