CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas day begins for us at 7:00 a.m. (well, that is if you didn't have to wake up earlier to nurse a baby, ahem), which is when the children are officially allowed to come in and wake us up. At that time we read the story of Christ's birth in Luke 2 so that we can start the day remembering the reason for Christmas and giving thanks for that most important gift from our Father in Heaven.

After that...it's on to the presents!!

Each year we are overwhelmed with the generosity of our family that causes our under-the-tree space to be overflowing with gifts. Each year I think I'm going to tone it down a bit--and I actually felt like I did this year--and the under-the-tree space is still overflowing. We really do feel blessed to be able to provide so many wants for our children and to receive so many nice things from family.

Here's the tree before Santa Claus arrived. It was already pretty loaded. In addition to filling our stockings, Santa Claus typically brings one gift per person or a joint gift for the whole family, which is what he did this year, so this photo pretty much represents what was under our tree Christmas morning.

Santa Claus brought us the "McMillan Family Geocaching Kit." It's the black case that Adah is holding in the photo below. It came with a GPS unit (around Adah's neck) and a log book (in Adah's hand) for recording geocache finds. Santa included directions for several local geocaches, and in this photo Adah and Maggie were suited up to go out with Damon Christmas afternoon. They are wearing hats from Grandma and Grandpa and fleeces from Aunt Dana and Uncle Jotham. Maggie is sporting a lovely over-the-shoulder bag that she colored herself with markers that were included in the gift from me. (I feel like I'm narrating a fashion show. Did you get that from my tone?)

Back to the geocaching...we don't really know much about it and have checked out Geocaching for Dummies from the library. We think it will be a fun family activity that will get us outdoors and exploring more of the Gorge.

Below is the only photo taken during gift-opening and there's not even any wrapping paper in it! Everyone is checking out the clipboard I made for Gunnar.

In my family growing up, every year when all the gifts were opened, we gathered around the tree with all our presents--wearing any gifted clothing over our pajamas, different shoes on each foot, if necessary, etc.--for a single photo of all the Christmas loot. I think Damon and I have only gotten that organized for a photo ONE year since our marriage. I keep thinking it will happen, but it hasn't yet. The photo below is of most of Maggie's loot, which just happened to end up looking like a neat little display on our blue chair. The hat and fleece you already saw. She's wearing new slippers. She also got a new Sunday dress, some new shirts, Mad Libs for kids (we had to explain those to the girls), some puzzles and art things.

Gunnar got a hard hat and a set of toys that he can take apart and put together with his own battery-powered drill. That was a big hit with the whole family on Christmas day. Holly was just enjoying all the activity.

Speaking of all the activity...here's a nice "aerial" shot of the Christmas mess. The girls both got digital cameras. That was a highlight for them as they've both really been wanting their own.

Gunnar got a magna doodle and some Thomas the Train tracks--another big hit. Behind Maggie in the photo below is a stage that Damon made for her. It is really nice. He did such a great job. She got a ballerina doll to go with it. I should really do a post with some of the stage shots she took of her dancer with her own camera. They had a whole photo shoot.

Adah's big gift was in the big brown box with the silver bow in the first picture (above). It was an aquarium for her first pet! (More on that in a later post.)

Christmas breakfast: We always have sticky buns. This year the girls helped me prepare them before they went to bed on Christmas Eve. Many years I nearly forget to make them until it's late and I'm about to get in bed. Since they got a head start of several hours this year they had plenty of time to rise and the dough had ballooned by morning. They were our best yet. We have them with the Martinelli's apple juice that Santa always leaves in our stockings.

I stayed inside in my pajamas for most of the day helping the kids figure out their new toys. As mentioned in a previous post, Gunnar was not feeling too well. We had to stop mid-gift-opening to give him some medicine and he didn't have much of an appetite for most of the day (see empty plate above). Poor kid. He did enjoy playing with his presents.

In the evening some friends stopped by with some pan y jamon (bread and ham) and joined us for tamales. It was a very casual dinner, which I loved, after a very casual day. Damon and I ended the day sleeping on our new memory foam mattress pad, which was just one of the presents under the tree for Damon from me. One of the great gifts Damon gave me was a nice note telling me I'm a good mom and deserve a break, accompanied with a gift card to the movie theater, some cash, and some invitations for inviting a couple of friends for a girls' night out.

It's been a few weeks, but now it doesn't feel like it's too inappropriate, so: Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!