Merry Christmas Morning!

Don't let the look of the presents overwhelm you - we purposely wrap in big packages because the kids think it's more exciting that way.  This was taken right before the kids were "let loose" out of the bedroom.  Note the Russian Tea mugs already filled and set out....and clearly, Syd was resting up before her party-time...

It was Mikayla's turn to be first down the hallway...

Gosh, these pics look eerily familiar to last year's...

Time for Sydney's present...she loved her rawhide - and spent the entire morning pacing around the living room trying to find a pace to bury it.  

We all got some fun presents - I think this was the year that all four of us nailed presents for each other, which led to lots of expressions of "Oh wow", "We are so blessed", "Man, we are spoiled" (from Brayden....good to know they see it).  Lots of family love going on Christmas morning....

My personal favorite present, which John wasn't sure I'd want at all.  It's a Northface jacket he got at the outlets on Black Friday - killer deal.  LOVE it!!!!

The kids' favorites (and no, we don't own stock in Nike...though we should...)

In reference to the picture at the top, many of the presents were wrapped in boxes from Amazon.  So, we all had scissors to cut the strapping tape.  I did 90% of my shopping from Amazon.com - between the Lightening Deals and Prime "free" two-day shipping - and of course, having it delivered it to my door, it was hard to beat.

The "finale" presents...

Brayden's new aggravation is to do this lip curl grin - ughhhh - so he asked John to pose with him.

John was asking for this jacket since he saw these on the Olympic athletes - I thought he'd lose interest, but he kept begging, and asking, and hoping.  So, I used a friend's employee access to order it from Nike back in October.  By the time he opened it, he'd actually forgotten (I thought for sure he'd know exactly what the last gift was).  He was THRILLED!!!!

And, it glows in the dark....it is a VERY COOL jacket....

My final gift - a "24" (Kenjon Barner) sweatshirt and some Duck shoes....(also purchased through a friend's discount).  I'm a happy girl (wearing those shoes right now!).

For breakfast, we had our caramel rolls and Orange Julius shakes.  I read a Max Lucado devotional that I hope put us all in the right place for what was truly the reason for all of the celebration and then we recorded some silly "year-in-review" videos....before packing up to leave for Mom and Dad's....