Christmas morning

One of the dogs woke me at 7:00a.m.  I will never understand how the others do not hear her.  I let her take care of business and went straight back to bed. The next thing I knew Wyatt and Julia were bouncing on the bed exclaiming, "It's time to wake up and celebrate Christmas!"  That was 9:30.  Can you believe it?  Sleeping until 9:30 on Christmas morning is a gift in and of itself.

Clearly, Santa has been here.

Julia recited the story of Christ's birth from Luke before we opened gifts.  Wyatt followed along in the Bible to prompt her as needed.

my girls

a new ornament!

Julia too!

Zach and Savannah each had a note from Santa explaining that the elves forgot to put their ornaments on the sleigh, so he will mail them from the North Pole.  I will share pictures of  them with their ornaments when we get them.
That happened to my sister when we were little.  Apparently, Santa pulled her little toy grocery cart out of his sleigh and discovered it was missing a piece.  He had to make a special delivery a few days later.  I guess he trusts the post office these days, or maybe he's just anxious for a break.

She looks really excited, doesn't she?
Zach stayed close to the fire and kept it stoked for us.

Andy's co-worker and friend in Malaysia sent books that we can't read.  

We can read the cookbook, and the pictures are great.  Hopefully, somebody in this house will eventually learn to read and speak Chinese.  We have motivation just no affordable place to learn.

Zach made sure our UK fan will stay warm.

I wish we had her reaction to this jacket she really wanted on video.  She was stunned, especially because she knew the retail price on it.  She forgets that her mom does not pay retail if at all possible.  

He wanted this more than anything.  It was painful to buy it because he spends every penny of his allowance on Pokemon, and this is an expensive set.  We don't get it, but this sure made him happy.  I think I first remember him saying he wanted this in May.  For an 11 year old, May to December is a really long wait. Andy and I were really perplexed on what to get Wyatt this year.  We then had a genius idea.  He draws constantly, always in pencil and always with lots of shading.  We got him an inexpensive sketch pad and a graphite pencil set.  I can't wait to see what he produces with better tools and a little training. Andy is going to help him out.

Speaking of art.  Check out Savannah's gift to Andy.  Wow!  She did this right under our noses, and we had no idea.

Our resident history buff received some books and a movie. Zach will really enjoy his book on battles that changed history and a really thick WWII book.  He loves all the WWII history, so he should be busy for a while.

Merry Christmas to all!!

For to us a child is born, 
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace 
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
 and over his kingdom, 
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.

Isaiah 9:6-7 NIV