Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a delightful Christmas Day! We certainly did at my house. It's the first Christmas that Phil and I have had in our own home, and we are incredibly blessed to have family close by to invite into our home to share the spirit of Christmas with us.

We got up pretty close to our usual time on Christmas morning. Lacey looks like she wasn't quite ready for the early morning festivities.


She got lots of cool things in her stocking, like bubbles an socks. She was pretty good at getting the stuff out, too.


Daddy really doesn't look ready for early morning festivities. He got heads for his toothbrush in his stocking. And some other stuff.
Uncle Brad came over to play on Christmas Morning. He looks so glamorous wearing Lacey's star glasses, doesn't he?


We got my whole family together on video chat to open presents together--my parents and other younger brother in South Carolina, my sister and her husband in Alaska, and us and Brad in Utah. It was really nice that we could be together that way for Christmas morning since we're all so far apart.

Brad and the Christmas tree. I wonder if he knows that there's wild animal eating his face... ;)


Oh, there you are, Perry. Lacey loves her Perry doll. In case you don't know, Perry is a platypus featured in Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb. He's actually a secret agent working to stop the evil shenanigans of Dr. Doofenshmirtz.

Lacey obviously thought that Perry needed some glamming up.


In the afternoon, we had Phil's sister and her family over for dinner and playtime and presents. It was so delightful to have them in our home. Lacey is definitely getting better at sharing her toys. She got a really cool magnetic fishing puzzle thing that all the kids (and adults, I think) thought was pretty neat.
We gave the kids pillow blankets as gifts. They're just regular old blankets that have a pocket sewn on them so that they can be folded up and turned into a pillow. But I guess that they make a good cloak, too, as you can see.


Here we have Lacey playing with her little talking turtle. It tells stories, sings songs, and says its ABCs! And in her hair is one of the bows she got from her Aunt Erin's family.

Lacey loves all of the gifts that she received and we are grateful that our circumstances allow us to give so many gifts as well, to our family and to others. And most of all we are grateful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for His life, example, and atoning sacrifice. Merry Christmas, and God bless you!