Scenes from Christmas

Tonight I relax, knowing that all the special (but time-consuming and energy-draining) events of this week are behind me.  Tonight I savor the memories of a very wonderful Christmas.  Tonight my words will be few, but my photos will be many.  :)

The first picture I took on Christmas Day was Moriah sleeping peacefully in her crib.  I'm so glad that soft green afghan from Great-Aunt Rosa Lee was doing such a good job of keeping Moriah's right leg warm.  ;-)

 Moriah's wild hair...  :)

 Jeff finished the Advent readings from Jotham's Journey...

 ...and also read Luke 2 before we opened gifts.

 I'm kicking myself a little because of this next picture.  I knew the lighting wasn't good, but took it anyway, thinking that I would later take a better one when I could position myself differently.  And then I forgot.  Oh well, at least it shows that my dad held Moriah for a while.  :)  (It also shows that he wore red socks, just like he does every Christmas...but that's beside the point.)  ;-)

 My mom and Aunt Helen (my dad's younger sister) occupied the couch...Shav is actually on the couch between them with his head on my mom's lap...

 When the gift-opening began, the boys dove in head-first.  It was obvious that they had been scoping out their gifts ahead of time...

 ...because it took them approximately 1.37 seconds to cross the living room and grab one with their name on it.  ;-)  One thing that really stood out to me this year was how Tobin could very easily read his name on the packages; he didn't wait around for anyone to pass out the gifts but instead he opened them pretty much as quickly as he could find the ones with his name.  ;-)

The one thing Tobin had been asking for was an electric blanket, so opening this gift sure made him happy.  :)

 The adults mostly sat back and watched the children's jubilation and activity.  :)

 Contrary to appearances, this is not a black snake in Jeff's hands, but a belt that I gave him.  ;-)

 All the boys crowding around a really neat set of harmonicas that Jeff got them; there are seven total, one in each key.  I have a degree in music, but I didn't even realize that harmonicas come in different keys.  I must have dozed off in my Harmonica 101 class in college.  ;-)

 As is customary, it didn't take long for the living room floor to become strewn with discarded wrapping paper, empty gift bags, pieces of tissue paper, colorful bows...and among all that, the opened gifts, half-buried in the avalanche.

 David helped Moriah open a gift...

 ...a little Winnie the Pooh figurine from the dollar store (which is much too small for her to play with right now, but is currently hanging out with his pals Tigger and Eeyore and Piglet on the top of the armoire in Moriah's room).  :)

 More gifts being opened...

 Moriah said, "Humph!  Since they won't let me chew on Winnie the Pooh, I'll just have to settle for the strings on this old gift bag!"  ;-)

 Bad lighting again...  :(

 After all the gifts were opened, Jeff jumped right in and helped clean up the living room, then sat down with Tobin to put together a new puzzle.

 Shav played with these new foam shapes with magnets on the sides to keep them together.

 We were glad this year to have Aunt Helen with us, all the way from her home in Chicago.

 She and Moriah got to have some bonding time.  :)

 A little later, I tried, with varying degrees of success, to take a picture of Moriah in her "baby's first Christmas" shirt (that was a hand-me-down from a kind friend).

 This next picture cracks me up.  Someone (Tobin, I think) reached out to touch her, and she gave him quite a look.  ;-)

 Sweet thing.  :)

 That evening Jeff had the great idea to set up our old, small tent in Tobin and Shav's room so they could use their Christmas Eve gifts, camo sleeping bags.

 They loved their little camp-out.  :)

 Later that night, I passed the door of Josiah and David's room and had to pause to admire the Christmas lights strung around their window.

 And this is the last picture I took on that day.

From beginning to end, first picture to last, the day was filled with peace and joy.  (Just like the angels promised!)  ;-)

Thank You, God, for this gift!