Christmas Morning 2011 ~ LOVE

We had the best Christmas Day.  Christmas morning was spend with just the five of us.  We woke up and headed to get the girls up.  A very excited Gracie Claire met us at the stairs and squealed, "It's Christmas Morning!!!"  We got the other two up and went downstairs to have breakfast.  I made cinnamon roll cake the night before (thanks Pinterest!) and it was delish!  Much simpler than making homemade cinnamon rolls, but still homemade, and tastes just the same!  Maybe a new Christmas morning tradition?!  After breakfast was cleaned up, we opened presents.  It is so much fun to watch your own kids open presents, don't you think?!  We also took each one of the girls shopping so they could "buy" a present for each of their sisters.  It was so cool to see them get excited about giving to each other too.  Our Christmas morning was perfect.  I'm so thankful for a family to love and who loves me.  Christmas Morning = LOVE!

 Christmas Morning ~ LOVE

 A Very Excited Gracie Claire :)

 Sleepy Syd...She's not a morning person.

 This sweet girl is happy as soon as she's awake! :)

 Christmas Morning smiles from my girls...

 Jin, our Elf on the Shelf, spent Christmas day with us.  He left a note for the girls and made sure they noticed that Santa got his cookies.  Oh Jin...we'll miss ya.  ;)

 Full bellies are great for opening presents!

 I love my 3 Little Ladies!

 These are only a few of the pictures of the girls opening presents...it's really a tad disturbing how many pictures I take.  :)

 Molly had a very Dora Christmas this year! :)  She loves her some Dora.

 Sydney's main request this year was for a kitty.  Since we don't believe in pets at our house (other than our lizard Gicky) the Sydster got a Fur Real Kitty.  She purrs, meows, and walks.  No cat poop, pee, or litter boxes to change.  She seemed very content with our compromise.  :)

 Gracie Claire had a couple of requests.  She wanted a fashion design kit (check!) and a spy kit (check!)  She was a happy girl when she opened what she wanted.  She was also a happy girl when she opened her first big-girl Bible with her name on it.  She has already been doing Bible reading on her own.  Love that about her!

Our big present to the girls (which was inspired by our jumping girl Molly) was this fun trampoline.  The girls love it!  The pictures of Molly on this thing say so much about our little Joy.

Christmas morning was such a great time!  I love that we have this tradition of spending the morning with just the five of us!  I'm doing my best not to take these times for granted.  I pray for so many more Christmases to come with our little family!  We are so blessed!