"Today in the town of David...

a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Today we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. What a glorious day it is! As we celebrate together with our family, the house is full of joy and love for one another and for the precious gift of a perfect, little baby so many years ago.

For the past month Brody has been memorizing Luke 2:11-12. I would recite Luke 2:1-20 and Brody would say verses 11 & 12. While we were on our way to have lunch with GG and family, we were practicing saying our verses from Luke about the birth of Christ. Brody told me that he wanted to say my verse too (not just his). So I left out a few words and was utterly surprised at what he was able to fill in! This is a video that Daddy Steve took on December 19th. I really need to video him again because today he can say 80% of of Luke 2:1-20 without any prompting! I'm so proud of my little three-year-old!!!


Mike and I were surprised to wake up this morning on our own (meaning Brody wasn't breaking down our door at 6 am). We woke up after 7 am (yes...there's still snow outside!!!) and before long we heard noise over Brody's monitor. We heard singing and turned up the monitor to hear Brody singing Jingle Bells.

When Brody came into the living room, Mike handed me a box and told me that I needed to open it before we did anything else today. I was excited to open the box and find a new video camera (our old one died months ago)! I was even more excited when I realized that he'd already charged up the batteries and it was ready to start recording our special day!

Brody cracked us up when he began talking about how beautiful the wrapping paper was that held his gift from Santa. You'll notice in the picture below that Santa fulfilled Brody's request and left him a picture of our family.

The picture was forgotten about once Brody unwrapped the box and found a race car track! He was soooooo excited!

Since Barrett was still sleeping, I made breakfast while Mike and Brody put together the race car track. I was finally able to pull them away from their race to get them to eat some pancakes and bacon. Not long after we finished breakfast, Barrett woke up. He loved the stuffed puppy that Santa brought (he's already been named Remy) and didn't want to leave him to eat his breakfast...so we just let him eat a pancake while he played with the puppy.

Around 9 am Caleb, Audria, Daddy Steve, and Namaw all arrived at our house. Audria got a new camera for Christmas (Cannon Rebel). This meant we had 3 people taking pictures (we took 290 today). I won't show you all 290 pictures, but there were several good ones...and since this blog gets made into a book which is basically our family picture album...you may feel a little bit of picture overload (if you make it to the end of this post)!

Not only did the boys have their stocking filled at our house...they were also filled at Daddy Steve and Namaw's house! Both boys were pretty excited when they saw how many candy canes were in their stockings. We had to put them out of reach very quickly so that the entire living room didn't become a sticky mess.

Within minutes of arriving, Brody challenged Caleb in a race on his new track. Caleb was up for the challenge.

Here are a few pictures from our time of opening gifts from one another...

(sooooooo excited about this one!!!)

As soon as we finished opening gifts, Brody was begging for someone to go outside and play in the snow with him. Daddy Steve, Audria, and Barrett followed him out to play (Caleb and I followed with cameras). Mike stayed inside talking with Namaw (who doesn't like the cold and had no desire to go play in the snow). It quickly went from peacefully watching Brody and Barrett admire the snow...

to an all out snowball fight!!!

When Audria and Daddy Steve finally surrendered (Brody would never have given up), everyone came back inside to warm up. Caleb and Audria left to spend the rest of the day with Audria's family while Daddy Steve and Namaw stayed to spend the day with us. We then opened the presents from Grammy, Great Grandma K, and the presents from our immediate family (meaning Mike, me, and the boys). Barrett was excited about his new camo boots and insisted on putting them on immediately! Brody got a camo sleeping bag from Grammy. He took a nap it in today and went to sleep tonight inside the sleeping bag on the floor of his room. I'm wondering if he'll ever sleep in his bed again!?!

After naptime (during which the adults played a lively game of Farkel), Daddy Steve took the boys on a walk around our neighborhood. Since we didn't make our own snowman, Brody wanted a picture taken with one of the neighbors snowmen. I think it took all the snow in their yard to make this little guy!

Just before Daddy Steve and Namaw left, I remembered to ask them to take a family picture for us. I'm sure you'll notice, so I'll just admit it. Yes, Barrett wore his jammies all day long today. What can I say? He looked so cute in his flannels and Santa hat! I did at least give him a bath and new jammies before bed.

I hope that y'all had as wonderful of a Christmas day as we did. I'm so thankful for the family that I have been blessed with and for the gift of Jesus Christ and the promise of an eternity with Him and with this family that I love so much!