Christmas Joy!

Christmas with kids is better than Christmas as a kid.  I promise.  Christmas morning is so magical.  Joyful.  And this year was no exception.

Here are the kids waiting upstairs for the signal to come down.  It all begins with Christmas lights and music and then everyone lines up from youngest to oldest.  Here are the kids looking down at their treasures for the first time.

And the race is on!

Isaac's dream came true with a Lego Sopwith Camel.  He also got a new football.

Brigham got a collection of Beanie Boo's but was also surprised with a pet fish which he named "Razor Fin".

The two have already bonded.

Lydia was a happy girl to find Winnie the Pooh waiting for her.

She also got a Winnie the Pooh book which she's already devoured.

Eliza was a little disappointed to find that "My Little Ponies" are not real.  She was happy nonetheless. 

But she was most excited about her new backpack stuffed full of stationary, cards, envelopes, and markers.  She got busy right away with her favorite activity in the world - note writing!

  The girls got matching Christmas pajamas for their dolls and new pink strollers because the other ones were broken after too many jousting tournaments. (boys!)

Clayton got the "huge" origami paper (butcher paper) he requested, a pocket knife, a new board game, and this shirt which pretty much sums up Clayton's life.

Happy kids.

We opened stockings.  Santa took note from last year and did not bring silly putty.

He brought head-mounted flashlights instead.  Which came in handy for Brigham since he was the designated gift-passer-outer.

Lydia is opening a gift from Brigham.  The kids spent their hard-earned money this year on gifts for each other.  They discovered that gift-giving is as exciting as gift-getting.

Daddy was the champion of gifts this year, though.  He may have even trumped Santa.  And that's saying a lot. Nate gave Lydia and Eliza new cute outfits with "ballerina skirts".  The girls were in heaven and have been wearing them every day since.  We had to stop rolling the video camera because as soon as they opened this an immediate change of clothes was already in action.

He gave Brigham an army tent, complete with an army sleeping bag and chair.  For our camo-loving kid. This was best the present ever!

But Daddy's gift to the two oldest boys took the cake.  He put together a binder of clues.  On each page was a picture.  The boys studied each one - trying to put it all together.  First a picture of the D.C. temple, then the Spirit of St. Louis, the Constitution, the Library of Congress, Arlington Cemetery, the Washington Monument.  Do you see where this is going?

The last page was airplane tickets.  With each of their names.  Set for spring break.  Those boys were out of their minds with excitement.  They'll have a blast there with Nate.

Clayton's gift to everyone was my favorite this year.  He thoughtfully made coupon booklets for each person in our family and wrapped them individually.  Here he is passing them out.  Some of the coupons included tickets to play "ponies or dollies" with the girls, read books, or free rides around the cul-de-sac in the red wagon. Coupons to take over Saturday chores for the boys, help with homework, and board games in his room.  Coupons to help clean the garage for dad.  And laundry and dishes for me.  Woo-hoo! We sure love our Clayton!   

Lydia spent the remainder of the day dancing around in her new skirt and reading Winnie the Pooh.

Eliza wore her new backpack inside and out frequently stopping to write more notes.

She also took care of her new doll which is the same as her old doll (named Lydia) that tragically got left at a soccer game last month.  We looked and looked for it with lots of tears.  Thankfully, for Santa, these dolls are easy to come by.

  Brig dressed in all camouflage and hung out in his new tent reading Hank the Cow Dog books.

Isaac got to work on his airplane and finished it in record time on Christmas day.

This was a complicated Lego design (for ages 14+) with lots of moving parts (the control stick in the cockpit actually maneuvers the wings and the tail)

Clayton spent the day doing origami.  He was the most entertaining of them all.  Here is his origami pinwheel, that magically slides out. . .

into a ring and back again.

He also got to work with precisely cutting and taping pieces of "huge" origami paper.

Here's a space ship.

Which everyone had a great time with.

Besides the wall-sized world map from Nate and the coupons from Clayton, my favorite gift this year was a house full of happy people.  Merry Christmas!