christmas morning...

We love spending Christmas morning together.  We start our morning with us kiddies waking up Daddy & Mommy in their bed...and usually, a wrestle match happens while Mommy sneaks away to watch!  Then, we walk out to see our Christmas tree lit & presents all wrapped underneath (even the Santa gifts are covered)!  We start by reading the Christmas story from Luke 2.  This year, I (Averie) got to read parts of it.  It's a great way to focus in on what Christmas Day is really all about.  Then, we get to open our one gift from Santa & then open our Christmas jammies.  After that, we all enjoy a yummy breakfast.  Mommy normally makes something new each year.  Then, we change into our Christmas jammies, take some pics, and then start the gift exchange.  Mommy loves when we take our time to open our gifts, and we love to really enjoy looking at each one.  We take a break and then a little while later...we go through our stockings.  It's such a fun-filled morning as we focus on Christ & family.  We are blessed, and we are grateful for each other!

Christmas morn...

I was super excited to get an easel from Santa...lots and lots of teaching will be going on using this!!

Brady loved his Razor 360.  It even makes sparks when you pull the brake handle!

Bracken loved his Wiggle Racer.  He got the hang of it inside and was happy to try it outside!

Emmersyn got her first pony.  She loved rocking...& listening to the sounds the horse made by pressing his ear!

Mommy & Emmersyn

We all changed into our Christmas jammies and had our picture taken in front of the tree before exchanging gifts as a family...

...& then another one with our dog, Hutch!

Emmersyn was fascinated by the ornaments...

...& all the shiny wrapped gifts!

Brady & Emmersyn

Me & Brady...

Brecken & Emmersyn

Emmersyn's 1st Christmas...

...and she is obviously pretty exited about it! :)

Brady & me

Time to open some gifts.  I was obviously pretty excited about my gift...

Brady & Brecken give big smiles before opening their gifts...

...& Emmersyn is also excited about her musical dog.

Brady loved his new stuffed animal, Jordan!  (Yes, he named him after Michael Jordan!)  And, Brecken really took his time to open each gift.  So cute!

I was so happy to get some teaching supplies.  I sure love teaching in my room, so the supplies will make it even more fun!

Emmersyn also liked her stuffed bunny, Bella.  She also was pretty fascinated by the bows!

Brady was excited about his first remote control car...

...he was eager to tear into it and charge it up!

Bracken enjoyed reading his demolition book while snuggling up with his new stuffed animal, Murphy!

While we were opening gifts, Oma stopped for a quick visit.  We always love to give Oma lots of hugs!

And, Oma was able to help take our family picture...

the Karaffa family on Christmas morning!!

Brecken was really excited about his "big" gift...a pirate ship!!

Emmersyn was equally excited about her ball popper toy...

...& ladybug toy!

This is such a fun toy.  We all 3 loved this ball popper toy when we were babies...so much so, that it stopped working.

So, when Emmersyn got hers, we were happy to play along with her! :)

After we opened our gifts, we took some time to play with some of them.  I was happy to be in my little teaching corner...

...while the boys put together some Hot Wheels race tracks!

Daddy & his girls

Then, after a break, we got to open our stockings.  We love our stockings...filled each year with socks, undies, toothbrush, & toothpaste, but also filled with our favorite candy & a few other things we love!

Ready to dig in...

Enjoying all the fun goodies in my stocking...

...while Brady is ready to dig into his.

Brecken was happy about his goodies, especially his candy cane filled with m&m's.

Emmersyn loved grabbing anything she could get her hands on...she enjoyed her stocking!

(No, she didn't get the candy cane filled with candy...it was Brecken's...but he sure didn't mind sharing it with her since he knew she wouldn't eat any of them! :))

Emmersyn & all her goodies in her very first stocking!

Mommy & her kiddies

What a wonderful morning we shared together...celebrating the Birth of our Savior & spending time together as a family!  We are thankful for all God's blessings, especially the gift of His Son!

Merry Christmas 2014!