This year we tried to take more videos on Christmas morning than in years past. (due to watching 18 years' worth of Christmases on video the last couple of months as we transferred Eric's parents' videos to digital files! It was fun to watch and we wanted more video of our Christmases.) But this may have come at the expense of less pictures! Or less quality pictures. But it's okay, I just wanted to capture the happiness of Christmas morning, and I think I did that. Note to self: take a selfie on Christmas so I'm in the picture! I even had cute Christmas pjs!
Anyway on Christmas morning at about 7 am we woke up Owen and Maris and let Katelyn and Whitney out of their room :) and came out to see our gifts from Santa!
Too bad she's closing her eyes, but Maris was delighted with each piece of candy she found in her stocking! 
Katelyn got the book lights she's been dreaming of!
Owen got little tractor trailers he's been dreaming of!
....and a bike! No more riding a pink bike around the neighborhood for this boy! Not that he cared, but Eric did haha.
He rode it happily around the kitchen while we got breakfast ready.
And Whitney rode her new scooter-with light up wheels- around!
And Maris shoved as much candy in her mouth as possible! Christmas and Easter are the only tiems she's allowed to do this. Oh and Halloween. Live it up girl!
Owen got several costumes for Christmas, from various sources! Here he is as Captain America.
Whitney DYING for the present opening to begin after breakfast!
maris opening a present from us- Whitney being overly helpful and my arm trying to stop her- you get a glimpse of my pjs!
and Owen cutely congratulating her!
Owen as a knight.
Maris immediately reading a book she opened from Grammy.
Whitney got the Lego Friends Pop Star Bus she wanted from Grandma and Grandpa Murray! What a great face.
My Grandmom Wallwork crocheted these super cute headbands for us all!! Such a cool idea. Oh wait I guess there is a picture of me, yay!
Owen opening a spiderman from Whitney!
a tractor from Grandma and Grandpa! He LOVES it, what a great smile!
Owen as a ninja.
learning to block candy with his Captain America shield.
Superhero bouncy balls and tractor stickers from Grammy and Grandpa
Maris pushing around her new cart from us.
Katelyn was surprised by her new Japanese music box!
And Whitney was not surprised by the boy Barbie she had peeked at a few days before! (Eric told her if she peeked in any more packages that toy would be given to DI!)
More Legos!!
Maris got pretty good at opening gifts!
"A Barnes and Noble gift card??!?"
Owen was surprised by a Japanese walking dog- he had forgotten that he asked for one!
Katelyn loves her rice owl from Grammy- she keeps it in the freezer in case she has an injury!
Whitney loves her owl sewing kit and enjoyed making a little owl last week!
Eric got the new hiking backpack he wanted-- and now I get his old one! yay!
Maris being silly with a mouth full of candy!
Blurry picture of Eric wearing the headband from my Grandmom- he wore it all morning!
a picture I sent to Mary of my 3 favorite presents from her- a big metal bowl, a beautiful decorative bowl, and a new, current, framed family picture! Yay!
And for the next 3 days our house looked like this:
Lego land!! The kids were in heaven. For the first time Whitney didn't need much help, which was good because Owen needed a lot of help! He did great for his first time with little Legos though; he definitely has a good mind for building. :)
And once again we were reminded that all kids need is a BOX for Christmas haha. Owen and Maris made this their boat and spent a few happy hours playing in/with it.
Christmas this year was wonderful for me because I really tried to do as Elder D. Todd Christofferson said in the December Ensign: take some quiet moments and reflect on the Savior. Sit and let his love warm you like sitting by a fire. When I would get worried that I wasn't doing enough or that my kids have too much I would sit and relax and think of Him. And that is what Christmas is all about.
Also we FaceTime-ed with Eric's family on Christmas, which was so fun to see them in CA with Elizabeth and her new baby Xavier! And we FaceTime-ed my family on Christmas Eve to see everyone there. It was great to connect with our families.
Merry Christmas!
And now we're moving on.
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