Christmas Day

Mr B woke us up (not too early, thank goodness), so excited when he found the mini-cereal boxes that Santa left by his bedroom door. After sampling one each, we went upstairs to see what else he had brought.

(We had to go upstairs, since the fireplace is only on the third floor, and therefore Santa couldn't make it down to the main floor where our tree is).







I love that D-man was more excited about the orange than the presents. :)

We had so much fun opening Legos, a train, dart blasters (definitely from Santa, since mom would never give her boys anything that shoots!), and other fun things.

Then we headed downstairs to open gifts from each other and family. Some people (cough, cough) might say that we opened way too fast, but others (ahem) think it was just right. :0) We feel so blessed with all of the gifts we received. Our piano has been such a blessing already in our home, and we now have some more music to try out on it. A highlight for Mr. B was a piano book just for him (everything else was for selfish mom), so now he can start learning to play. :)

We had some friends join us for the traditional Holt brunch, and I must say that all of the food turned out fabulously this year (many more thanks to R than me on that one, for sure). We had a great time visiting and the kids had plenty to play with, although poor Aliya was greatly outnumbered by all of the boys.

After naptime, we settled upstairs with our first real fire,

(I know, not the best place to keep the matches, but we're learning!)

and acted out (loosely speaking) the Nativity. Mr. B was only cajoled into participating because he got to hold the big stick.... D-man enjoyed it much more. He played the part of Joseph, one of the Wise Men, and proxy gift opener. :)

Giving baby Jesus a kiss.

Bearing gifts...

...and opening them!

We also opened a present that we have been working on as a family all month. We talked to the boys about how serving others is a way that we can serve Jesus Christ. Each time we did a service for someone, we wrote it down and put it in a wrapped box. Then on Christmas night, after all of the other gifts were opened, we opened this one and talked about the small gifts that we had given the Savior, and how it had brought the Spirit and love into our home. It was lovely to relax that night and think about the Savior and the joy that the Gospel brings to our lives every day.