Christmas 2015

I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas. Better late than never! We started our Christmas morning by opening our stockings:

Sharon decided to get a "DigiBird" for all of her kids (and a DigiChick for Spencer, since he does research on chickens for the USDA). DigiBirds are cute, colorful birds that sing 58 different songs. They can be set to sing in "solo" mode or "choir" mode where they all sing together. These birds were a big hit with the kids, and they spent a long time looking at them before breakfast.

Sharon also gave my mom and me DigiBirds. We weren't expecting that, so we had a good laugh when we opened ours.

After we opened our stockings, we had our breakfast of cinnamon rolls and caramel pecan rolls with maple frosting. They were very good, as always. Then we started opening Christmas presents. Sarah, Rachel and Emily all got dolls for Christmas, along with a few outfits to dress them in:

Rachel is one of the most thoughtful little girls ever, and always gives very unique gifts. She gave her mom a picture she made. She gave her dad a card and a water bottle of acorns, and she made some sock puppets for my mom. She gave me a picture, although I didn't get a photograph of it. It's always interesting to see what Rachel's creative little mind comes up with!

Elizabeth wanted a down vest, and Katie really wanted Shola, an Afghani doll.

Rachel wanted to make Emily a little blanket for her dolls.

I gave Sarah this little stitchery project for her birthday last year, and she gave the completed project to me for Christmas:

Above: Rachel got Fashion Plates, which is perfect for for the little artist/fashionista! Below: Matt made this blue snowman for Grammy. He worked so hard on it! My mom put it on her bedroom door.

Above: My mom and I gave each other books for Christmas. I gave her My Name Used to Be Mohammed (and she gave me Miracles from Heaven). Kate got a 3D globe puzzle.

I gave Sharon a water bottle so that she can try to drink as much water as I do.

Chandra, Joe and Christian came over in the late afternoon for dinner and to hang out. Chandra made these beautiful wreaths for Mom and Sharon.

So glad we could spend another Christmas with the Leighs (our ninth one in a row). It would be fun to have some of my other out-of-town sisters spend Christmas with us, but it would be awfully far for them to travel. I'm just glad Sharon's family lives close enough and that they are willing to make the trip. If not, Christmas would just seem like another ordinary day!