Christmas Day 2011

This Christmas morning was a little different than previous years. This was the first time in her life that Aunt Laura wouldn't be in Baton Rouge for Christmas. Plus it was a Sunday which meant we were attending church. Micah was the first to get up but she didn't know anything was different about the day. She just went to eating her breakfast. This was also different for us for Christmas morning. We usually have a breakfast casserole, but since Aunt Laura wasn't joining us we decided to wait till we celebrated Christmas with her to have our Christmas breakfast casserole. Instead, I bought Little Debbie Christmas tree cakes and chocolate milk for the kids.

Luke was the next one to get up and he just came downstairs to see if Levi was up so that they could take a shower for church. I told him while he was waiting he could either eat breakfast or open his stocking. Finally, he noticed the note hanging by the fireplace and proceeded to read it.

The note said the following:
Luke, Cameron, Miriam, Levi, Micah & Cole,
Jump outside to discover your newest toy
Because when you do you’ll leap for joy!
So hop on to it and bounce this way
It’s time to celebrate Christmas day!
Love, Mommy & Daddy
Christmas 2011

First, Luke just opened the back door and looked on the patio and said "I don't see a new toy." I told him he might have to go a little further out to find it. Finally, he saw the trampoline and went a jumped a couple of times. It was cold and wet from the dew so he didn't jump long.

Once Miriam got up, Luke & Micah showed her the new present.

I told Luke not to tell Cameron about it until he read the note since he's our only other reader in the family. Cameron had already showered and was ready for church so he couldn't jump.

Levi was the last to get up and see the trampoline. Micah enjoying some of the goodies in her stocking.

Then it was time to hurry up and eat breakfast and get ready for church. Recently, we found an old Christmas dress of mine that Miriam wanted to wear. I had Craig take it to the drycleaners the week before Christmas so she could wear it. Here's a portrait of me wearing the dress in 1981 (to my best guess) and Miriam wearing it in 2011.

After church, the kids hurried up and changed clothes so they could jump on the trampoline until PawPaw & ZeeZee got here.

While lunch was cooking, we read the Christmas story and opened gifts. We didn't have a new reader (1st grader) in the family so Luke & Cameron both read the Christmas story. Luke read the Luke passage and Cameron read the Matthew passage while the younger kids played with the Little People nativity scene.

I never seem to take many pictures during the unwrapping of gifts. I guess I just want to see more of the action. Here's a couple that I did take.

Big brothers helping Cole

Cole growling at his new LSU tiger pillow pet from Daddy and playing with Micah's magic wand

Luke opening his big gift from PawPaw & Zee, Miriam excited about her pink scooter from PawPaw & ZeeZee, Cole playing with the best gift ever, a box!

The after math!

One of my gifts from Craig was a new lens. Thanks Tracy for helping him out! Luke's big gift from PawPaw & ZeeZee was a blue guitar!