Christmas 2015

 So, let's start with what will likely be painfully obvious in the next several (months) worth of photos: Hannah's Hair!

I sent her upstairs to BRUSH her hair, and when she came down a few minutes later she looked like a cancer patient, with large chunks of hair missing everywhere! In dismay I asked if she had cut her hair and she confidently answered that she had and asked if I thought she looked pretty. !*#?!

That evening when I had to even it all out and she saw how short it was going to be she cried and cried, "I didn't want it to be THAT short, and I just wanted it to be short for today!" Oh well! Luckily she discovered that she is a beautiful girl no matter what her hair looks like (and thank heavens for that because mom's first bob was sketchy at best!). 

So, merry Christmas! A whole new look for Hannah!

 

Moving on... we did some baking with Grandma on Christmas Eve to prep for Santa coming :)

We had to make something special to leave out for him!

After the traditional sprinkling of the reindeer food and scurry off to bed, Jeremy decided to sneak into the rafters over the kids rooms and do some thumping around. And, they bought it- hook line and sinker! Nathan, "Hannah, you better close your eyes quick! Santa's here and wont come in if you're awake!"

And sure enough, the stockings were filled and the tree was overflowing with presents for all the Baldwin clan (thank heavens all these presents were not just for our little family!)

 Christmas morning the kiddos were invited downstairs to see what wonders the day held!

The first thing they noticed... special packages wrapped in Santa paper with special tags from the big man himself!

But first things first, lets open some stockings!

Okay, now that everyone is here... bring on the presents!

This was a special moment between daddy and son. Nathan had made a service coupon book for Jeremy for Christmas and was so sincere about wanting his daddy to know how much thought and effort he put into that gift. Love that boy and his sweet, sweet spirit!

This little man's tongue was hanging out all day! Not sure if he's a happy boy or a happy puppy, but either way he is HAPPY!

Ummmm... Princess Dan decided to try on his daughter's crown?

Jason spent a good portion of the day putting together his gift from his wifey (who spoils him rotten!)

This giant quad-copter was pretty cool, though.

Girls and their pretties! Tori is just as much into being a princess as Hannah, and I am so glad she has cousins to be girly with!

Painting the nails!

Again with that tongue! Crazy little boy.

Levi's big present was the resurrection of  Nathan's train table... but this time mom got smarter and glued down all the tracks!

Hannah's big present this year was a barbie house filled with dolls and accessories!

This girl was in HEAVEN!

Nathan's big present this year was also a resurrection, but of Hubby's old laptop, cleaned off and loaded with a nice mix of learning and recreational games.

I spent most of the day enjoying the moment, so there are not a ton of pictures of movies... but one awesome moment I took the opportunity to photograph was grandpa's quad-copter incident!

He flew it right into Tori's hair... who was rather distraught about it being so very tangled in there :)

We had to take off all the propellers to get it out!

 

 Poor girl, but she still looks so cute, even in great distress!

 Here is a short compilation of what video footage I did take of the festivities. Enjoy!

There were so many great gifts for everyone from all the family, and we enjoyed them all. We took the time to really appreciate each one before moving on to the next, which made the present opening last ALL day! Somewhere in there we had a breakfast buffet and a lovely dinner (which I neglected to photograph, but was SUPER yummy!). It was an awesome day full of excitement, fun and good times together.

Christmas is my favorite holiday for so many reasons. I love the decorations and the caroling, the snow, the cards, the time with family. Most of all I love the opportunity to reflect on the gift of a Savior and what that means for me, for my family and for the world. As much as I want to give good gift to my children, how much more than does our Father in heaven desire to bless us with gifts beyond measure? This is a concept I am just starting to fully appreciate. I hope you all had just as blessed a season as we did, and felt the joy and love inherent to it abundantly in your hearts.