Merry CHRISTmas everyone!

     Today was one of those days you never forget.  There was no stress to wake up at a certain time, prepare food by certain times, or feel rushed to get anything done at a certain hour.  This is what I LOVE about today.  We truly had a relaxing day filled celebrating the birth of Jesus.  Cade ran in our room at 7:12am yelling "Merry Christmas Mommy and Daddy"!  It is one of the few times I do not mind waking up that way.  Caelin was still asleep, but there was no way of holding Cade off from seeing his Santa gifts.  I actually thought it was great because we had the pleasure of watching each of them separately opening up Santa gifts!  No sharing of the video or trying to watch in the chaos for what each of them says.  It was fun.  Cade got his Lego Arctic Base Camp and a Skylander just as he asked!  he also got some puzzles, "Fly Guy" book, bubble bath, body wash, toothpaste, candy, etc.  He was most excited about his 735 pc Lego set though and got right to work on it while Daddy started breakfast.  Just before we sat down for breakfast, Caelin woke up, so we all watched her open her Santa gifts as well.  She was thrilled to see her "Frozen" puzzle and her My Little Pony Princess Celestria.  She also got an assortment of bath products, candy (this is what the toothpaste is for), "Pinkalicious" book, and more!  We then sat down for breakfast tacos and enjoyed talking through the kids excitement.
     Next we let the kids play for a few hours with all their new treasures while we packed up and got ready to head to Gamee and Grampee's house for Christmas with the whole Hall clan.  It is rare that everyone gets to be together, so nice when it does happen.  We started our day with opening more gifts which seemed to go on forever because Gamee, Grampee, Aunt Heather, Uncle Christopher & Uncle Corey SPOIL them too much!  Cade got a loot including: Puppet Theatre and Puppets (for all the grandkids!), Skylanders, outdoor toys, Imaginex Castle with toys, Lego shirt, marshmallow gun, Iron Man disk shooter, Skylander MegaBlox, Lego Mixel, Ninja Turtle animal/blanket, Flipeez hat, pizza making math kit and book.  Caelin received a lot of good stuff as well including: "Frozen" sheets/Comforter/card game/necklace/puzzle/book with reading wand/baseball and bat, Flutterbye, Elsa doll, Flipeez hat, Doc McStuffins kit, penguin Lego set, and outdoor toys as well!  I told you the gifts just KEPT COMING!!  We also had a lot of fun watching Andrew tear open his gifts.  It was fun and seemed to last for hours.  We were so excited about our big gift from Gamee and Grampee which was a window framed with 9 pictures of us and Baylor themed events!  Charles is so excited and has been wanting to redecorate his office with some vintage and old Baylor themed stuff.  So, this will be perfect and a beautiful gift that we love!
     After the joyous time of presents, we all gathered around to eat a Christmas dinner of Brisket, cheese grits, salad, and all the fixings.  Before eating, we each opened us empty Christmas boxes and put our gifts for Jesus in there.  Caelin blew kisses in hers and I caught Cade closing his eyes, so he must have put something great also!  I made sure to put my heart in mine.  How can I not give Jesus my heart after all he has done for my family and I?  It amazes me of all the blessings we have from warm houses to beds, food, clothes, loving family, and then GIFTS on top of all that?  Amazing.  We celebrated desert with singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing out the candles on birthday cookies.  It was a perfect Christmas dinner.  After dinner Uncle Christopher and his family had to leave, so the rest of us sat around enjoying our gifts and watching the kids play.  Not to mention some desert a few times.  By dark, it was time to head back home where we enjoyed playing with all the gifts and watching "The Christmas Story" until way past our bed time.  What a beautiful way to spend CHRISTmas day!