A Very Merry Seward Christmas!!

Today's post will just be full of pictures from our Christmas Day. It was a day full of fun and family and so very many blessings.

checking out the tree first thing

Santa came!!

Molly getting the loot out of her stocking

So back in October, Ava was talking about asking Santa for an iPod. After several conversations about WHY she really wanted an iPod (to listen to music? to play games? because all of her friends have one?), she ended up deciding not to ask Santa for this very expensive gift. In the end she didn't really ask Santa for anything, so he said he would find a good gift for a girl her age. Turns out Santa knew what he was doing - Ava got a simple mp3 player, and could not have been more thrilled (as you can see from her beaming face in this picture)

Molly made this request of Santa at the last minute. I was very glad he was able to come through with this, because it quickly became Molly's favorite gift of the day. (I also love that Ava is STILL celebrating in the background of this picture!)

Jocelyn's Santa haul included a new scooter

happily playing with the new Princess Sophia figurines

they fit rather perfectly in our castle we already have - all three girls were happy as clams

After Santa gifts it was breakfast time. Josiah helped Ben with the cinnamon rolls. He was SO excited to be able to help

It's dark, but Ava took this picture of the family eating breakfast. It may not be easy to see, but I think you can still make out the happy faces 

In our house, we've had the tradition of each person giving a gift to one other family member. This way we can spend a little more on a gift for one person rather than buying several little nothings for everyone. This year was Jocelyn's first year to really understand and participate in this. She had to buy a gift for her Daddy. As Ben opened his gift, I'm not sure who was more excited. It was so special to see the girls embracing the importance of giving as well as receiving.

Ava bought Molly a gift, and was bouncing up and down to see if Molly liked it

we all received homemade pillowcases from my grandmother; Molly preferred using hers as a "blanket"

we gave Zeke this hand-me-down toy as a gift. Although we didn't have a lot of money to buy big gifts for Kevin and his family, we wanted them to be able to open something from us on Christmas morning. We were so happy to have them share Christmas with us; I hope our small gifts helped show the great appreciation we had for them driving down to spend the holidays with us.

THIS was Jocie's gift to Ben: a track to shoot cars down. Jojo, Jocie, and Ben greatly enjoyed shooting the cars across the room together

Molly playing with her fancy new Barbie car (for the record, Ava is in very few of these pictures because by now she was busy listening to her new music player. We didn't see much of her that afternoon)

Baby Zeke, our Christmas cutie :)

the kids' table at Christmas dinner

Jojo, Marissa, and Kevin - can't say enough times how nice it was to have them here

For weeks now we have been getting cookies, candies, and other sweet treats from friends as Christmas gifts. I had even bought a peppermint pie for a special Christmas Day dessert. In the end, s'mores won out. Ben roasted the marshmallows in our fireplace fire, and the kids devoured their s'mores treats. Who needs fancy Christmas desserts when you have that kind of deliciousness? A great end to a truly great day!