Merry Christmas!

We woke up eager to see what Santa brought and to look in our stockings.  Alice got Where is the Green Sheep book and some cereal fruit bars, which she held onto rather tightly for a good 20 minutes.

Sweet Bridget asked Santa for a lady bug hairbrush and comb set that she saw at the store.  She is so cute.  Santa also brought her a doll for her to brush.  Clever Santa.

Evelyn asked for a baby snow leopard.  It walks and purrs and is pretty exciting.

Lydia got a new speaker for her MP3 player and Isaac got a nerf bowcaster (fashioned after Chewbacca's weapon of preference) shown here.

We enjoyed a breakfast of cinnamon rolls (which Lydia made the night before) and strawberries then were off to get ready for church! 

The missionaries made missionary badges for all the children with their names!  So sweet!

Had to take advantage of us all looking so good!

Back home to open more presents!!  My favorite part of Christmas is when the kids give eachother the gifts they made.  Evelyn painted a cat for Bridget, Lydia made two hair clips for Evelyn, Isaac created a Great Barrier Reef artscape for Lydia, and Bridget colored a dinosaur for Isaac which I ironed onto a t-shirt.  Everyone was thrilled with their gifts!  

I was so excited to give Mike his present!  Mike and I love the kookaburras here in Australia so I drew one for him.  It's been a while since I've done any artwork so I was pleased with how it turned out.  Of course, stick anything in a frame and it looks like a million bucks!  

And I LOVE the gift Mike gave me!  That's right!

Alice missed out on the festivities of gift opening since she fell asleep on the way home from church.  After lunch we gave her her present and although she wasn't too interested in ripping the wrapping paper, she seemed pleased with the new clothes.

Here is Alice sporting a moustache we found in Bridget's stocking from last year.

And Bridget, who took some convincing to put it on.  Eee, so cute!

For Christmas dinner we had a great family from church, the Gibsons, and the missionaries.  We had a feast!  Ham, turkey, green beans, mashed sweet potatoes, potatoes au gratin, salad, chop suey and home made rolls.  It was all delicious!  After dinner the kids sang for us,

And put on a Nativity play.  Beautiful angels.

The elders unwrapped their presents of candy, toothpaste and toothbrushes, gum, and socks.  Then they threw wrapping paper balls at the kids.  Good fun!

The Gibsons brought a hilarious game where we had to draw a Christmas scene on a paper plate while holding it on our heads.  You should have heard the laughter when they discovered what their pictures looked like!

We finished off the evening with a classic Australian dessert: pavlova, courtesy of Sister Gibson.  

It was a beautiful Christmas!  We are so grateful for friends and the faith that we share that makes them like family.  We are grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ who came to earth and brought us hope and peace.  Merry Christmas!