Christmas Day with the Andersons

With S and J staying with us, we all got up and opened our gifts to each other about 7 AM.  It's still pretty weird to me that Mom (me) is the first one up after so many years being awakened at the crack of dawn on Christmas day!  But even though the kids are all grown up, they still sang Christmas carols on the stairs before we "allowed" them to come down!

 J and B both got Silly String.  No further caption needed for this picture.

 A little background about this picture.  I had taken all the gifts out of bags and arranged them by family in the bedroom to see what we had.  I do this every year and it helps me be sure no one is missing a gift.  As Santa's helper, I had also purchased a dog toy for the dog which was in a bag amidst things for B and Hubby that I did not lay out.  Somehow Shadow smelled or otherwise by extra sensory perception discovered that there was a toy for her inside a bag because when I searched for her an hour and a half later, the bag was on the floor with a hole torn in it and she was laying guiltily nearby.  Santa does not give gifts early, so I repackaged the things and put them up on a chair, laying a blanket over the top.  During the week before Christmas more than once, Shadow would lead me into the room and "point" at the chair.  She never actually saw or heard that toy, but she wanted it so bad!  She was the first one to get something out of her stocking and she has been babying it ever since.  It's hilarious!

 This was the year of jewelry for me.  I got lots of beautiful jewelry.  I also look as tired as I felt!

 Following gift opening, singing happy birthday to Jesus, and having breakfast, we traveled to our kids' and grandkidlets' houses.

We tried to meet up with J and his family, but they were delayed and we missed seeing them, but we know they had a great day.

The best Christmas gift, however, is the gift of health for Hubby.  We are all so grateful that he is recovering and can go on with his life with no more chemo-therapy.  We have a warm home, jobs and hope for the future.  We know that we owe it all to our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.  We are so very blessed!