A Very Lowder Christmas

I loved loved LOVED being home for Christmas. This is the first time we've all been together during the holidays since before Kev's mission. Our traditional morning festivities took like 8 bazillion times longer than usual, mostly I think because we were all to happy to be together. And out of the goodness of my heart, I did not wake Shauna up by jumping on her bed at 5:00am ... though it would have been just retaliation. :)

Christmas breakfast -- biscuits and gravy (which was a blessed and inspired change from the traditional cinnamon rolls ... you should only ingest so much sugar in the space of two calendar days).

 

 

 

Story: Eldon gave Kevin (who is also pre-med) a bag of textbooks he knew Kevin would need. He "wrapped" them in a plastic bag because he heard that's how Kev wrapped our presents for years. That cracked all of us up.

The gratitude ... or the commiseration of needing such textbooks.

My parents found Haley pirate slippers ... she has a pirate fetish of sorts.

Yes, Bryce and Haley gave Shauna a pillowcase with David Archuleta's face printed on it. HILARIOUS!

Bryce and Haley made Kev a thumb wrestling mat -- complete with mini leotards (sorry, Kev, I know that's not really what they're called) they made out of those plastic sheathes you can buy for finger injuries.

A little something for baby Everett, who is due on Chiara's birthday. :)

Our little thugs in their BYU paraphernalia.

And of course, the little lamb, who slept through most of the festivities. She'd never seen so much cool stuff in one place in her life. :)

It was a great day. I'm so grateful for family, and for MY family. If our children can love each other the way my siblings love each other I can die a happy woman. It wasn't the gifts themselves, of course, but the thought behind the gifts and the love and consideration they showed that made the day so great. I think heaven will be being surrounded by people who know you REALLY well and (still) love you unconditionally. It's the best.