why christmas was so merry...

the very best part of today was first thing this morning, when we came into the living room to see what santa had brought. the girls had both asked for american girl dolls and were really happy when they saw the dolls waiting for them, along with a pile of presents in santa wrapping paper. but before they got to their own gifts, they stopped and watched owen toddle across the room to his stash. they could tell what he had received by how it was wrapped and followed owen across the room. they were soooo excited for their brother to discover his gifts, more excited than even finding their own. funny enough, owen wanted to open the small gifts he saw first before tearing the paper off the giant present waiting for him. the girls patiently waited and watched him open his presents, shouting exclamations of joy the whole time. when he was done with those gifts, they helped him to unwrap his train table, with more shouts of joy. finally, after owen's santa gifts had all been unwrapped, cate and anna turned around to open their own gifts.

I basically cried through the whole thing. how are nate and I so blessed to have such amazing little people in our family? watching cate and anna with owen was by far the best christmas gift I could have ever hoped for.



merry christmas!